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Ethan from character analysis essay
Ethan from 3 important characters essay
Ethan from 3 important characters essay
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Set in 1881 Starkfield, Massachusetts, Edith Wharton’s Ethan Frome reveals a recurring theme in literature: “the classic war between a passion and responsibility.” In this novel, protagonist Ethan Frome confronts the demands of two private passions: his desire to become an engineer that conflicts with his moral duty to his family and his love for Mattie Silver that conflicts with his obligations to his wife Zeena. Inevitably placing the desires and well-being of his family before his own, Ethan experiences only “‘[s]ickness and trouble’” and “‘that’s what [he’s] had his plate full up with, ever since the very first helping’” (12). The reader understands Ethan’s struggles when he abandons his studies at Worcester, when he considers running …show more content…
It all started when Ethan was taking Mattie to the station and they stopped by the hill because they had not gone coasting since last winter and they had planned to go again. Ethan and Mattie and found a sled and Mattie said to Ethan “[i]t’s dreadfully dark. Are you sure you can see?” (140) and Ethan responded “I could go down this coast with my eyes tied” (140). The two coast down and walk back up the hill and begin to leave when they realize they both do not want to leave each other. Ethan says “[o]h, Matt, I can’t let you go!” (142) and Mattie replies “[o]h, I can’t go either” (140), Ethan responds “[m]att! What’ll we do? What’ll we do” (142). This gets Mattie thinking and she comes up with going down one more time, but this time hit the elm. “”Right into the big elm. You said you could. So’t we’d never have to leave each other anymore”” (143). They both agree to kill themselves and run into the elm, but on the way down they swerve a little and it is not because of what you think, it is because of Zeena. “Once or twice the sled swerved a little… [b]ut suddenly his wife’s face, with twisted monstrous lineaments, thrust itself between him and his goal…[t]he sled swerved in response” (147). It was almost like Zeena kept the two from killing
Throughout the book, Ethan himself appears to be lifeless which reflected on how he lived his life due to not pursuing his dreams and remaining in the same old town his ancestors inhabited. Ethan is not the only one dreaming within the book. Mattie also pictures herself with Ethan in the future and it does come true. However, she is not Ethan’s wife like she planned to be. She is stuck with both Ethan and her cousin as her cousin cares for her and the man of her dreams. The reality they are facing becomes more of a hell than a happy ending as they imagined it would
Ethan Frome, a novella written by Edith Wharton, communicates a story of Ethan and his life living with his ill wife, Zeena, when a new lover comes into his home. Ethan and Zeena live in a place called Starkfield, a cold and lonely location situated in the New England area. Mattie comes into Ethan’s life to help her cousin, Zeena, around the house as her sickness has obstructed her ability to do housework. This causes problems for Ethan because he starts to fall in love with Mattie as she stays with the Fromes. The isolation of Starkfield prevents Ethan from living his life the way he wanted to. That causes Ethan to abandon his dreams of college and moving away from Starkfield. Ethan becomes hindered by the isolation of Starkfield because of
Throughout “Ethan Frome,” Edith Wharton renders the idea that freedom is just out of reach from the protagonist, Ethan Frome. The presence of a doomed love affair and an unforgiving love triangle forces Ethan to choose between his duty and his personal desire. Wharton’s use of archetypes in the novella emphasizes how Ethan will make choices that will ultimately lead to his downfall. In Edith Wharton’s, “Ethan Frome.” Ethan is wedged between his duty as a husband and his desire for happiness; however, rather than choosing one or the other, Ethan’s indecisiveness makes not only himself, but Mattie and Zeena miserable.
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.
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.
Edith Wharton, originally named “Edith Newbold Jones”(Cliff Notes), was born on “January 24, 1862 in New York City to George Frederic Jones and Lucretia Stevens Rhinelander Jones and died on August 11, 1937”(Cliff Notes). She was born into a wealthy family and was a “designer, short story writer and American novelist”(Cliff Notes). Wharton descended from the English and Dutch cultures. She had two siblings, one known as “Frederic Rhinelander Jones” (Cliff Notes) who was sixteen years older than her, and “Henry Edward Jones eleven years older”(Cliff Notes). While her brothers attended boarding school, Wharton became “raised as an only child in a brownstone mansion on West Twenty-third Street in New York City”(Cliff
People have often pondered the reasons for the greatness of Edith Wharton's novel, Ethan Frome. What is it that causes this story to be considered an all-time American classic? One journalist quotes a humanities professor at MIT who states that, "We turn to Wharton because the truths she tells are a bracing tonic in a culture steeped in saccharine sentimentality." The journalist goes on to describe the typical, "popular" story and how they often have endings where "romantic ideals are magically fulfilled..." There is much more to Ethan Frome than simply an unhappy ending to contrast with the many other stories that have sugar-coated and sanguine endings. At first glance, the ending of Ethan Frome may appear to be only depressing. In truth, Wharton offers the reader a complex ending through the careful incorporation of poetic justice and irony.
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.
Edith Wharton, a famous author of many outstanding books, wrote a chaotic love story entitled Ethan Frome. The story took place in the wintery town of Starkfield, Massachusetts. Wharton was a sophisticated young woman who found love in sitting down and holding people’s attention by way of a pen. Wharton wrote yet another thriller that told the tale of two love stricken people that barely found it possible to be together; which later forced them to fall into the temptation of love that cannot be controlled. Wharton had many different writing styles but for different books meant different needs. In Edith Wharton’s novel, Ethan Frome, frustration and loneliness play roles in disappointment while imagery, symbolism, and individual responsibility provide the novel with a tortuous plot.
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
His demise is when he has thoughts of running away from his present life. "Frome was in the habit of walking into Starkfield to fetch home his wife's cousin, Mattie Silver, on the rare evenings in which some chance of amusement drew her to the village" (Wharton 16). His tragic flaw is shown in this quote because he picks Mattie up after parties due to the fact that he is concern that a dangerous person might harm her. These pickups lead to his demise because every time he picks her up, they grow closer. Another event that leads to his demise is when "'I'll try to get a place in a store 'You know you can't do it. The bad air and the standing all day nearly killed you before'' (Wharton 85). This piece of evidence demonstrates Ethan's flaw because when Mattie suggests the kind of job she will have in the future, he is concern of her well-being and working conditions of that job. As Ethan starts to have romantic feelings towards Mattie, he is getting closer to his demise. When they start talking about Mattie's future, Ethan starts to have thoughts of running away from his present life. "'if I could ha' gone with you now I ha' done it'" (Wharton 86). This is Ethan's demise because once he has thoughts of leaving with Mattie his future actions are determined by this demise. His future actions eventually leads to unforeseen consequences that haunt him for the rest of his life.
From as early as 408 B.C.E., iterations of the adage “misery loves company" have appeared in written texts. First attributed to Sophocles in Athens, this popular dictum has traveled far from Greece, and has found itself at the core of Ethan Frome. In Edith Wharton’s tragic novella Ethan Frome (1911), the suffering inflicted by the titular protagonist encompasses the key principles of Naturalism. Illustrating this, Ethan forces Zeena, his wife, to disengage from her environment and retreat into silence. Further, he recklessly pursues Mattie, Zeena’s exuberant cousin, and dulls the radiance that first attracted him. And as the final nail, Ethan cages himself in obligation, desperately rattling its bars, but never stepping past them.
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 in staying in Starkfield and not pursuing 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). Lastly the location of the Frome household in rural Massachusetts did not help the fact of Ethan’s isolation and his inability to socialize with others. Wharton symbolizes this loneliness and isolation by giving the town of Starkfield a cold and frozen setting, which is symbolic towards Ethan’s inability to move forward in his life “, the lack of social mobility in rural Massachusetts plays a role in Ethan's acceptance of the idea that he has no chance for advancement.” (Witkosky). Ethan’s ability to not being able to move forward
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
By effectively using setting and applying serious moral undertone to her novels, Edith Wharton is able to show how class affects moral behavior and ultimately confines the individual. Wharton’s novels tend to center around confinement, bad relationships, and the power class has on one’s life. In both The House of Mirth and Ethan Frome, Wharton shows the hardships of living in the historical periods of the 19th and 20th centuries, since she uses events that occurred in her own life. Wharton’s writing is prevalent today