Powerful Winter Imagery in Edith Wharton's Ethan Frome
Ethan Frome, the title character of Edith Wharton's tragic novel, lives
in his own world of silence, where he replaces his scarcity of words with
images and fantasies. There is striking symbolism in the imagery,
predominantly that of winter which connotes frigidity, detachment, bleakness
and seclusion.
Twenty-eight year old Ethan feels trapped in his hometown of Starkfield,
Massachusetts. He marries thirty-four year old Zeena after the death of his
mother, "in an unsuccessful attempt to escape the silence, isolation, and
loneliness of life" (Lawson 71).
Several years after their marriage, cousin Mattie Silver is asked to relieve
Zeena, a gaunt and sallow hypochondriac, of her household duties. Ethan finds
himself falling in love with Mattie, drawn to her youthful energy, as, "The
pure air, and the long summer hours in the open, gave life and elasticity to
Mattie" (Wharton 60).
Ethan is attracted to Mattie because she is the antithesis of Zeena.
"While Mattie is young, happy, healthy, and beautiful like the summer, Zeena is
seven years older than Ethan, bitter, ugly and sickly cold like the winter"
(Lewis 310). Zeena's strong, dominating personality emasculates Ethan, while
Mattie's feminine, effervescent youth makes Ethan feel like a "real man."
Contrary to his characteristic passiveness, he defies Zeena in Mattie's defence,
"You can't go, Matt! I won't let you! She's [Zeena's] always had her way, but
I mean to have mine now -" (Wharton 123). To Ethan, Mattie is radiant and
energetic. He sees possibilities in her beyond his trite life in Starkfield,
something truly worth standing up for. Her energy and warmth excite him and
allow him to escape from his lonely, monotonous life.
While Zeena is visiting an out of town doctor, Ethan and Mattie, alone
in the house, intensely feel her eerie presence. The warmth of their evening
together is brought to an abrupt end by the accidental breaking of Zeena's
prized dish. Zeena's fury at the breaking of an impractical pickle dish
exemplifies the rage she must feel about her useless life. "That the pickle
dish has never been used makes it a strong symbol of Zeena herself, who prefers
not to take part in life" (Lawson 68-69). Ethan's response to Zeena's rage was
5. A second test tube was then filled with water and placed in a test
Throughout the book, Ethan himself appears to be lifeless which reflected on how he lived his life due to not pursuing his dreams and remaining in the same old town his ancestors inhabited. Ethan is not the only one dreaming within the book. Mattie also pictures herself with Ethan in the future and it does come true. However, she is not Ethan’s wife like she planned to be. She is stuck with both Ethan and her cousin as her cousin cares for her and the man of her dreams. The reality they are facing becomes more of a hell than a happy ending as they imagined it would
This quote is explaining the feeling of Ethan when Mattie Silver comes into his home. Ethan was gloomy and pretty much sick of his wife and when Mattie comes to his house she brings hope and a whole new outlook on life to Ethan. Ethan feels that she is warm person and a polar opposite compared to Zeena. Her coming transforms Ethan?s cold and depressing existence.
He deals with her complaining, overpowering and demanding personality, and she acts like she is always ‘sick.’ However, he didn’t ignore his feelings for Mattie and he wasn’t strong enough to run away and escape. When he was planning to run away with Mattie, he had to go get money from Mr. Andrew so they could run away but on his way there he met Mrs. Andrew. She told Ethan, “I always tell Mr. Hale I don’t know what she’d ‘a’ [Zeena] done if she hadn’t ‘a’ had you to look after her… You’ve had an awful mean time, Ethan Frome” (Wharton 104). After Mrs. Andrew tells this to Ethan, he doesn’t go ask for Mr. Andrew to pay him and instead goes home. He feels ashamed for for making Mr. Andrew get the money he needs because last time Ethan asked for the money, Mr. Andrew couldn’t get it. He also feels guilty for hurting his friends and he doesn’t want to leave Zeena with nothing when he runs away with Mattie. This displays again, how Ethan is a weak
“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 marries Zeena so he won't be alone after his mother dies. She seemed like a very cheerful, vivacious person while his mother was sick. After their marriage all this changed. She became a very nagging, sick wife. Because of Zeena's "complications" they had to hire someone to help around the house. Mattie, Zeena's cousin, needed a place to live and seemed fit for the job. She moved in and Ethan took and immediate liking to her. He found someone that cared for him, was always happy, and could share his youth. All of which, Zeena was incapable of doing. Ethan longed to be with Mattie, but he was loyal to Zeena. Being married to Zeena was Ethan's first failure.
Edith Wharton portrays Zeena as one of the most unappealing people imaginable. She rarely opens her mouth except to complain or criticize. She does not need words to tell one what she thinks, because on her face is a constant disapproval. Zeena is mean and heartless, as Ethan felt the day Zeena told him that Mattie was to go. “He looked at her with loathing. She was no longer the listless creature who had lived at his side in a state of sullen self-absorption, but a mysterious alien presence, an evil energy secreted from the long years of silent brooding.” On the other hand, all Zenobia wants is for her love to be returned. As she said, “He took my satchel from my hand, and said my name, Zenobia, and my own heart was moved by him for the rest of my days.” All she wants is for Ethan to give to her love and devotion. When she realizes that this love is unattainable, meanness and bitterness sets in. “Meanness came and filled up the spaces where love was not.”
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.
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 marries Zenobia (Zeena) after the death of his mother in "an unsuccessful attempt to escape the silence, isolation and loneliness of life" (Lawson, 71). But, after time, he finds his life again becoming silent, as it was with his mother. Their lack of communication is continually making the marriage more misera...
His isolation manifests itself throughout the book with either characters speaking about him, or through depictions of the author, Edith Wharton. One example where this unveils itself is when Harmon, who develops a lot of the town gossip, speculates on the cause of Ethan Frome 's ruined and prematurely aged appearance. He speaks about Ethan saying, “Guess he 's been in Starkfield too many winters. Most of the smart ones get away” (Wharton 6). His remark expresses the theme of the landscape 's shaping of character and fate. This describes the theme of isolation as it says that Ethan has been in Starkfield too long, and is essentially isolated. Here, it becomes apparent that through his stay in Starkfield, an ironically stark place, he transforms into an isolated human being. Another way in which Ethan’s isolation becomes apparent occurs in the prologue, where Wharton describes Ethan in comparison to the setting of the book. Wharton exclaims he represents “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… in a depth of moral isolation too remote for casual access” (Wharton 14). The book takes place in the fictional place of Starkfield,
“No, he didn’t. For I’d ‘a’ been ashamed to tell him that you grudged me the money to get back my health, when I lost it nursing your own mother” (Wharton 46). This section of the book fixed my perception of Zeena. As I began reading, I thought Zeena was simply an ill wife, with her hard-working husband. While Ethan battled his feelings for Mattie, I was angry.
The contrast between Zeena and Mattie is most extreme! Zeena is fully undesirable and Mattie is a veritable angel:
The Effect of the Number of Coils on an Electromagnet On Its Strength Aim: - To establish whether a variation in the number of coils will affect an electromagnet's strength. Scientific Knowledge -. The concept of electromagnets is fairly simple. An iron nail wrapped in a series of coils of insulated wire and then connected to a battery, will enable the nail to pick up paper clips. This is because the current emitted from the battery to the coils magnetizes the nail to the surface.