PROLOGUE: “Mr. Ethan Winters and Mr. Lucas Baker will live together under one roof for the duration of time it takes to get them new identities issued under the witness protection program.” The man in a sharp black suit reading off the paper in front of him looked up at the two men in question. Both of them looked absolutely petrified. He went on to read “You will be provided a house to share in Portland, Oregon. All expenses already paid for. Neither of you are to look for work and are to keep a low profile until further notice.” 'How the hell did this happen? Ethan thought. I can't do this! I can't share a house with Lucas Baker! The man who tried to kill me! The man I think is extremely attractive! What if I start to like him?' Ethan …show more content…
The next morning. They had only spent a couple hours in this new home of theirs. It was a quaint place. Big too. A lot bigger than his house back in Texas that he shared with Mia. Ethan woke to see Lucas still asleep, facing away from him in the single bed a few feet from his own. He was wearing nothing but his underwear and Ethan couldn't help but stare. Lucas was always pleasing on the eyes but now that he had color back, he was only more so. He gulped and took in his form. He was lucky Lucas decided to sleep without blankets, otherwise he wouldn't have gotten such a nice show. What Ethan didn't know was that Lucas was awake and he knew that Ethan was watching him. He could feel his eyes boring into his back and it made him feel... things. He suddenly felt very self conscious and decided to fake waking up so he could go put on clothes. He sat up, stretched, briefly looked at Ethan who upon seeing the Bakers son's face, quickly averted his own, and got up. Lucas tried to hide the red that was ever present on his cheeks but failed to do so. Ethan saw but only assumed that he had made Lucas uncomfortable with his staring. 'Nice going, Ethan.' he thought to himself. He waited until Lucas was done changing in the bathroom to go get ready …show more content…
He felt overloaded with this information. This was a complete game changer. He was honestly so relieved. This meant that he didn't have to feel bad for falling for Lucas. He no longer blamed him for how he acted back at the Baker house. He could see now that he was under complete control of Evie, just not his family. He was fucked over, even by the people claiming to help him. All for dirt on his family. Without thinking, Ethan got up and walked over to him, pulling him up into a hug. Lucas was shocked but clung to him all the same. It's been over three years since he's felt human contact like this. It felt so incredibly nice and he couldn't help the tears that started to stream down his face like an overflowing river. He didn't think Ethan would believe him. Ethan shushed him and rubbed his back soothingly while he cried. Lucas tried to keep quiet but he just kept crying harder and harder. To feel so accepted brought out a lot of emotions. Fear, anger, sadness, glee. All passing through him like arrows buried in his chest. He let out a feeble and shaky 'thank
Through the obscurity which hid their faces their thoughts seemed to dart at each other like serpents shooting venom. Ethan was seized with horror of the scene and shame at his own share in it. It was as senseless and savage as a physical fight between two enemies in the darkness.
He deals with her complaining, overpowering and demanding personality, and she acts like she is always ‘sick.’ However, he didn’t ignore his feelings for Mattie and he wasn’t strong enough to run away and escape. When he was planning to run away with Mattie, he had to go get money from Mr. Andrew so they could run away but on his way there he met Mrs. Andrew. She told Ethan, “I always tell Mr. Hale I don’t know what she’d ‘a’ [Zeena] done if she hadn’t ‘a’ had you to look after her… You’ve had an awful mean time, Ethan Frome” (Wharton 104). After Mrs. Andrew tells this to Ethan, he doesn’t go ask for Mr. Andrew to pay him and instead goes home. He feels ashamed for for making Mr. Andrew get the money he needs because last time Ethan asked for the money, Mr. Andrew couldn’t get it. He also feels guilty for hurting his friends and he doesn’t want to leave Zeena with nothing when he runs away with Mattie. This displays again, how Ethan is a weak
He could not get away from Zeena, nor run away with the girl he felt drawn to. There was no way Ethan could afford to get away even if he tried. Ethan could not afford to pay for himself to leave town, nor could he provide for the woman he desired. He also imagines life as if he were suddenly resolved from all the issues going on in his life. All the issues that went on, Ethan brought upon himself due to the way he managed his life.
The book says, “His wife had never shown any jealousy of Mattie, but of late she had grumbled increasingly over the house-work and found oblique ways of attracting attention to the girl 's inefficiency(Wharton, chpt 1).” This means Zeena knew about the love affair. Because Ethan and Zeena did not honestly love each other, the affair did not bother Zeena. Eventually, though, Zeena wants to force Mattie to go back home. Ethan and Mattie are extremely devastated by this. Ethan is not in love with either girl, but cannot leave either one. What happened next was a sleigh riding accident. Ethan purposely drove a sled into a tree hoping to kill Mattie and himself. By doing this he could escape all his responsibilities. He would not be abandoning anyone technically. The immaturity in Ethan 's personality is shown through this event. The accident caused Ethan and Zeena to be obligated to care for Mattie for the rest of their lives. Because the accident was intentional Ethan should be held accountable for it. He was supposed to be a mature adult who made the right decisions. He failed at this. Ethan should have been put in jail for this mishap. Moreover, Mattie did die that day because her liveliness
Ethan is the definition of a teenager and this characterization is known for making bad decisions so whenever he makes a decision in the book the reader can predict that something's going to go wrong like when he agrees to rob a bank or when he smashed his dad’s car in the first place.
...controllable circumstances brought him back home, it was he who chose to stay and risk losing all hope for the life he had dreamed for. Ethan's decision to be with Zeena did nothing but make his already dreadful life worse. When Mattie finally arrives, it's almost like a small burden has been lifted from Ethan's shoulders and he is almost allowed to live again. Lacking the ability to make decisions, Ethan worsens his life by letting things just slide by; and by not standing up to Zeena, the outcome leaves Ethan more desperate and lonelier than he was before.
He uses experiences in his own life or what he imagines to understand what a young Ethan Frome would have done 20 plus years earlier. But why did he put himself in the shoes of Ethan? The narrator put himself in Ethan’s shoes due to the instantaneous and growing connection between the two characters. As stated before, the narrator immediately was interested in Ethan and became more and more fascinated after hearing stories of the accident. They also grew closer together with the discovery of their similarities, including engineering and the feeling of being stuck in Starkfield. While the narrator put himself in Ethan’s predicament we can assume that he learned valuable life lessons. The lessons could help the narrator in his own life, including aspects of love, marriage, and many others. We can also infer that these lessons from which the narrator learned are lessons we can learn as readers of this novel. When you look at this idea it can seem like a very unusual way to get across a message. Ferda Asya writes in her article analyzing Ethan Forme that the use of the unusual narrator “reveals the true nature of her subject” (23). Wharton has the readers of Ethan Frome looking at a character that is looking at another character which can be seen as odd. It’s not just understanding a message, but seeing an example of another person understanding the message at the same time. We can all learn from the message and experience of the narrator in the story Ethan
Mrs. Hale tells the narrator that if Mattie had dies, Ethan may have lived, but as things are, his existence is a kind of a living death. In addition, in chapter two, he had asked his dead ancestors, at their graves, to help him keep Mattie with him. We find that his natural ally is death and life is his enemy. Mrs. Hale believes that Mattie? surviving the accident is literally a fate that is worse than death, since the dead hold their peace, whereas Mattie and Zeena are often mad at each ther, adding to Ethan?s suffering and unhappiness.
Darry didn't know how to react, he felt nothing but love and happiness for the man his brother had become.
Ethan's last failure was the way he modified his and Mattie's lives regarding the "smash up". He wanted to run away with Mattie, but he could not because his practical sense told him it was not feasible to do so. Mattie wanted so desperately to be with Ethan that she suggested in order to stay together forever, to die together. It was Ethan's job to steer into the tree with the sled so that it looked like an accidental death.
When Zeena was there while Ethan's mother was ill to "nurse her", she gave him the "human speech" he longed for because his mother had "lost the power of speech." Ethan felt that he would be "dreadful" if "left alone" if Zeena were to leave him, so he ended up marrying her so she would stay. Ethan is unable to make decisions without thinking of her first or being reminder that she's the one he is loyal to because of this attachment. Even having blissful moments with Mattie, Ethan cannot rid his mind of Zeena. While having supper, the cat "jumped between them into Zeena's empty chair" and when reminded of Zeena, Ethan was "paralyzed." Ethan is happy when with Mattie, but his love for her will never rid him from Zeena. Ethan was even planning o asking the Hales for currency, but the thought of "leaving alone" his "sickly woman" led him to desert his plan in taking money to leave Zeena by herself. This shows that even in his desire to escape her, Ethan values their marriage and is still thinking of her greater good. Ethan's happiness resides in Mattie to the point where he was willing to kill himself to be with her forever, however, midway through the attempt, "his wife's face, with twisted monstrous ligaments, thrusts itself between him and his goal." Due to Zeena showing herself to Ethan near death, he "swerved in response" which may have caused the attempt to fail. This scene demonstrates how Ethan, even when
Ethan shows the weakness of character when he surrenders to his loneliness. Although Ethan returning home to care for his father who was hurt on the farm, and then proceeding to put off education to care for his mom when she became ill, might have been seen as a strength. As soon as someone left his side he couldn’t bear to be alone. When Zeena was about to leave Ethan he felt a sense of loneliness that he couldn’t handle.
Soon, instead of being angry at Ethan, I became confused as to my feelings for the characters. Similar to Ethan when he chooses to stay with Zeena. While I don’t have a wife I have to worry about, I’ve got to worry about my own well being and boy am I bad at that. Being a college student I understand the money struggles, and not being able to do everything (two jobs, and many hours of studying).
The crash left them both severely injured. The Fromes were poor before, but after, with Ethan only able to do a little work, they were poorer than ever. Never a social man, Ethan cut off the few relationships that he had maintained so his old friends would not see his poverty. The townspeople speak of Ethan, Mattie, and Zeena in the past tense, just like they refer to dead people. When Mrs. Ned Hale talks about Ethan and Mattie she said, "Yes, I knew them both.
Ethan is not happy with his life and feels that it is his obligation to stay on the farm and work like his parents had “readers discover a man who feels overwhelmed by family responsibilities and who cannot free himself from what he believes to be family expectations.” (Witkosky). This obligation, and what Ethan believes to be his family expectations, ultimately helped lead to his decision to stay in Starkfield and not pursue a happier life with Mattie elsewhere. Ethan also feels that even though all of his family members had died a long time ago, he still senses their presence, and he feels pressured to continue the family custom “Ethan senses their presence; in his eyes, the headstones on their graves, located near his farm, are like sentinels who guard and enforce family custom.” (Witkosky).