Ethan Frome takes place during the winter in rural New England. Life is dull and lonely in the town of Starkfield, Massachusetts. This isolated and oppressive place has the power to shape the lives of its inhabitants. The six-month long winters persuade people into keeping to themselves and staying indoors. Friends and neighbors hardly interact with each other because of the weather. People tend to allow the environment in Starkfield to affect their mood. The bleak, wintry, depressing setting in the book plays a significant role in the personalities and destinies of Zeena and Ethan.
Ethan Frome's life and his tragic destiny is shaped by the setting in the book. Ethan is depressed and run-down from life in Starkfield. The narrator believe that
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Before Ethan and Zeena’s marriage, Zeena was a completely different person. When Zeena came to Starkfield, she filled the house with her voice. She would laugh at Ethan and encouraged him to “go right along out” and leave her to finish her business. Ethan was allowed to go out into the town and converse with other men. Zeena was soon invited to stay at the from and eventually she got married to Ethan. When they married, both Zeena and Ethan agreed that they would sell the farm and sawmill and move to a large town. She made it quite apparent that life on an isolated farm was not the life Zeena was expecting to pursue. As a result, she chose to look down at Starkfield. One of Zeena’s biggest problems with Starkfield was that she wanted to be known in her community. She developed a “sickliness” that allowed her to be notable. When Ethan first met Zeena he thought that she was the epitome of perfect health, but she too, like Ethan’s mother, grew silent. Over the years, Zeena becomes adept to using her illness to control everything and everyone around her. She now only speaks in a complaining whine. Zeena’s change in character can be directly associated by her staying in
Ethan Frome lives in the town of Starkfield. Within the first few pages of the book, the reader can realize Ethan is not a valued member of the community. Early in the book, the family that is housing the Reverend
Several Years after their marriage, cousin Mattie Silver is asked to relieve Zeena, who is constantly ill, of her house hold duties. Ethan finds himself falling in love with Mattie, drawn to her youthful energy, as, “ The pure air, and the long summer hours in the open, gave life and elasticity to Mattie.” Ethan is attracted to Mattie because she is the opposite of Zeena, while Mattie is young, happy, healthy, and beautiful like the summer, Zeena is seven years older than Ethan, bitter, ugly and sickly cold like the winter. Zeena’s strong dominating personality undermines Ethan, while Mattie’s feminine, lively youth makes Ethan fell like a “real man.” Ethan and Mattie finally express their feeling for each other while Zeena is visiting the doctor, and are forced to face the painful reality that their dreams of being together can not come true.
...ss for yourself because in the end, one will regret it. Ethan’s morals prevent him from leaving Starkfield to pursue and achieve his dreams. He cannot baffle the traditions of his town. After Zeena tries to "foist on him the cost of a servant", forcing Ethan to let go of Mattie, he chooses to “leave with Mattie”. However, he cannot go through with the plan because he cannot bear to leave Zeena alone with her sickness. He knows she would not be able to take care of herself and cannot afford her own medicine. It is inappropriate to leave his wife in this bad condition. Therefore Ethan chooses to live an unhappy life instead of deceive his family and friends. Wharton portrays that by following society’s standards they will lose their hope and end up living in misery. Ethan chose to embark the obstacles and in the end it ruined him to a life of unhappiness and failure.
Mattie and Zeena, the two leading women characters in this novel have many differences that set them apart from each other, but also similarities that grab the reader’s interest. When they both entered Ethan’s life, they were a breath of fresh air that broke the silence in Ethan’s life. However, the crisp air that Mattie brought was prolonged and when Ethan began falling into a pit of silence again, she was there to get him to speak his mind and let out his emotions. She tried to have a positive outlook on life and to try new things to benefit her and others around her. Mattie was more outgoing and spontaneous opposed to Zeena. While Mattie was out and about in the town, Zeena was home all day. Zeena was bitter and controlling towards Ethan and everyone else in her life. Regardless, they were both willing to help when push came to shove. "Zeena 's done for Mattie, and done for Ethan, as good as she could. It was a miracle, considering how sick she was – but she seemed to be raised right up just when the call came to her. Not as she 's ever given up doctoring, and she 's had sick spells right along; but she 's had the strength given her to care for those two for over twenty years, and before the accident came she thought she couldn 't even care for herself” (Wharton 23). So despite of Zeena being cruel and pessimistic most of the time, she was willing to return the favor of kindness and
This quote is explaining the feeling of Ethan when Mattie Silver comes into his home. Ethan was gloomy and pretty much sick of his wife and when Mattie comes to his house she brings hope and a whole new outlook on life to Ethan. Ethan feels that she is warm person and a polar opposite compared to Zeena. Her coming transforms Ethan?s cold and depressing existence.
In Ethan Frome, the theme of winter is predominantly used, with its confining nature, to portray each character’s hardships. For example, the theme of winter is directly linked with Ethan Frome and the harsh conditions he has to endure to survive. To Ethan, the wintry snow in Starkfield seems elegant and appealing, but as he sees later on, the snow is unveiled as a major obstacle, preventing Ethan from achieving his dreams. Winter manifests itself as the ice, cold, and snow symbolically representing the isolation that Ethan experiences. As the narrator states “when winter shut down on Starkfield, and the village lay under a sheet of snow… must have been in Ethan Frome's young manhood,” The solitude that winter brings causes Starkfield to
Ethan marries Zeena so he won't be alone after his mother dies. She seemed like a very cheerful, vivacious person while his mother was sick. After their marriage all this changed. She became a very nagging, sick wife. Because of Zeena's "complications" they had to hire someone to help around the house. Mattie, Zeena's cousin, needed a place to live and seemed fit for the job. She moved in and Ethan took and immediate liking to her. He found someone that cared for him, was always happy, and could share his youth. All of which, Zeena was incapable of doing. Ethan longed to be with Mattie, but he was loyal to Zeena. Being married to Zeena was Ethan's first failure.
Frustration is evident throughout the entire book because of many different situations. Ethan’s frustration could sometimes be centralized to the occurrence of both his parents needing to be taken care of. Because of this, he could not do what he had longed to do his whole life which was “live in towns, where there were lectures and big libraries and ‘fellows doing things’” (“Ethan”). Even though Ethan could have easily given the daunting task of having to do all the farm work to his elderly parents, he decided to help the ones that helped him through his life. Ethan had a reputation for being a good guy throughout the town but what the town did not know was what Ethan truly desired. Zenobia Frome, also known as Zeena, is Ethan’s wife who has a case of hypochondria. “Ethan’s marriage to Zeena is a study in frustration, not only because of her hypochondria and the fact that they are childless, but because their interests are so different” (“Ethan”). ...
Due to Mattie's injuries, and Ethan's inabilities to leave Starkfield, he remains at his home in an uncomfortable relationship with Mattie and Zeena. Even though he still had Mattie at his side, he was not living the life he wanted in the "west" with Mattie. There was no real "difference between the Fromes up at the farm and the Fromes down in the graveyard." Ethan gave up his life to stay at the farm with the woman he loves, and the woman he does not, resulting in him being subconsciously tied to Starkfield. Ethan's "father's accident" and his mother's falling "ill" results in Ethan's sacrifice of his career "to be an engineer" and makes him stay in Starkfield to marry Zeena. Even with opportunities that come along to change Ethan's continuous cycle of his life, he still ends up sacrificing everything to fulfill his duty and obligation to his wife
Meanwhile, how could she keep the farm going? It was only by incessant labour and personal supervision that Ethan drew a meager living from his land, and his wife, even if she were in better health than she imagined, could never carry such a burden alone" (Wharton 73). This evidence demonstrates Ethan's quality of his kind and loving nature towards others. The reason is when he wants to leave Zeena, he thinks about her future and how she will suffer to support herself. He cannot bear Zeena's pain, so he puts her future and their marriage before his dreams. His dream is to "leave with Mattie the next day" (Wharton 72). Another example when Ethan is a very concernful person is when "she would have suffered a complete loss of identity" (Wharton 38). This quote demonstrates Ethan's concern for Zeena because Ethan's dream is to move to the metropolitan area, but Zeena's sickliness will make her look inferior to the city. Ethan's concern for Zeena's image prevents him to "sell the farm and saw-mill and try their luck in a large town. Ethan's love of nature did not take
Based on how I was raised, I was angry that Ethan liked another while his own wife struggled with her own health. I thought he could do more to help his wife. The quote shocked me, I didn’t think of Zeena like that. I thought of her as a sickly, caring wife. I was wrong and this section gave me a new version of what was happening.
The whole reason Ethan married Zeena was so that he wouldn't be all alone on the farm after his mom had died “When Ethan’s mother died, he was "seized with an unreasoning dread of being left alone on the farm; and before he knew what he was doing he had asked her to stay there with him."” (Hoffman). Ethan quickly realized that this marriage with her wouldn’t give him the sense of happiness that he wanted, but instead made Ethan feel even more alone and even less happy than he was after his mom had died “...makes him feel further removed from happiness..” (Hoffman). This situation furthers once Mattie arrives at the Frome household and Zeena begins to isolate herself in her room complaining that she is sick and needs bed rest. This sense of isolation is especially shown when the Narrator tries to talk to Ethan and gain more details about his life, but Ethan won’t talk “, he has trouble obtaining further details. Ethan’s isolation is evident in their conversation.” (Hoffman). This life happened because Ethan sacrificed something crucial, his happiness, and now he’s dealing with the consequences of this decision. The book also talks about how Ethan’s isolation in his marriage and in his life is the reason that at the end of the book the condition, and quality of life at the Frome household is very tense and quiet, “... but winters
He is physically isolated from the world and is also cut off from the possibility of any relationship. Due to his new situation, he looks for an outlet in order to relieve himself from this isolation. Luckily enough for him, Mattie comes around in order to help Zeena out due to her illness. Wharton writes, “...the coming to his house of a bit hopeful young life was like the lighting of a fire under a cold heart” (Wharton 33). As Smith recognizes in this comparison, he says that “His (Ethan) life of isolation changes, however, when Mattie Silver comes to stay with him and his wife” (Smith 96). Smith correctly analyzes Ethan’s situation, labeling Mattie as this outlet of hope that he can turn to in order to cope with his isolation. Wharton herself shows that Ethan truly did view Mattie as his outlet for hope, mainly due to his love for her, which Mattie shares equally for him. This love sprouts from many things including attractiveness, conversation, understanding, and listening, many of which he lacks for his whole life and where most of his isolation roots itself. Wharton writes, “She had an eye to see and an ear to hear: he could show her things and tell her things, and taste the bliss of feeling that all he imparted left long reverberations and echoes he could wake at will” (Wharton 28). This is a fancy way of saying that they Mattie not only listened to Ethan, but also
Edith Wharton, belonging to the bourgeoisie, perpetrates the stereotype of the pitiful, unfortunate lower class by not allowing Ethan or his family a way out of their predicament. While she does not allow Ethan and his family financial support, she also does not allow them any happiness within the relationships they have with each other. Ethan is in a unhealthy relationship with Zeena, Mattie and Zeena do not get along, and Ethan and Mattie have fallen in love with each other. None of these relationships works out in the end, leaving all of them to live in eternal misfortune. A symbol that supports the entrapment of the poor is winter. The winter cold does not allow agriculture to thrive in Starkfield, limiting their source of income. The imagery of snow is also associated with being miserable and being stuck or trapped within its icy grip. Wharton uses these images to further limit her lower class characters, dooming them to live seemingly terrible lives. This story perpetrates the idea of the proletariat constantly being under the economic and social control of the bourgeois. Just like how the poor inhabitants of Starkfield were under the constant looming influence of bourgeois culture, Wharton was literally in control of the way the poor are depicted in her novel. This shows that the bourgeois acknowledge the proletarian life, but do nothing to change it because it would not benefit
The way that he describes her is in a very unfeminine and dark way, just like the weather and the snow in Starkfield. Her personality is very shallow and cold. Just like the weather, she is viewed in a negative aspect. Ethan yearns to get out of the grayish, bleak snow, but Zeena is the only one that holds him back. Ethan often thinks what “would not have happened if his mother had died in spring instead of winter” (Wharton 38). If his mother had died during spring, then he wouldn’t have married Zeena because the winter’s there are so desolate and hopeless. After Ethan’s mother died, Zeena immediately became ‘sick,’ making Ethan stay and to take care of the farm. The winter shaped both Zeena and Ethan’s actions, especially during the cold climate. Whenever Ethan is around her, “looking at her shut face, he feel[s] the chill of such forebodings” (Wharton 39). Zeena is at her worst when it’s cold and brittle; her mood and actions change along with the snow. Just like the other characters in the novel, the snow and cold is the reasoning behind her personality. Psychologically, many characters go through a depression-like state when the weather is as bleak and grey like the weather in Starkfield. A lot of people in the Starkfield community are “rich in pathological instances” (Wharton 38). They are obsessed with every type of illness, but unfortunately Zeena has always