Yearning for Change: Regret in Edith Wharton's Ethan Frome

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It doesn 't take an incredible amount of insight to recognize that humans have a natural tendency to yearn for what they don 't have, a chance to go beyond and discover the world past what they are raised to know. It also doesn 't take a genius to know that in resisting that natural inclination toward the search of excitement in discovery is riddled with disastrous outcomes. In Edith Wharton 's Ethan Frome, Wharton explores the catastrophic consequences of defying one 's predestined proclivity for new discoveries through three different characters who 's worlds collide in one terrible accident that leaves nothing but the bitter and savage bite of regret. Throughout her novella, Wharton proves that moving on and continuing one 's discovery of the world is the only distinction between someone truly living and someone simply existing. Naturally, the first place to look for proof of her claim is in her protagonist, Ethan Frome, a young man turned jaded and wrinkled who couldn 't quite reap the rewards of being kind and caring towards others. At a young age, Ethan Frome was forced to take upon himself the enduring task of caring for his dying parents and this inquisitive and bright youth 's life was changed drastically from a promising future as a college educated man in a revolutionary world to a closed-off man struggling to keep his …show more content…

When Edith Wharton decides to send a message to her readers no one misses the grand picture. Ethan Frome is the epitome of a work of literature that screams for its message to be heard. Wharton expresses the human necessity to continue to grow, dream and prosper by explicitly depicting the consequences that arise from failing to do so and makes it clear that moving forward is the only way humans can continue

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