Hidden Identities

At the start of Roman Fever, I didn't completely understand the direction the story was heading. The two characters were obvious enough, but their relationship and the reason they were in Rome was a bit vague and unimportant. Furthermore, the time period of the story was also hard to gauge. The language was modern enough, but the demeanors of the women seemed to fit the era of the early-to-mid twentieth century. But as the story unfolded, I began to realize that the setting and era were not the key components necessary to understand the point of the writing.
The way the author created each character's voice was as interesting as it was contrasting. Mrs. Slade had a very active voice, and the reader could always understand her exact feelings and thoughts on a subject. On the other hand, Mrs. Ansley was reserved not only externally, but her thoughts were as quiet as her vocal responses. The women seemed to be opposite each other in almost every aspect. By writing in such vastly different tones and mindsets, the author was able to create a friction within the text that paralleled the rising tension between the women.
The climax of the story was when Slade was at her peak of anger and Ansley was wrought with what seemed to be grief. But when Ansley cooly stated that she had Barbara- that was the line epitomized everything the story was trying to encompass. The line was simple, yet it held so many complexities to each character, most of which neither will every understand.