Influence Of Choices In Wharton's Ethan Frome

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Much of the time, we have a great deal of control over the choices we make, but sometimes these choices are influenced by outside factors or the situations surrounding them. In Ethan Frome, certain situations greatly affected the decisions made by characters. However, the choices ultimately came down to the characters themselves. For example, Ethan and Mattie’s mutual love may have caused them to act irrationally, but it was Mattie’s choice to recommend suicide and Ethan’s choice to complete the act, which was unsuccessful. Another example is Zeena’s decision to dismiss Mattie from the house, a choice Ethan did not support but really did not have much say in. I firmly believe that although we may be influenced to make certain choices by our

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