“Gimpel the Fool” by Isaac Bashvis Singer is a story about a man named Gimpel who appears to be very naïve and gullible to most everyone in his society. “Roman Fever” by Edith Wharton is a story about two long-term friends who both have a secret from the past, and eventually confront one another about it. These two stories have both similarities and differences. Both could either be considered human versus human or human versus society. Also, these stories conflicts for the most part revolve around some sort of “trick”. Although “Gimpel the Fool” and “Roman Fever” have similarities regarding their conflicts, they still differ when it comes to the overall themes. With “Gimpel the Fool’s” theme being belief and faith, and “Roman Fever’s” theme being jealousy.
In “Gimpel the Fool” one of main conflict is human versus society. Throughout this story Gimpel is constantly being tricked by the townspeople. Although they all believe he is the fool, in reality they are the fools, as the rabbi said, “It is written, better be a fool all of your days than for one hour to be evil. You are not a fool. They are the fools. For he who causes his neighbor to feel shame loses Paradise himself.” (746) With the rabbi saying this, he is stating the fact that Gimpel is different than those in the society, but he is the better half and not the fool like the others. Therefore, this quote is showing the conflict of Gimpel versus society. The people in his society believe that if you believe everything that others say, that that makes you a fool. But Gimpel and the rabbi believe the opposite, and therefore go against society.
“Roman Fever” also has one of its main conflicts being human versus society. One could say that both Mrs. Slade and Mrs. Ansley are stuck in a society in which as women, they are forced to be friends. While reading this story it becomes apparent that these women do not care for one another. At one-point Mrs. Slade says, “You do understand? I’d found out – and I hated you, hated you.” (839) This statement makes the reader wonder if Mrs. Slade hated Mrs. Ansley so much, why would they remain “friends” for all of these years? At this time, women in society did not have many places to find new friends. The fact that these two women were both in the upper class meant that they for the most part needed to be friends, and because they grew up being friends their children also needed to be friends. Because of this concept, it could be argued that the conflict for “Roman Fever” is Mrs. Ansley and Mrs. Slade versus society.
Human versus human is also one of the main conflicts in “Gimpel the Fool.” With the townspeople tricking Gimpel on a regular basis, one could say that they are personally attacking him. An example of one of their tricks is, “You, Gimpel, while you stand there scraping with you baker’s shovel Messiah has come. The dead has arisen.” (746) The only point of this trick is to be unkind to Gimpel. This is not the only trick that gets played on Gimpel, there are many more. The fact that these people in the town do these tricks on Gimpel for no reason, other than to be mean shows how “Gimpel the Fool’s” main conflict could also be human versus human.
In “Roman Fever” one of the main conflicts is also human versus human. Both Mrs. Slade and Mrs. Ansley create this conflict. At the end of the story the reader finds out that Mrs. Slade tricked Mrs. Ansley into thinking that her fiancé, Delphin, wanted to meet her. But then Mrs. Slade finds out that Mrs. Ansley did meet her Delphin, and that she ended up getting pregnant with his child, “‘I had Barbara,’ she said, and began to move ahead of Mrs. Slade toward the stairways.” (841) This is Mrs. Ansley admitting to Mrs. Slade she did have Barbara with her Delphin. This conflict arose when Mrs. Slade tricked Mrs. Ansley, but then continued on until they are adult, when she finally comes clean about writing the letter. That is also when Mrs. Slade finds out that Mrs. Ansley wrote “Delphin” back. At this point the conflict also includes Delphin, because Mrs. Slade now knows that he betrayed her love and chose to go sleep with Mrs. Ansley, her best friend.
Another similarity between “Gimpel the Fool” and “Roman Fever” is that both of these stories’ conflicts revolve around “tricks”. “Gimpel the Fool” is full of many tricks played on him by the townspeople and by his wife. These tricks are used to be unkind to him, and to prove that he is a “fool”. When the wife is playing “tricks” on him, they are mainly for her own benefit, so that she can continue to cheat on him. In “Roman Fever” there is only one big trick. That is when Mrs. Slade writes the letter to Mrs. Ansley. Mrs. Slade does this because she is jealous of Mrs. Ansley and wants to see if she will listen to the letter and go to the colosseum to meet Delphin, and ultimately betray her. This trick however, backfires when Mrs. Slade realizes that Mrs. Ansley wrote Delphin back, and ended up actually meeting with him.
Although these two stories have similarities within their conflicts, these conflicts lead them to overall different themes. The theme of “Gimpel the Fool” is belief and faith. Although Gimpel is constantly tricked and teased, he still has a very strong belief in why he chooses to believe what everyone says. This moral is showed in this quote, “However, I resolved that I would always believe what I was told. What’s the good in not believing? Today it’s your wife you don’t believe; tomorrow it’s God Himself you won’t take stock in.” (751) Gimpel is saying, in this quote, that if he starts to not believe all of the townspeople’s tricks, what’s to stop him from beginning to stop believe in God. Gimpel’s moral is emphasized in this quote because he is not only explaining why he believes everything people say but is also showing that he has a strong faith in God. Therefore, showing both the theme of belief and of faith within this story.
The theme of “Roman Fever” is jealousy. Again, this is a different theme than “Gimpel the Fool”. The whole reason Mrs. Slade wrote the fake letter to Mrs. Ansley was because she was jealous of her, “I knew you were in love with Delphin- and I was afraid; afraid of you, of your quiet ways, your sweetness… your… well, I wanted you out of the way, that’s all… So in blind fury I wrote that letter.” (839). This quote is Mrs. Slade admitting to Mrs. Ansley that the reason she wrote the letter was because she was jealous and felt threatened by her. And even years later Mrs. Slade’s jealousy shifted to Mrs. Ansley’s daughter, Barbara; she much prefers Barbara over her own child, Jenny. Not only does this story show jealousy at its finest, but it also shows severe consequences for jealousy. And the main consequence that Mrs. Slade finds, is the fact that Mrs. Ansley ended up sleeping with her fiancé, and that Barbara is Mrs. Slade’s husband’s child.
Although “Gimpel the Fool” and “Roman Fever” have similarities, they also have differences. They both have multiple different conflict types; human versus human and human vs society. These conflict types can be used for either one of these stories. They also both have conflicts that revolve around trickery. Meaning, the main driving points for their conflicts are the tricks either being played on them, or that they play on each other. Although “Gimpel the Fool” and “Roman Fever” have similarities within their overall conflicts, they do have one major difference. That difference being that resulting from their similar conflicts come very different themes. “Gimpel the Fool’s” theme being belief and faith, and “Roman Fever’s” theme being jealousy.
Works Cited
Singer, Isaac Bashevis. “Gimpel the Fool”. Translated by Saul Bellow. The Art of the Short
Story. Edited by Dana Gioia and R.S Gwynn. Pearson Longman, 2006, pp. 745-55.
Wharton, Edith. “Roman Fever”. The Art of the Short Story. Edited by Dana Gioia and R.S
Gwynn. Pearson Longman, 2006, pp. 832-41.
