Analytic Response: Ethan Frome

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Analytic Response: “Ethan Frome”
“Ethan Frome,” by Edith Wharton is a novel that tells the readers about the life of one family and how their futures are changed forever. The town where the story plot takes place is called Starkfield, Massachusetts. The main characters in this novel consist of Ethan Frome, Zeena (Ethan’s wife), and Mattie Silver (Ethan’s cousin-in-law). The novel starts off about how the family is living after the aftermath of their actions. The reader witnesses the struggle of Ethan Frome’s family and the hardships they face. The author’s use of diction, structure, irony, and symbolism create an amazing story that is next to impossible to put down.
Structure, Diction, and Theme
The strong use of diction and structure create a solid foundation …show more content…

The irony makes the reader ask themselves What would have happened if Ethan Frome kept his desires to himself and didn’t pursue them? Or What if Mattie Silver never came to live with Ethan and Zeena? The novel would have a completely different ending and a different story plot. Irony is seen throughout the story as Ethan Frome tries to escape his miserable life with Zeena, but he cripples himself in the process. The following lines explain how Ethan and Mattie Silver get crippled.
The big tree loomed bigger and closer, and as they bore down on it he thought: ‘It’s waiting for us, it seems to know.’ But suddenly his wife’s face, with its monstrous lineaments, thrust itself between him and his goal, and he made an instinctive movement to brush it aside. The sled swerved in response, but he righted it again and drove down on the black projecting mass. There was a last instant when the air shot past him like millions of fiery wires, and then elm…’Oh, Matt, I thought we’d fetched it,’ he moaned; and far off, up the hill, he heard the sorrel whinny and thought: ‘I ought to be getting him his feed… (Wharton,

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