Hola, Geekwad here...

Here's some more homeschooling documents. I've read "Roman Fever" by Edith Wharton and done some writing on it and the concept of irony.

The story “Roman Fever” by Edith Wharton is laced generously with irony, some blatant and some hidden. In this story, two women are talking about their youth in Rome while on a Roman holiday and a secret is revealed, probably ending their friendship.

Irony is first revealed when you see the two women's interactions. The author informs us that they lived “opposite each other their whole lives,” meaning not only that they were nothing alike but also that they lived across the street from each other. It talks about them having an “intimate relationship” and being friends since they were young girls. However, when you look at their interactions and conversations, you notice that it's full of snide comments and one-upmanship. Mrs. Slade is very blatant and says some rude things meant to get a rise out of Mrs. Ansley, and Mrs. Ansley is obviously shaken up and kind of mutters and whispers things. Then at the end, we learn Mrs. Ansley's secret and all of a sudden she's at the top and Mrs. Slade is on the bottom, instead of the other way around.

Irony is revealed to us as well in the two women's children. Barbara, or “Babs,” Mrs. Ansley's daughter, is out-spoken, confident, and generally much more like Mrs. Slade than Mrs. Ansley. Jenny, however, is Mrs. Slade's daughter, and is typically quiet, sweet, and angelic, much more like Mrs. Ansley than Mrs. Slade. Mrs. Slade confesses that she would rather have Barbara as a daughter unless she was an invalid, which is ironic, as Barbara is actually Mr. Slade’s daughter.

At the end is some serious irony that absolutely no one expects. We learn that Mrs. Ansley had an itch for Mrs. Slade's betrothed, and that Mrs. Slade had written a fake note to Mrs. Ansley that the man would meet her at the Colosseum after dark, and this is what caused Mrs. Ansley to catch Roman Fever. However, we then learn that Delphin, Mrs. Slade's fiancée, was at the Colosseum because Mrs. Ansley had written back to him and told him that she would be there. Then, the biggest surprise of all, we learn that Babs is actually Delphin's child and not Mr. Ansley's at all! At the end when Mrs. Ansley breaks the news, she becomes the outspoken one in our minds, and the roles are completely reversed.

Irony was a big part of the story. What we had first believed was completely turned around and we ended up with a surprise ending that nobody would have thought of. The irony makes the story extremely interesting and much more fun to read than just a transcript of two people talking about their youth. Irony turned this story into an extremely interesting and fun tale to read.

I've also written an alternate ending to the story:

“Well, I should feel sorry for you! I mean, I had him for twenty-five years and you had one letter that he didn’t even write!”

“But I didn’t need that letter,” Mrs. Ansley said softly.

“What did you say?”

“I didn’t need the letter,” she said a little more loudly. “I didn’t need the lette,r because in the end, he was mine.”

“Y-yours?” spluttered Mrs. Slade. “You never had him except for one night in the Colosseum!”

“Yes,” Mrs. Ansley said thoughtfully, “I did have him then. But that night, many years later, that night when he didn’t come home, and you stood by the door waiting for him to accompany you to the Jones’s party—I had him then too. And he never came home after that.” Her eyes were filled with malice.

“Wh-what are you saying?”

“I’m just saying”—Mrs. Ansley gave a mirthless laugh—“I’m just saying…well, let me put it this way: I never invited you over to my house after he died, did I?”

“No…” Mrs. Slade nervously glanced at the wall surrounding the two women, as though wondering how fast she could hop it.

“Well, then, you never saw the new carpet in the back room, you know the one, overlooking the river?”

“No, I didn’t see that. But why does-“

“Alida. I put the carpet down in the back room to cover up the bloodstains.”