Free Will Vs. Determinism In Edith Wharton's Ethan Frome

709 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Essays about free will

Many have debated about the topic of free will versus determinism. Edith Wharton, addresses this topic through her novel, Ethan Frome. Wharton introduces many instances in which the events that occur in the protagonist, Ethan Frome’s life, seem predetermined. These events were not predetermined however, because they were a reflection of Ethan’s expression of free will. Because humans have the ability to make conscious decisions, they have free will.
Neuroscientists claim that due to unconscious brain activity, we are “biochemical puppets” (Nahmias). Through experiments conducted by neuroscientists like Itzhak Fried, neural activity is shown to occur before a conscious decision is made. Fried concluded that this was a predetermined occurrence …show more content…

Humans are born into certain circumstances, genes, and an environment which shapes them (Cave). These factors also create natural biases which also influence them. However, “ there is a big difference between having less and none at all” (Nahmias). In the novel, the characters exercise their free will based limiting factors beyond their control. For example, Zeena and Mattie come and stay in Starkfield due to the gender roles at the time. They could not get jobs to support themselves, and therefore relied on living in the Frome household (Wharton). This demonstrates how limiting factors influence influence how people exercise their free …show more content…

In an experiment conducted by Kathleen Vohs and Jonathan Schooler, they concluded the disbelief in free will correlated to less responsible actions. Also, in another experiment conducted by Roy Baumeister, he concluded that disbelief in free will correlated to misery (Cave). This was also shown true in the novel when Ethan and Mattie both tried to commit suicide (Wharton 169-172). Mattie says, “ So’t we’d never have to leave each other any more” (Wharton 165). They both believed they had no other choice but to die together. This event highlights how disbelief in free will relates to unhappiness. Without the belief in free will, people are more likely to give into their negative emotions and decisions

Show More
Related

  • Free Essays on Wharton's Ethan Frome: Responsibilities

    705 Words  | 2 Pages

    Ethan Frome is the main character of Edith Wharton’s tragic novel. Ethan lives the bitterness of his youth’s lost opportunities, and dissatisfaction with his joyless life and empty marriage. Throughout the story Ethan is trapped by social limits and obligations to his wife. He lives an unhappy life with many responsibilities and little freedom. Ethan Frome studied science in college for a year and probably would have succeeded as an engineer or physicist had he not been summoned home to run the family farm and mill. Ethan quickly ended his schooling and went to run the family farm and mill because he feels it is his responsibility. He marries Zeena after the death of his mother, in an unsuccessful attempt to escape silence, isolation, and loneliness. Ethan also feels the responsibility to marry Zeena as a way to compensate her for giving up part of her life to nurse his mother. After marring Zeena he forgets his hope of every continuing his education and he is now forced to remain married to someone he does not truly love.

    Read More

  • Trapped in Ethan Frome by Edith Wharton

    911 Words  | 2 Pages

    Many people oppose society due to the surroundings that they face and the obstacles that they encounter. Set in the bleak winter landscape of New England, Ethan Frome by Edith Wharton is the story of a poor, lonely man, his wife Zeena, and her cousin Mattie Silver. Ethan the protagonist in this novel, faces many challenges and fights to be with the one he really loves. Frome was trapped from the beginning ever since Mattie Silver came to live with him and his wife. He soon came to fall in love with her, and out of love with his own wife. He was basically trapped in the instances of his life, society’s affect on the relationship, love, poverty, illness, disability, and life.

    Read More

  • Fantasy is an Escape from Fear in Edith Wharton's Ethan Frome

    978 Words  | 2 Pages

    Perhaps Edith Wharton's reason for writing Ethan Frome, was that it so vividly reflected her own dreary life. Abandoned of any love as a child from her mother and trapped in a marriage similar to that of Zeena and Ethan, Wharton found herself relying on illicit love. This illicit love was also her favorite topic of writing, which helped her to escape her own tragedies. She spent many nights in the arms of other men searching desperately for the love she believed existed, but had never felt, which is evident in all of her writings.

    Read More

  • Pursuit of Happiness in Edith Wharton's Novel, Ethan Frome

    743 Words  | 2 Pages

    While everyone is legally intitled to the pursuit of happiness, the truth of the matter is that very few ever achieve it. One’s morals, standards, conscious, or perhaps even fate, keep them from accepting a pure form of satisfaction. While a person can search and struggle their entire life for happiness, the truth of the matter is, that they will never be happy with what they have infront of them. The character Ethan, portrayed in Edith Whartons novel, Ethan Frome, is emotionally weak, he battles constantly with what he wants, how to get it, and what is ethically right. Ethan was obligated to care for his wife Zeena until death, but his misguided decisions lead him to be concerned only with his immediate happiness. Much like Ethan in Ethan Frome, people who concentrate on personal happiness, without factoring in personal responsibility, set themselves up for a painful reality check.

    Read More

  • The Chameleon Is Late And The Two Bundles

    559 Words  | 2 Pages

    The concept of choice is one that humans have abused time and time again. While free will may seem like a positive, the storyteller often portrays what can go wrong when humans are making the decisions. The way in which these choices are made can happen in a variety of manners, but the fundamentals of free will are very similar from story to story. In “The Chameleon is Late” and “The Two Bundles”, free will results in death remaining on earth, but the decisions that led to this outcome were made in unique ways.

    Read More

  • Fate In A Lesson Before Dying

    1152 Words  | 3 Pages

    Throughout the hundreds of years, individuals have pondered the impact of heavenly or insidious force, environment, hereditary qualities, even excitement, as deciding how free any individual is in settling on good decisions. Fate, a result of the past, is often described as the advancement of occasions out of man 's control, dictated by an extraordinary force. In any case that someone may utilize their freewill can reflect upon their outcomes, decided upon a supreme force, whether they are positive or negative. In the novels “A Lesson Before Dying,” Ernest Gaines and “The Grapes of Wrath,” John Steinbeck, the authors explore the trials and tribulations of self influenced fate controlled by an higher force.

    Read More

  • Free Will In The Novel 'Summer' By Edith Wharton

    1079 Words  | 3 Pages

    Is a person’s life premediated or is it choices they make with free will that determines one’s destiny? Women’s choices throughout history, for the most part, have been controlled by the men in their lives. In the novel “Summer,” by Edith Wharton, Charity Royall’s life is dictated by forces beyond her control. She is a young girl of no more than sixteen years old with a world view no larger than the main street in her town. Charity’s lack of choices are determined by where Charity’s came from, her family circumstances, naïveté, and the time period. That ultimately lead to her unfortunate position at the end of the book.

    Read More

  • Essay on Wharton's Ethan Frome: Tale of the Living Dead

    615 Words  | 2 Pages

    Tale of the Living Dead Ethan Frome, by Edith Warton is truly a tale of the “living dead”. Don’t be confused by the way this term is used in movies, where the living dead are corpses that rise from the ground. In this case, the term “living dead” refers to a person who is physically alive but emotionally dead. In the novel, Ethan Frome, all three main characters are emotionally dead. The characters have been emotionally dead since the "smash-up" in which Ethan and Mattie crashed their sled into a tree.

    Read More

  • Man Or Sheep By Stephen Cave Analysis

    755 Words  | 2 Pages

    Caves believes that people should and must accept that life outcomes are determined by disparities in nature and nuture so people can take practical measures to remedy misfortune and help others to fulfill their potential. “Free will and determinism are not the opposites they are often taken to be; they simply describe our behavior at different levels”, stated Stephen Cave. People should focus on their ability, in any given setting, to generate a wide range of options for theirselves, and to decide among them without having the feeling of restraint. If people give up their beliefs in free will, then their behavior will be viewed as a natural phenomenon. In the idea of cause and effect, a belief in free will may not inspire people to make the

    Read More

  • The Theme Of Isolation In Ethan Frome By Edith Wharton

    2266 Words  | 5 Pages

    In the book “Ethan Frome” by Edith Wharton, Ethan, the main character in the book, experiences many episodes of isolation persuading him to escape from and cope with them with outlets of hope, only leading to a life of permanent isolation. The story depicts a classic ironic switch of roles and a triangle of unusual “love.” With many people coming and going, Ethan looks to rely on someone to relieve his isolation and communicate with, only setting him up for trouble.

    Read More

  • Free Will and Determinism

    1633 Words  | 4 Pages

    The problem of free will and determinism is a mystery about what human beings are able to do. The best way to describe it is to think of the alternatives taken into consideration when someone is deciding what to do, as being parts of various “alternative features” (Van-Inwagen). Robert Kane argues for a new version of libertarianism with an indeterminist element. He believes that deeper freedom is not an illusion. Derk Pereboom takes an agnostic approach about causal determinism and sees himself as a hard incompatibilist. I will argue against Kane and for Pereboom, because I believe that Kane struggles to present an argument that is compatible with the latest scientific views of the world.

    Read More

  • Conflict Of Class Conflict In Edith Wharton's Ethan Frome

    1164 Words  | 3 Pages

    In Edith Wharton’s Ethan Frome, there is a prevalent conflict of class struggles. Ethan Frome, his wife Zeena, and their maid Mattie all live in extreme poverty. Wharton portrays them as miserable beings, seemingly always encompassed in misfortune. Wharton herself, however, lived a near opposite life compared to that of her characters. She was born into fortune; money was rarely a concern for her (Lee). Through a Marxist lens, one could argue that Edith Wharton, a woman of extreme wealth and privilege, would characterize lower, working class people such as the ones in Ethan Frome in an inaccurately dismal light. The consistent image of winter and coldness, typically associated with misery, in Ethan Frome foreshadows an unhappy ending for the

    Read More

  • Augustine's Thoughts on Free Will

    752 Words  | 2 Pages

    One thing that philosophers are great at is asking big questions, usually without providing answers. However, Saint Augustine has a more direct approach to his speculation, often offering a solution to the questions he poses. One such topic he broached in The City of God against the pagans. In this text, Augustine addresses the problem of free will and extends his own viewpoint. Stating that humankind can have free will with an omniscient God, he clarifies by defining foreknowledge, free will, and how they can interact successfully together (Augustine, 198). Throughout his argument, he builds a compelling case with minimal leaps of faith, disregarding, of course, that you must believe in God. He first illustrates the problem of free will, that it is an ongoing questions amongst many philosophers, then provides insight into the difference between fate and foreknowledge. Finally, finishing his argument with a thorough walk-through on how God can know everything, and yet not affect your future decisions.

    Read More

  • Freedom and Determinism

    2359 Words  | 5 Pages

    Freedom, or the concept of free will seems to be an elusive theory, yet many of us believe in it implicitly. On the opposite end of the spectrum of philosophical theories regarding freedom is determinism, which poses a direct threat to human free will. If outside forces of which I have no control over influence everything I do throughout my life, I cannot say I am a free agent and the author of my own actions. Since I have neither the power to change the laws of nature, nor to change the past, I am unable to attribute freedom of choice to myself. However, understanding the meaning of free will is necessary in order to decide whether or not it exists (Orloff, 2002).

    Read More

  • Psychology: The Five Levels Of Consciousness

    864 Words  | 2 Pages

    “Consciousness is defined as everything of which we are aware at any given time - our thoughts, feelings, sensations, and perceptions of the external environment. Physiological researchers have returned to the study of consciousness, in examining physiological rhythms, sleep, and altered states of consciousness (changes in awareness produced by sleep, meditation, hypnosis, and drugs)” (Wood, 2011, 169). There are five levels of consciousness; Conscious (sensing, perceiving, and choosing), Preconscious (memories that we can access), Unconscious ( memories that we can not access), Non-conscious ( bodily functions without sensation), and Subconscious ( “inner child,” self image formed in early childhood).

    Read More

More about Free Will Vs. Determinism In Edith Wharton's Ethan Frome

Open Document