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.
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”). ...
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Garcia, Angela. "Edith Wharton’s Ethan Frome." American Writers Classics. Ed. Jay Parini. Vol. 2. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 2004. 89-108. Gale Virtual Reference Library. Web. 4 Feb. 2014.
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Wharton, Edith. Ethan Frome. New York: Glencoe / McGraw-Hill, 2001. Print.
“Winter lies too long in country towns; hangs on until it is stale and shabby, old and sullen” (“Brainy Quotes” 1). In Edith Wharton’s framed novel, Ethan Frome, the main protagonist encounters “lost opportunity, failed romance, and disappointed dreams” with a regretful ending (Lilburn 1). Ethan Frome lives in the isolated fictional town of Starkfield, Massachusetts with his irritable spouse, Zenobia Frome. Ever since marriage, Zenobia, also referred to as Zeena, revolves around her illness. Furthermore, she is prone to silence, rage, and querulously shouting. Ethan has dreams of leaving Starkfield and selling his plantation, however he views caring for his wife as a duty and main priority. One day, Zeena’s cousin, Mattie Silver, comes to assist the Frome’s with their daily tasks. Immediately, Mattie’s attractive and youthful energy resuscitates Ethan’s outlook on life. She brings a light to Starkfield and instantaneously steals Ethan’s heart; although, Ethan’s quiet demeanor and lack of expression causing his affection to be surreptitious. As Zeena’s health worsens, she becomes fearful and wishes to seek advice from a doctor in a town called Bettsbridge giving Ethan and Mattie privacy for one night. Unfortunately, the night turns out to be a disastrous and uncomfortable evening. Neither Ethan nor Mattie speaks a word regarding their love for one another. Additionally, during their dinner, the pet cat leaps on the table and sends a pickle dish straight to the floor crashing into pieces. To make matters worse, the pickle dish is a favored wedding gift that is cherished by Zeena. Later, Zeena discovers it is broken and it sends her anger over the edge. Furious, Zeena demands for a more efficient “hired girl” to complete the tasks ar...
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.
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.
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.
Ethan Frome is not only an excellent piece of writing, and moving story, but also causes a reflection that we, too, create vivid fantasies and hopes to escape our fears.
The rise of Realism in 1855 was the time when farming began to industrialize, communication expanded through railroads, and Nationalism was yet again revived. On top of all these important transformations that have marked this period of time was the significance for literature with a new audience, new settings, and new characters. The novel, Ethan Frome, by Edith Wharton, is a magnificent example of literature from the Realistic period.
While everyone is legally intitled to the pursuit of happiness, the truth of the matter is that very few ever achieve it. Ones 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.
By August 1882, Wharton was nineteen when she became engaged to Harry Stevens, an eminent figure of the high class New York society. However, “by October of the same year, the engagement was broken” (Cliff Notes) due to the mother's interference of the engaged couple. Later on Wharton married her brother’s friend “Edward R. "Teddy" on April 29, 1885”(Cliff Notes). Since Edward came from a wealthy family, he was able to provide financial support for them. As a result, in 1902 the couple moved into a mansion named “"The Mount," in Lenox, Massachusetts”(Cliff Notes). Since Edward and Wharton were “intellectually and sexually incompatible”(Cliff Notes), this foreshadowed their divorce later on in “1913”(Cliff Notes). Wharton’s main justification for the divorce was “because of his unstable mental health and acts of adultery”(Cliff Notes). However, Wharton’s writing flourished after their divorce. She began to write to her “tragic love story Ethan Frome”(Cliff Notes) which became published in 1911, quickly becoming a very successful book. After Wharton’s divorce she lived in France and spent much of her early life there. After her move, “she returned to the United States twice”(Edith Wharton
I thought the novel Ethan Frome by Edith Wharton was one of the best books that I have ever read. When I started reading the book I thought that it would be about the accident that Ethan experienced instead of the incidents behind it. The novel is also well written, Edith Wharton did a fine job writing a book that I never wanted to put down. I felt as though the story was being told to me and that I actually knew Ethan and Mattie. As well I enjoyed the way that Edith Wharton used a lot of adjectives to make the scenes and story come alive, for example in the end of the story during the sledding scene I actually felt as though I was on the sled with Ethan and Mattie.
In Edith Warton’s Ethan Frome, the main character Ethan Frome is the most responsible for the tragedy. Ethan is a poor man who falls in love with a woman, but he could not be with her because he is married to his distant cousin who he does not have feelings for.
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.
Edith Wharton’s novella Ethan Frome chronicles one winter in the life of a family living in the rural town of Starkfield, Massachusetts. The main character, Ethan Frome, gives up his own dreams and aspirations in order to keep the household financially stable and provide for his wife Zeena and housekeeper Mattie. In the process, he reveals not his selflessness but his cowardice, and serves as an example of the dangers of routine and inactivity.
In Ethan Frome, written by Edith Wharton, the main character is struggling with the temptations of adultery. Through the novel, the reader witnesses the love between Ethan and Mattie blossoming into something neither of them could ignore. Many flaws came with this strong bond that they both were faced with and that prevented them from being happy together. The obstacles of Ethan and Mattie's relationship were caused by Ethan’s unending love for her and the disapproval of their relationship that is expressed through the cat. In addition, another conflict with their relationship was the inability to escape from his abusive wife.
Edith Wharton wrote the book Ethan Frome and told a story based off one character. In the town of Starkfield, Massachusetts a youthful kid named Ethan Frome loved science. However, his love for science was smashed when he had to come back to the ranch to tend to his weak mother. After she passed away the fear of being lonely he married the first voice he heard, which was his new wife Zeena. Wharton topics were of sadness and disappointment with different circumstances all through the novel. It is a constant lack of freedom between the characters until they have their sledding accident.
Throughout Ethan Frome, Wharton demonstrates the damaging effects of unrealistic desires on a person as the protagonist Ethan Frome plans to head West and leave his responsibilities behind him. Ethan holds substantial aspirations other than working and living in Starkfield, such as becoming an engineer in the city. However, his marriage to Zeena, the woman who cared for his mother when ill, stops him from achieving these goals out of sense of duty to care for her needs and desires. Nevertheless, Ethan failed to complete these duties, as he recognized his unhappiness, and concluded to make his yearnings into reality: “I’ve done all I could for you, and I don’t see as it’s been any use….Maybe both of us will do better separate. I’m going to try my luck West, and you can sell the farm and mill, and keep the money” (73). Blinded by these aspirations, Ethan failed to recognize the determining factors that would stop him from heading west: lack of money,