Commonalities

After reading Summer, I was surprised to find it very similar to Roman Fever. Both stories discusses love and the choice to practice sex outside of wedlock with a resulting pregnancy, which leads to an unfulfilled marriage. The setting for the two is different, one being in America while the other is in a foreign country, but the characters reflect a similar lack of care for consequences until they are in effect. Finally both women claim to have an illness, when in truth they are suffering from morning sickness. With these commonalities, the women are forced to chose the best life for their child and their reputation, thus sacrificing their happiness to maintain a comfortable life. At of the two though, I liked how Summer showed the results of not marrying Royce for Charity, thus displaying to the audience why she would choose a man who only cared for her as a possession, exemplified by the fact that he was aware she was pregnant with another man's child. In terms of final words, leaving a that wow factor, Roman Fever is better. I think there are few phrases that can beat "I had Barbara." Taking that into account, both stories could be merged into one and it would take little effort. And if a sled ride was placed at the end, it might possibly work with Ethan Frome, but that would require him and Matty to consummate their relationship. If they had and all four of them had lived together, it would be very close to the hell the other women in Summer and Roman Fever accepted as their fates.