Web Report #2

I compared Edith Wharton's "Roman Fever" and F. Scott Fitzgerald's "Bernice Bobs Her Hair." Specifically, I discussed the Modernist feeling of society as being paralyzed and wounded, focusing on the theme of manipulation and how that leads to a lack of communication. The question my essay seeks to answer is: The women from both stories lie and manipulate to follow a role they feel society requires of them. They become paralyzed in the role and stuck with secrets. How much of the paralysis modernists felt is a real product of society, and how much of it is a man-made product of fear about what secrets will come to light if a character acts out of their expected role or provokes another character?