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
Divided between the two women, Ethan Frome is a highly confused man. He seeks to find some “ease and freedom” represented by Mattie, but society would not allow him to do so. Society instead compels him to accept its burden represented for him in the shape of Zeena, although it means the ruin of his life. The social pressure, whether it takes the form of conventional morality or any other forms, offers Ethan blind opposition at every turn, leashing his actions “like the jerk of a chain” (p.3). Aware that he has not even the money to take Mattie with him to the West, for instance, Ethan starts on foot for Starkfield to ask Andrew Hale, the village carpenter, for an advance on some lumber. In this episode, he is soon intercepted on the way by Mrs. Hale, who, appealing to his sympathy by a few kind words, baffles his attempt at the very moment when his is about to revolt.
Ethan Frome by Edith Wharton is designed to be read like a fairytale. The novel contains many archetypes of a classic fairytale. These archetypes are brought to life in Starkfield, Massachusetts by the three main characters: Mattie Silver, Ethan Frome, and Zeena Frome. They can be compared to the archetypes of the silvery maiden, the honest woodcutter, and the witch. These comparisons allow the reader to notice similarities between Edith Wharton’s Ethan Frome and the classic fairytale Snow White. The character Zeena Frome from Edith Wharton’s novel, Ethan Frome, resembles the evil witch from the fairy tale Snow White.
In the small, desolate town of Starkfield, Massachusetts, Ethan Frome lives a life of poverty. Not only does he live hopelessly, but “he was a prisoner for life” to the economy (Ammons 2). A young engineer from outside of town narrates the beginning of the story. He develops a curiosity towards Ethan Frome and the smash-up that he hears about in bits and pieces. Later, due to a terrible winter storm that caused the snow itself to seem like “a part of the thickening darkness, to be the winter night itself descending on us layer by layer” (Wharton 20), the narrator is forced to stay the night at Frome’s. As he enters the unfamiliar house, the story flashes back twenty-four years to Ethan Frome’s young life. Living out his life with Zenobia Frome, his hypochondriac of a wife whom he does not love, Ethan has nowhere to turn for a glance at happiness. But when Zenobia’s, or Zeena’s, young cousin, Mattie Silver, comes to care for her, Ethan falls in love with the young aid. Mattie is Ethan’s sole light in life and “she is in contrast to everything in Starkfield; her feelings bubble near the surface” (Bernard 2). All through the novella, the two young lovers hide their feelings towards each other. When they finally let out their true emotions to each other in the end, the consequence is an unforeseen one. Throughout Ethan Frome, Edith Wharton portrays a twisted fairy tale similar to the story of Snow White with the traditional characters, but without a happy ending to show that in a bleak and stark reality, the beautiful and enchanting maiden could become the witch.
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.
Starkfield is a small, agricultural town in Massachusetts that endures long and brutal winters. The winter months of Starkfield greatly affect the townspeople. The cold brings loneliness, and feelings of being trapped to the people of Starkfield, because they cannot travel through the brutal snow storms. Ethan, Zeena’s Husband, is affected by the winter month’s because he feels the isolation it brings. This in turn effects Zeena because she is neglected, and does not get any attention from Ethan.
The narrator, upon meeting Ethan Frome for the first time, thought "he seemed a part of the mute melancholy landscape, an incarnation of its frozen woe, with all that was warm and sentient in him fast bound below the surface." He "had the sense that his loneliness was not merely the result of his personal plight, but had in it…the profound accumulated cold of many Starkfield winters" (Wharton, 9).
When Harmon states that Ethan has been in the town of Starkfield too many winters leads to the narrator finding out that Starkfield and the town members become emotionally buried under the snow covered blanket of Starkfield?s winters. Winter in Starkfield is depressing and cold and it seems to rub off on the residents of the town. People of the town say he is cold and depressing, simply because he has been in Starkfield too many winters.
There are several reoccurring elements that appear in Ethan Frome; the most noticeable and perhaps the most meaningful is the reoccurring metaphor that compares the characteristics of winter to every part of Ethan and his life. This metaphor illustrates the longing that Ethan feels to find a balance between love and responsibility, and the dissatisfaction that he experiences when it becomes obvious that he cannot have
As he slouches in bed, a description of the bare trees and an old woman gathering coal are given to convey to the reader an idea of the times and the author's situation. "All groves are bare," and "unmarried women (are) sorting slate from arthracite." This image operates to tell the reader that it is a time of poverty, or a "yellow-bearded winter of depression." No one in the town has much to live for during this time. "Cold trees" along with deadness, through the image of "graves," help illustrate the author's impression of winter. Wright seems to be hibernating from this hard time of winter, "dreaming of green butterflies searching for diamonds in coal seams." This conveys a more colorful and happy image showing what he wishes was happening; however he knows that diamonds are not in coal seams and is brought back to the reality of winter. He talks of "hills of fresh graves" while dreaming, relating back to the reality of what is "beyond the streaked trees of (his) window," a dreary, povern-strucken, and cold winter.
The novel Ethan Frome by Edith Wharton tells the story of Ethan Frome and the tragedy he faces in his life. The story mainly focuses on the relationships between and among Ethan, his wife, and his wife’s cousin, with whom he is in love. Wharton uses different literary devices to develop the plot, including irony as one of the most effective. The use of irony in the novel, especially in the climatic sledding scene, greatly adds to the development of the tragedy.
Due to Mattie's injuries, and Ethan's inabilities to leave Starkfield, he remains at his home in an uncomfortable relationship with Mattie and Zeena. Even though he still had Mattie at his side, he was not living the life he wanted in the "west" with Mattie. There was no real "difference between the Fromes up at the farm and the Fromes down in the graveyard." Ethan gave up his life to stay at the farm with the woman he loves, and the woman he does not, resulting in him being subconsciously tied to Starkfield. Ethan's "father's accident" and his mother's falling "ill" results in Ethan's sacrifice of his career "to be an engineer" and makes him stay in Starkfield to marry Zeena. Even with opportunities that come along to change Ethan's continuous cycle of his life, he still ends up sacrificing everything to fulfill his duty and obligation to his wife
to notice not the loss of their love, for they never had love, but the
Ethan is not happy with his life and feels that it is his obligation to stay on the farm and work like his parents had “readers discover a man who feels overwhelmed by family responsibilities and who cannot free himself from what he believes to be family expectations.” (Witkosky). This obligation, and what Ethan believes to be his family expectations, ultimately helped lead to his decision in staying in Starkfield and not pursuing a happier life with Mattie elsewhere. Ethan also feels that even though all of his family members had died a long time ago, he still senses their presence, and he feels pressured to continue the family custom “Ethan senses their presence; in his eyes, the headstones on their graves, located near his farm, are like sentinels who guard and enforce family custom.” (Witkosky). Lastly the location of the Frome household in rural Massachusetts did not help the fact of Ethan’s isolation and his inability to socialize with others. Wharton symbolizes this loneliness and isolation by giving the town of Starkfield a cold and frozen setting, which is symbolic towards Ethan’s inability to move forward in his life “, the lack of social mobility in rural Massachusetts plays a role in Ethan's acceptance of the idea that he has no chance for advancement.” (Witkosky). Ethan’s ability to not being able to move forward
Ethan Frome is a story of ill-fated love, set during the winter in the rural New England town of Starkfield. Ethan is a farmer who is married to a sickly woman named Zeena. The two live in trapped, unspoken resentment on Ethan's isolated and failing farm. Ethan has been caring for his wife for six years now. Due to Zeena's numerous complications they employ her cousin to help in the house, the animated Mattie Silver. With Mattie's youthful presence in the house, Ethan is awoken of the bitterness of his youth's lost opportunities, and a dissatisfaction with his life and empty marriage. Ethan and Mattie in turn, fall in love. However, they never follow their love due to Ethan's morals and the respect he has for his marriage to Zeena. Ethan eagerly awaits the nights when he is able to walk Mattie home from the town dances. He cherishes the ground she walks on.
Early on, certain details and dialogues regarding Ethan and his stay in Starkfield suggests that his stay in Starkfield, in turn, isolates him. As Marlene Springer says in “Ethan Frome: A Nightmare of Need”, “Ethan is faced with the endless whiteness of New England winters”, which