Free Essays on Wharton's Ethan Frome: Weakness of Character

As Linda, she is worried about her husband's health, but instead of just watching she confronts him, acting behind his back, knowing that she ma... ... middle of paper ... ...who keeps it attached together but she is nothing without her husband. Nora is not of the family; she is more modern and independent, moreover her family is totally broken apart. In conclusion, we can see that nor Linda, nor Nora are happy with their situation. Linda is incapable of expressing herself and confronting her husband therefore her husband ends up dead. And Nora has never had real love and has always been living a lie, but she realises this too late, and now she has to reinvent herself.

The Day Ethan Frome Lost Control of His Life I believe Ethan Frome lost control of his life when his mother died. After his mother's funeral, Ethan did not want to be left alone on the farm, so he asked Zeena to stay with him. At first, Ethan enjoys her company. However, Zeena soon becomes a nuisance to Ethan, and prevents him from becoming an engineer in a large city. After being married a year, Zeena becomes sick herself, and the only time she talks to Ethan is to complain or show her discontent.

Olivia Clemens, his wife, was very much like Sally Phelps. She was dependent on her husband and served with no other true purpose in life than to run a house and bear children. But, did Twain look over sexism or support it? He may have had issues with women due to his own marriage. His wife never produced a healthy son, and she was always sickly.

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. From the beginning of the story, society opposed Ethan Frome in any ways. To begin with, he was a prisoner with his wife, Zeena. Just because Zeena took care of his mother as she was dying, Ethan felt like she was the woman for him.

He is envious of the relationship between Robert and his wife; he feels like "she has told him everything or it so it seemed" about their marriage. The narrator tries to hide behind his hopeless life by drinking; almost identical to Carver addiction to alcohol when he was bankrupt and could not support his family with his minimum wage job.

Gilman stated, “What is it little girl” (478)! The narrator stated, “Felt trapped in her body and trapped in her life "Bless her little heart" (Gilman 478)! The narrator lives in a world where her spouse made choices for her on how she would be cured of her illness. Gilman is suffering from postpartum depression after giving birth to their child. However, he did not make his wife feel better, which is why they visit there for, he just makes his wife feel worse with so much guilt on her.

Gilman proves this fact when the narrator in the story becomes insane, and her husband faints when he sees her (Gilman 89). This shows that John also feels the narrator’s energy when she is ill. Gilman illustrates this when she shows John’s energy decreases to the point where he cannot stand on his feet, and he faints. This tragic scene proves that John and his wife connect to each other both mentally and physically. The readers can surely assume that the husband will have to take care of his child by himself without the support from his wife. This can be a tremendous burden on the family especially on the child because a baby needs his or her

Being married to Zeena was Ethan's first failure. Ethan's second failure was not standing up to Zeena. She claimed the doctor said that she was extremely sick and needed more help around the house. She told him without any discussion that Mattie had to go. Ethan could not find the words to make her alter her decision.

However, near the end of the play she learns to love and respect Petruchio. It is evident that she honors Petruchio as her husband through her drastic change in attitude towards her family and friends. Before Katherine was married to Petruchio she was stubborn and resentful of her entire family. She believed that her father, Baptista, did not care for her as much as he did for her fairer sister, Bianca. She did not want to hear anybody’s opinions or advice, and she felt as if no one would ever want to marry her.

She suffered from a severe postpartum depression case, yet her marriage depressed her too. The narrator was in a marriage whereby her husband dominated and treated her like a child. Her husband was the sole decision maker and since she lived in a society whereby women were never allowed to question their husband’s decisio... ... middle of paper ... ...he stopped being the protector and the only rational thinker in the family. In this short story, the men had power over women and they undermined them. The narrator insisted to her husband that she was sick, but he never took her serious instead, he confined her in an isolated place away from home and her child.