Character And Characterization In Ethan Frome By Edith Wharton

Characterization is the process by which an author develops a character throughout a story. The novel Ethan Frome by Edith Wharton provides vivid and complex evidence which introduces and describes Mattie Silver, one of the main characters. The plot revolves around a bleak, dark, and barren landscape set in the town of Starkfield, Massachusetts. Ethan Frome is viewed as an old, exhausted man who is tied down to his land to follow the constant demands of the farm and his necessitous, frail wife Zeena. His soul is begging to be released to a life of vitality and excitement, and when Zeena’s cousin Mattie steps into his life as an aide around the house, her energetic spirit and vivacity brings the liveliness that Ethan was lacking back into his

When Ethan Frome first sees her, he is easily quite taken with her grace and appearance and he often compares her features to the natural beauty of nature. Mattie is known for her “cherry-coloured scarf” (30) and the red ribbon that runs through her dark, curly hair which is described as “tendrils on the traveller 's joy” (82) and “soft yet springy, like certain mosses on warm slopes, and had the faint woody fragrance of fresh sawdust in the sun” (116). He is fascinated with her beautiful face and loves the way it changes like a “wheat-field under a summer breeze” (75). Her voice is smooth and peaceful, almost calming to listen to, and is a “rustling covert leading to enchanted glades” (76-77). Her laughter “sparkles through her lashes” (67) and when she sews, her hands go “up and down above the strip of stuff, just as he had seen a pair of birds make short perpendicular flights over a nest they were building” (77). Mattie’s appearance of natural beauty and softness represents her warm and affectionate

Whether it is an object in the room or action she performs, each symbol has a deep and intricate meaning that helps depict Mattie’s true character. Every subtle detail of Mattie’s character relates back to her, such as the light shining from her room. Her natural ambiance of luminosity and brightness is vividly portrayed when Ethan is trying to sleep. “As he lay there he could hear Mattie moving about in her room, and her candle, sending its small ray across the landing, drew a scarcely perceptible line of light under his door. He kept his eyes fixed on the light till it vanished. Then the room grew perfectly black, and not a sound was audible but Zeena 's asthmatic breathing” (50). When Ethan is surrounded by darkness, Mattie provided the light he needs as a symbol of hope. Staring at the pool of soft light makes him realize how much of a positive effect Mattie has on people because of her natural rays of sunshine. Even her last name relates back to her. Silver means feminine, calming, mysterious, soothing, and purifying - which are all incorporated into Mattie’s personality. The small details that are hidden deep inside the book can make the story more complex and clever, such as Mattie being able to play ‘The Lost Chord’ and a pot-pourri from ‘Carmen’” (51). “The Lost Chord,” written by Arthur Sullivan, was composed at the deathbed of the composer’s sickly brother,