“Lusus Naturae” by Margaret Atwood and “Roman Fever” by Edith Wharton remain popular because they keep the reader engaged by describing conflict, plot, and underlying themes that are relevant to society. First of all, both stories provide insight into human responses to conflict. In “Lusus Naturae,” the main character who’s identity was reduced to a “freak,” experienced internal conflict by stating,”What could be done with me, what should be done with me?”(par. 1). Her family’s rejection caused her to question her humanity, “I was a thing…In what way is a thing not a person?  “I am a human being,” I could say. But what proof do I have of that? “I am a lusus naturae!” (par. 38). Although the character knew that she was a human being, therefore, valuable, she could not be sure of it.

The story  “Roman Fever,” one immediately gets the sense of conflict between Mrs. Slade and Mrs. Ansley when the narrator says that both women, “looked at each other…with the same expression of vague but benevolent approval” (par. 1). Both women were conflicted as they were trying to do be polite, despite a sense of tension. This engages the reader because one feels the same tension in and wants to know what happened between them? Another conflict is that both women loved the same man at one point. Mrs. Slade says, “…You had been out late sight-seeing, hadn’t you, that night?” (par. 63). Deep inside, Mrs. Slade knew that Mrs. Ansley became ill because she went to meet Delphin. Later, Mrs. Slade shows her conflict by saying, “Well you went to meet the man I was engaged to” (par. 70), “But I was the girl he was engaged to. Did you happen to remember that?” (par. 84) and “I hated you. I knew you were in love with Delphin” (par. 90). The reader gets a glimpse into Mrs. Slade’s conflict when the narrator says, “It seemed to Mrs. Slade what a slow struggle was going on behind the voluntarily controlled mask of her quite face” (par. 75). After the truth is exposed, Mrs. Ansley, “dropped back into her chair and murmurs “Oh.” Both women exposed their sense of betrayal and the hate that this caused.

In essence, the authors of these two stories are concerned with past actions and how they affect the future. The plots and themes used by the two are also attractive since they relate to modern society.

Works Cited

Mays, Kelly J. The Norton Introduction to Literature: Shorter 11th Edition. Ed. New York: W.    W. Norton & Company, Inc. 2013. Print.

 
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