Edith Wharton, a famous author of many outstanding books, wrote a chaotic love story entitled Ethan Frome. The story took place in the wintery town of Starkfield, Massachusetts. Wharton was a sophisticated young woman who found love in sitting down and holding people’s attention by way of a pen. Wharton wrote yet another thriller that told the tale of two love stricken people that barely found it possible to be together; which later forced them to fall into the temptation of love that cannot be controlled. Wharton had many different writing styles but for different books meant different needs. In Edith Wharton’s novel, Ethan Frome, frustration and loneliness play roles in disappointment while imagery, symbolism, and individual responsibility provide the novel with a tortuous plot.
Frustration is evident throughout the entire book because of many different situations. Ethan’s frustration could sometimes be centralized to the occurrence of both his parents needing to be taken care of. Because of this, he could not do what he had longed to do his whole life which was “live in towns, where there were lectures and big libraries and ‘fellows doing things’” (“Ethan”). Even though Ethan could have easily given the daunting task of having to do all the farm work to his elderly parents, he decided to help the ones that helped him through his life. Ethan had a reputation for being a good guy throughout the town but what the town did not know was what Ethan truly desired. Zenobia Frome, also known as Zeena, is Ethan’s wife who has a case of hypochondria. “Ethan’s marriage to Zeena is a study in frustration, not only because of her hypochondria and the fact that they are childless, but because their interests are so different” (“Ethan”). ...
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Wharton, Edith. Ethan Frome. New York: Glencoe / McGraw-Hill, 2001. Print.
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.
Ethan Frome, the main character in the book entitled Ethan Frome, by Edith Wharton, has many complex problems going on at the same time. His family has died and he has a wife that is continually sick, and the only form of happiness he has is from his wife's cousin Mattie. This, however, at times proves to be hard because of Ethan's wifes interference. Nothing seems to be going in Ethan's favor. One theme of the book is weakness of character; this is shown by Ethan’s marraige, his inability to stand up to his wife, and his involvement concerning the "accident."
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".
Ethan Frome is the main character of Edith Wharton’s tragic novel. Ethan lives the bitterness of his youth’s lost opportunities, and dissatisfaction with his joyless life and empty marriage. Throughout the story Ethan is trapped by social limits and obligations to his wife. He lives an unhappy life with many responsibilities and little freedom. Ethan Frome studied science in college for a year and probably would have succeeded as an engineer or physicist had he not been summoned home to run the family farm and mill. Ethan quickly ended his schooling and went to run the family farm and mill because he feels it is his responsibility. He marries Zeena after the death of his mother, in an unsuccessful attempt to escape silence, isolation, and loneliness. Ethan also feels the responsibility to marry Zeena as a way to compensate her for giving up part of her life to nurse his mother. After marring Zeena he forgets his hope of every continuing his education and he is now forced to remain married to someone he does not truly love.
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.
Ethan Frome, the classic novel written by Edith Wharton contains a great amount of symbolism. The symbolism allows the characters to express themselves more clearly to the reader. It brings incidents and personalities together in meaning. The story’s symbolic events is what pulls characters together in time of need.
Ethan Frome is not only an excellent piece of writing, and moving story, but also causes a reflection that we, too, create vivid fantasies and hopes to escape our fears.
In the book “Ethan Frome” by Edith Wharton, Ethan, the main character in the book, experiences many episodes of isolation persuading him to escape from and cope with them with outlets of hope, only leading to a life of permanent isolation. The story depicts a classic ironic switch of roles and a triangle of unusual “love.” With many people coming and going, Ethan looks to rely on someone to relieve his isolation and communicate with, only setting him up for trouble.
The rise of Realism in 1855 was the time when farming began to industrialize, communication expanded through railroads, and Nationalism was yet again revived. On top of all these important transformations that have marked this period of time was the significance for literature with a new audience, new settings, and new characters. The novel, Ethan Frome, by Edith Wharton, is a magnificent example of literature from the Realistic period.
In Edith Warton’s Ethan Frome, the main character Ethan Frome is the most responsible for the tragedy. Ethan is a poor man who falls in love with a woman, but he could not be with her because he is married to his distant cousin who he does not have feelings for.
It is an inherent desire of an individual to have wealth, contentment, and the satisfaction of being prosperous. However, a plethora of situations, such as economic class or societal standards, can induce oppression within an individual's life, impeding them from this fulfillment. In the novella, Ethan Frome, by Edith Wharton, the three preeminent characters of, Ethan, Zeena, and Mattie, present attributes of being oppressed as a result of their difficult socioeconomic and family situation, which leads to upheaval within their household. It can be asserted that as this story progresses the characters oppression increases as a they are presented with economic hardships, personal struggles, and family mistreatment that restricts them from achieving
In Ethan Frome, written by Edith Wharton, the main character is struggling with the temptations of adultery. Through the novel, the reader witnesses the love between Ethan and Mattie blossoming into something neither of them could ignore. Many flaws came with this strong bond that they both were faced with and that prevented them from being happy together. The obstacles of Ethan and Mattie's relationship were caused by Ethan’s unending love for her and the disapproval of their relationship that is expressed through the cat. In addition, another conflict with their relationship was the inability to escape from his abusive wife.
Edith Wharton’s novella Ethan Frome chronicles one winter in the life of a family living in the rural town of Starkfield, Massachusetts. The main character, Ethan Frome, gives up his own dreams and aspirations in order to keep the household financially stable and provide for his wife Zeena and housekeeper Mattie. In the process, he reveals not his selflessness but his cowardice, and serves as an example of the dangers of routine and inactivity.
Edith Wharton wrote the book Ethan Frome and told a story based off one character. In the town of Starkfield, Massachusetts a youthful kid named Ethan Frome loved science. However, his love for science was smashed when he had to come back to the ranch to tend to his weak mother. After she passed away the fear of being lonely he married the first voice he heard, which was his new wife Zeena. Wharton topics were of sadness and disappointment with different circumstances all through the novel. It is a constant lack of freedom between the characters until they have their sledding accident.
Throughout Ethan Frome, Wharton demonstrates the damaging effects of unrealistic desires on a person as the protagonist Ethan Frome plans to head West and leave his responsibilities behind him. Ethan holds substantial aspirations other than working and living in Starkfield, such as becoming an engineer in the city. However, his marriage to Zeena, the woman who cared for his mother when ill, stops him from achieving these goals out of sense of duty to care for her needs and desires. Nevertheless, Ethan failed to complete these duties, as he recognized his unhappiness, and concluded to make his yearnings into reality: “I’ve done all I could for you, and I don’t see as it’s been any use….Maybe both of us will do better separate. I’m going to try my luck West, and you can sell the farm and mill, and keep the money” (73). Blinded by these aspirations, Ethan failed to recognize the determining factors that would stop him from heading west: lack of money,