Wharton's ROMAN FEVER

Half-gLiiltily she |Mrs. Grace Atisleyl drew lroiii her |. . .| blaek hatulbai; atwist oferiinson silk run through by two fine knitting needles. "Otie tk'\eiknows." she murniured. (47)

These lines, quoted trom Edith Wharton"s "Roman Fever." reler to one of llictwo protagonists. Mrs. Grace Ansley. whose daughter. Barbara, facetiouslyaccuses her and Mrs. Slade. the other protagonist, of being ""young things" w homust be left behind to "their knitting" (47). At her friend Barbara's Ilippaniaccusation. Mrs. Siade's daughter. Jenny, politely demurs, but the formerretorts. "Well. I mean figuratively" (47). Wharton's emphasis on the figurativedimension of knitting, established at the beginning ofthe rising action, continues to be felt to the end ofthe story. Indeed, significant points in the plot arcmarked by references to knitting. And "Roman tever." too. is coniieclcd withMrs. Ansley's knitting because of Mrs. Siade's references to ""the deathly cokl"and the "dampH" evening air of Rome, or to the '"bad chill" Ciracc. in heryouth, supposedly catches at the Colosseum (52). In light of the ""cold" and""damp" air that continues to drift between the two protagonists from the pastinto the present. Mrs. Siade's disdainful dismissal of knitting, and Mrs. Ansley's furtive insistence on knitting, this activity certainly plays a major role inthe story. Indeed. Wharton uses knitting to signify the delicate link between thepresent and the past. but. ironically, it also signifies a fayade in the denial ol.and protection against, the linkage between the past and the present.

Although she tries to hide her guilt-ridden past. Mrs. Ansley extracts it tromthe secret recesses of her mind just as she '"|h|alf-guiltily" draws a ""tv\isi olcrimson silk" from her black handbag. If black signifies the gloom of guilt,then crimson signifies the heat of sexuality and risque youthfulness o( romaiitic passion. And 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 pre-sent or bringing the present into the past. Indeed, pursuing a cyclic course,time repeats itself with only a slight difference. Just as her clever daughter hastlown to Tarquinia for tea and '"intends to fly back by moonlight" (48) with aMarehese. ostensibly in the company of her friend. Jenny, so Grace, in heryouth, maintaining an ostensible friendship with Alida. had her own aiKeiitnrein the moonlight with Alida's fiance. Delphin Slade. Now the middle-agedGrace Ansley takes up knitting, for. in the absence of other kinds of usefulwork that have beeome obsolete beeause of the "new system" of courtship.Barbara's mother has "a good deal of time to kill" (47).

But. as Wharton suggests with dramatic irony. Mrs. Ansley is concernedneither with living, savoring the present moments, nor with reliving, remem-bering moments ofthe past. She appears to maintain that to watch a "stupen-dous seene" now and remember the time when she has been here earlier is

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hardly ol any significance: .She "gct |s | tired just looking" at timeless beautyand not tloing something productive, such as ret'lecting or musing (47). Hence.she has much time ""to kill" rather than to presei ve. That is. she prelers to beobliv ious to both the present and the past. and. ironically, she turns to her knit-ting as a comforting instrument for forging the path of forgetful ness. Indeed,she is quite content with her limited know ledge and. consequently, with herdistance from both the present and the past: "'"I've come to the conclusion that1 don't in the least know what they |(he dai.ighters| are.' said Mrs. Ansley. 'Andperhaps we didn't know much more about each other'" (48). Although thislurning point, which comes with a ""shy glance from Grace and her use ofMrs. Siade's first name. Alida. reveals a lessening ofthe gap between the pre-sent and the past, as between the two women who have seemingly been ""inti-mate since childhood" (48). like .'\lida. Grace, who fragments time in herdaughter's youth as in her own. continues to ignore the connection betweenthe past and the present. As Grace lesists forging a link with Alida. so. despite""ceas|ing| to fidget with her bag. and |. . . sinking] into meditation" (50). sheresists tbrging the link between the present and the past with Alida.

Reclaiming her distance with /\lida. Grace ""scttle|s| herself in her chair,and almost furtively drlawingl forth her knitting." she uses it as her protectionand her tai^ade (50). Wharton marks this significant turning point in the story\\ Ith another tiramatic irony as the two women lalk abt)ut the game of bridge,only to reject it in the ""presence of the \ast Memento Mori which face|s|them" (50). Fuen in the act of building the bridge between the present and thepast, as between themselves, both women reject proceeding into the eonnec-(ion. And as Grace seeks refuge in her ""knitting." Alida takes ""sideway noteof this activity" (50). It represents the fai;ade with which Grace and Alidamaintain the ""interval|s|" of their intimacy and. hence, the semblance of aconnection between the present and the past (49): ""Mrs. Ansley lifted her knit-ting a little closer to her eyes. "Yes: how we were guardedl'" (50). Attempt-ing to prevent the secret and passionate past from spilling into the present.Mrs. Ansley pretends to casually follow Mrs Siade's delicate thread of ""oldmemories" (50). That is. while following the silk thread of her present activi-ty, she struggles to ereet a subtle barrier of safety to protect herself from Alida.who is assiduously and cautiously digging up a certain portion ofthe buriedpast: ""I Mrs. Slade] turned again toward Mrs. Ansley. but the latter had reacheda delicate point in her knitting. "One. two. three—slip two; yes. they musthave been.' she assented, without looking up" (5 I). As she "'slip|s|" a stitch—ihat is. moves a stitch from one needle to the otlier without knitting the stitchto close the gap between herself and Alida- so she skips from the emblemat-ic needle ofthe past to that ofthe present without stitching the past with thepresent. Indeed, the eover Grace has been creating for her own comfort illus-trates that she (mueh like Alida a little later) really does not grasp the thread

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ol the past anil that the cover has served merely as the make-belie\e linkbetween the past and the present. Hor. as Wharton ironieally suggests, ""onenever knows" exaetly how elusive the past is.

But. despite Grace's subtle attempts to proteet herself Irom the disco\er\ ofthis eonneetion between the past and the present, as the emblematic aciion ofdropping her knitting indieates. she learns, as the knitter, to accept the giati-ual uncovering ofthe linkage between the past and the present, fhe fiist timeshe ""drop|s| her knitting" is right after Alida produees a ""haitllv audiblelaugh " of jealousy (51). Then, when Alida announces that she had written thelove note that sent Graee to the (\>losseum. ""|Grace's| bag. her kiiittiiiL; andgloves. slid|e| in a panic-stricken heaii to the ground' (53). Now it becomesclear to Grace that she has been elingiiig to talse memories. Clearly, the deli-cate pattern of memories she has been knitting for herself suddenly lalK fromher grasp, for memory turns out to be the interpretation and not the knov\ leilgeofthe past. As Wharton marks earlier turning points in the story, so she marksthe elimax through a referenee to knitting. Now. for the knitter, the act ofremembering beeomes. to use Homi K. Bhabha's argument, the |iaiiilul act ofre-membering. ""a putting together ofthe disniembered past to make sense ofthe trauma of the present" ((i3). With Alida's announcement, the preseiil trau-ma of emotions (that both women have been struggling to cover aiul COIUKII)breaks out on the surfaee. and the two women are foreed to eoiifront the buriedand mangled past. But dropping the blaek handbag is signifieant because itsuggests that the burden of guilt slips away from (iraee as she is foiced (oacknowledge her guilty past. Intleed. Cirace alone is the knitter because shealone acquires the grace with which to acknowledge the past and hence to secthe connection between the present and the past.

—.lAMIL S. Sl'^LINA. Prittee (ieori^e's Cottttttttttily Collei^e. Latino. MitrxlattdCopyriiiin O 2007 Heldtef Ptihiieatiotts

WORKS (ni; i )

i - )hah lKi . f t o n i i K . t h e l . o e a t i o n o f C u l i i i r e . I . D I K I O I I : k o i i l l c i l t i e . l ' * ' *4 .W h a r t o n . I H I J I I I . " R o m a n t ' e \ c i . " P i i e r a i i i r e a i r o s s C u l i i i r e x t x l . S l k ' c n a ( l i l l e s p i o . I c i v / i i i l i I o n

s c c a . a n i l C a r o l .A. .San i^c r . 4 l l i o i l . t i o s l o n : . A l l \ i i . 2(H).S.

Stevens's NllANCKS OF A THKMK BY WII.MAMS

A seenario in which Wallace Stevens reseues William Garlos W illianis froma Romantie idiom may seem unlikely, but in ""Niianees of a rhcme hv

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