Knitting In Edith Whartons Roman Fever English Literature Essay

In writing, it seems as though a writer’s every word is calculated, each sentence a carefully crafted work of art intended to invoke a thought, idea, or message in a reader’s malleable psyche. In essence, this is indeed the goal of writing: to convey to others one’s own ideas through written words. When viewed this way, a reader is required to read differently than he or she would otherwise. When the reader takes on the challenge of searching for some deeper, more sophisticated meaning within a story beyond that which appears on the page, each sentence becomes a golden nugget nestled in the gold mine of the paragraph as a whole, the reader a miner meticulously working his or her way through the paragraphs in search of the mother lode. With each reading the walls of the story recede, revealing ever more of the intricacies and complexities infused into the story by the writer. Edith Wharton’s “Roman Fever” is full of delicately placed words, carefully planned structures, and pieces of the puzzle conveniently hidden from readers, and yet for reasons unknown it has received very little critical attention in the seventy-five years since its release in 1934 (Bauer 681). Those who have turned their attention toward it, however, seem to have focused largely on the role Mrs. Ansley’s knitting plays in the story. In Wharton’s “Roman Fever,” the author’s mention of Mrs. Ansley’s “twist of crimson silk” is calculated, as the knitting serves to emphasize and symbolize the relationship between Mrs. Slade and Mrs. Ansley as well as to foreshadow the characters’ dramatic revelations later in the story (Wharton 1 of 12).

Color is central to the human understanding of the surrounding world. People associate colors with feelings, places, people, and events in their lives, and each color harbors a different meaning for each individual. Thus, the color used by the narrator to describe Mrs. Ansley’s knitting is vital to one’s interpretation of the story. The narrator describes it as “a twist of crimson silk,” and in these five words there exists no shortage of meaning (Wharton 1 of 12). For instance, the knitting is said to be “crimson” (Wharton 1 of 12). Alice Petry explains it as “an insistently passionate color” in her article entitled “A Twist of Crimson Silk: Edith Wharton’s ‘Roman Fever'” (164). In the article, Petry details the various meanings of the knitting, highlighting also the significance of the knitting within the story. Petry’s characterization of the color is not singular to her interpretation of the story: red and its various shades are widely regarded as colors of love and of passion. This passionate color choice serves to foreshadow the upcoming revelation of the characters as they realize that neither of them knows the whole truth about Mrs. Ansley’s tryst with Delphin Slade. Much of the critical attention given to the story has centered on Mrs. Ansley’s knitting, and so it is not surprising that critics have emphasized its color. Jamil characterizes the crimson hue of the knitting this way: “If black signifies the gloom of guilt, then crimson signifies the heat of sexuality and risqué youthfulness of romantic passion” (99). The “black” to which Jamil refers is actually the black color of the handbag Mrs. Ansley is carrying, as the story says, “Half guiltily she drew from her handsomely mounted black handbag a twist of crimson silk…” (Jamil 99; Wharton 1 of 12). This innovative comparison between the two colors emphasizes the foreshadowing effect created by the crimson color of the knitting.

In much the same way that the human consciousness is heavily influenced by color, so also does the material from which something is crafted play a large part in how one perceives an object or an event. Different substances carry with them various connotations and denotations that must be taken into account when interpreting a story. Thus, just as color is important, the narrator’s mention of the type of material used in Mrs. Ansley’s knitting is key as well. According to the narrator, the knitting being done by Mrs. Ansley is not made of yarn but of silk (Wharton 1 of 12). This seemingly minor detail is actually very significant, and it too foreshadows the characters’ coming disclosure of what really happened between Mrs. Ansley and Delphin Slade. Silk is often viewed as a very slinky, seductive material, and so this minor detail foreshadows the climactic revealing of the past that is to come. It suggests some kind of covert romantic encounter on the part of Mrs. Ansley and it can even be seen as contextually symbolic. Jamil puts it this way: “…the act of bringing out the yarn, which is exquisitely delicate (‘silk’), is the act of bringing the delicate thread out of the past into the present or bringing the present into the past” (99). Jamil is not the only one to suggest some sort of connection between the silk and the story’s plot, however. Petry also weighs in on the subject, saying, “The sensuality and forcefulness suggested by [Mrs. Ansley’s] knitting materials will help to render plausible her passionate moonlight tryst with Delphin Slade twenty-five years earlier…” (164). Both Jamil and Petry seem convinced that the narrator’s mention of the silk is not simply aesthetic; rather, both seem to believe that it is premeditated and deliberate, as it serves as one of the story’s most powerful agents of foreshadowing.

Mrs. Ansley’s knitting does not solely serve to foreshadow the story’s climax. Instead, it serves also as a contextual symbol of the relationship shared by Mrs. Ansley and Mrs. Slade. As a result of the narrator’s descriptions of the knitting, it can be said that the knitting suggests a great deal about the relationship between the two women by its very structure. To knit is, by definition, “to make…by looping together yarn or thread by means of special needles” (“Knit” def. 1). Because knitting does not normally relate to relationships beyond the context of this story, the use of knitting here acts as a contextual symbol for the relationship between the women. Curiously, this aspect of Mrs. Ansley’s knitting has received little critical attention. This does not, however, detract from its magnitude. Knitting is essentially a system of interwoven strands that seem to be completely connected and totally intertwined; the article “‘I Had Barbara’: Women’s Ties and Wharton’s ‘Roman Fever'” describes the lives of the women in much the same way in the following few sentences: “[Mrs. Slade and Mrs. Ansley] move as one, they lean as one, and their expression is the ‘same’ one. ‘Mrs. Slade and Mrs. Ansley had lived opposite each other – actually as well as figuratively – for years’: a cohabitation, figuratively if not actually alongside their marriages” (Bowlby 45). In these few sentences Bowlby outlines just how close the two women really are. Much like the threads of a piece of knitting, the two women cannot get much closer together. The lives of Mrs. Ansley and Mrs. Slade are completely interwoven, and as a result it can be said that the knitting acts as a contextual symbol of the relationship between them. That said, however, even the best knitting will begin to destroy itself with even the tiniest snip of a pair of scissors. Viewed from this perspective, Mrs. Ansley and Mrs. Slade represent the strands of silk, the relationship between them is the knitting as a whole, and Mrs. Ansley’s encounter with Delphin Slade and its emergence later in the story act as the scissors that will cause the relationship to fall apart. The one-night rendezvous between Mrs. Ansley and Delphin Slade has such far-reaching, severe effects that it eventually unravels the very structure of the relationship shared by the two women, which had heretofore been “intimate” (Wharton 3 of 12).

Edith Wharton’s “Roman Fever” is, according to Petry, “Probably Edith Wharton’s best-known short story…” (163). It is bursting with symbols, foreshadowing, plot twists, and vivid descriptions. What sets it apart from other stories, however, is the significance it places on the simple, seemingly innocuous act of knitting. Mrs. Ansley’s knitting plays a central role in the story, as it foreshadows the story’s climax and symbolizes the relationship between Mrs. Ansley and Mrs. Slade. The quantity of times it appears lends credence to the idea that Wharton intended for the reader to place a heavy emphasis on the knitting, and the placement and timing of its appearance is too uncanny and too often to be coincidental. Thus, it can be deduced that the narrator’s mention of Mrs. Ansley’s “twist of crimson silk” is indeed calculated and is meant to invoke a deeper meaning to the story than would be found otherwise (Wharton 1 of 12). As a result, it cannot be ignored as one of the chief aspects of the story, and when included in one’s interpretation of the story it in turn makes the story more realistic, more meaningful, and more enjoyable.