In any piece of writing, there is always a main idea and many different literary devices put throughout the piece to enhance the idea and bring the book to its full potential. In the novella Ethan Frome by Edith Wharton, the central idea that was most prominent in the story was the notion that our environment affects the decisions we make and this in turn shapes the life that we lead. An element in the story that magnifies this main idea is the setting of winter in a bleak town called Starkfield. Many of the choices Ethan makes are influenced by the isolating winter and because of this, he seems to always be looking for any possible way out of his miserable life. Our surroundings shape the way we think, the way we act, and the way we make our decisions. This is evident in many choices …show more content…
He feared the isolation, dreariness, and loneliness that was brought on by being alone in the oppressing winter after the death of his mother. Ultimately, this led to him asking Zeena to stay with him. Years later, unhappy and unsatisfied, Ethan looks back on that time and admits to himself, “It would not have happened if his mother had died in spring instead of winter…” This depressing quote proves the overwhelming effects that the bitter weather had on Ethan’s life. Another undeniable decision that was caused because of Ethan’s environment was to try and commit suicide with the girl he truly wanted to be with. This decision came about after his wife decided that she did not want Mattie staying with them anymore. Ethan dreaded the loss of companionship that he had finally found with Mattie and most of all he dreaded once again being alone with his cold, sickly, silent wife. On the way to the train station, Mattie and Ethan decide to stop and go sledding. They suddenly realized that they
He could not get away from Zeena, nor run away with the girl he felt drawn to. There was no way Ethan could afford to get away even if he tried. Ethan could not afford to pay for himself to leave town, nor could he provide for the woman he desired. He also imagines life as if he were suddenly resolved from all the issues going on in his life. All the issues that went on, Ethan brought upon himself due to the way he managed his life.
“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 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.
In the novel Ethan Frome by Edith Wharton, the protagonist Ethan Frome has an unusual personality. Along with this, Ethan’s motivations seem hidden. Ethan mainly associates with his wife Zeena and his young lover Mattie. The reason his social circle is limited is because the town has shunned him. The people have isolated him due to the decisions he has made. The story begins with the new town Reverend who forms a special interest in Ethan. Furthermore, the story goes back in time to explain why the town treats Ethan the way they do.
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.
As one reads just the very few pages of the book, symbols are relevant here and there. One of the first symbols introduced is the town Starkfield. As one would mostly think Starkfield was nonetheless just a city name Wharton came up with. Meriam webster dictionary defines the prefix word “Stark” as bare, cold or empty appearance. It is now clear of how pivotal this symbol is to the story. Wharton uses this symbol to “symbolize the devastating and isolating effects of the harsh winters on the land” (Boodie). With this town we presume its an icy cold one due to the descriptions in the novel. This proceeds to the symbolism of the winter season which seems to be mostly in effect throughout the story. The winter season symbolizes feelings such as isolation and loneliness. As we all know, the winter brings on snow, ice, wind, coldness and even further in depth darkness and death. Throughout the story we see Frome hide himself in the nature of the town. With the symbolism of nature we see Ethan hiding himself through the harshness of the winter. Quoting Book Rags “ Ethan embodies the somber and bleak landscape of Starkfield itself.” With that said we can see the importance of the nature on the character’s characteristics.
In Ethan Frome, the theme of winter is predominantly used, with its confining nature, to portray each character’s hardships. For example, the theme of winter is directly linked with Ethan Frome and the harsh conditions he has to endure to survive. To Ethan, the wintry snow in Starkfield seems elegant and appealing, but as he sees later on, the snow is unveiled as a major obstacle, preventing Ethan from achieving his dreams. Winter manifests itself as the ice, cold, and snow symbolically representing the isolation that Ethan experiences. As the narrator states “when winter shut down on Starkfield, and the village lay under a sheet of snow… must have been in Ethan Frome's young manhood,” The solitude that winter brings causes Starkfield to
The main theme of the book Ethan Frome is failure. It is shown in three ways throughout the story: Ethan's marriage, him not being able to stand up to Zeena, and his involvement in the "smash up".
The main conflict in Edith Wharton’s Ethan Frome is the conflict between Ethan’s love for the girl, Mattie, and his commitment to his wife, Zeena. Throughout the story, this conflict creates tension between the characters and will eventually lead to the final conclusion as to the end of the story. This is also the theme of the story and is what captures readers’ attention in this classic piece of literature.
One tragic flaw of Ethan is the town of Starkfield. "I simply felt that he lived in a depth of moral isolation too remote for casual access, and I had the sense that his loneliness was not merely the result of his personal plight, tragic as I guessed that to be, but had in it, as Harmon Gow had hinted, the profound accumulated cold of many Starkfield winters.” (Wharton 13) The small town of Starkfield doesn’t let Ethan grow and slowly makes him more isolated. However unlike Willy, Ethan had choices and free will. Ethan could have made the decision to move out of the town of Starkfield, unlike Ethan who lost his job and grows old. Also Ethan lives in moral isolation and loneliness because of his wife Zeena. Edith Wharton writes "Ethan looked at her with loathing. She was no longer the listless creature who had lied at his side in a state of sullen self-absorption, but a mysterious alien presence, and evil energy secreted from the long years of silent brooding" (Wharton 103). This passage is taken from a time when Ethan is looking at his wife Zeena and the audience sees how much pain Zeena caused Ethan. However the reader has no sympathy for Ethan because he could have changed this by moving away with Mattie, or getting away from Starkfield and Zeena all together. It is easy to see the pain and loneliness that Ethan is in
In many ways, the ideas and themes expressed in Edith Wharton’s Ethan Frome are comparable to those detailed in Margaret Atwood’s poem, “February”. As both works of literature feature the cold winter months or a single harsh winter month as the respective settings for the pieces, the messages that the writers intend to convey to their readers is incredibly similar. In both cases, winter symbolizes the repression of love and passion and the increased frequency of depressing thoughts. Atwood writes that in February, “famine / crouches in the bed sheets.../ and pollution pours / out of our chimneys to keep us warm” (20-24). In the life of her speaker, there is no love during this cold, brutal month. She has no one else to keep her bed warm,
Tale of the Living Dead Ethan Frome, by Edith Warton is truly a tale of the “living dead”. Don’t be confused by the way this term is used in movies, where the living dead are corpses that rise from the ground. In this case, the term “living dead” refers to a person who is physically alive but emotionally dead. In the novel, Ethan Frome, all three main characters are emotionally dead. The characters have been emotionally dead since the "smash-up" in which Ethan and Mattie crashed their sled into a tree.
In Edith Wharton’s Ethan Frome, there is a prevalent conflict of class struggles. Ethan Frome, his wife Zeena, and their maid Mattie all live in extreme poverty. Wharton portrays them as miserable beings, seemingly always encompassed in misfortune. Wharton herself, however, lived a near opposite life compared to that of her characters. She was born into fortune; money was rarely a concern for her (Lee). Through a Marxist lens, one could argue that Edith Wharton, a woman of extreme wealth and privilege, would characterize lower, working class people such as the ones in Ethan Frome in an inaccurately dismal light. The consistent image of winter and coldness, typically associated with misery, in Ethan Frome foreshadows an unhappy ending for the
Emphasized by romanticism of the 18th century, the changing of the seasons has been associated with a shift in mood, emotion, and even perspective. Spring blooms and summer warmth can be resembled by life, flowers, and joy while cool autumn and stark winter symbolize slowing down, isolation, and bleakness. Setting can often affect how one perceives the world around them, so an eternal winter can have negative impacts on his awareness. In Edith Wharton’s Ethan Frome, the stagnation of Starkfield’s landscape suggests that those who have been in the town for “too many winters” are not uncommon, as the location acts as a prison for its inhabitants (Wharton 5). Ethan’s warped emotional