The Impact of Descriptive Writing in Wharton's Ethan Frome

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The descriptions in Ethan Frome are one of the most enjoyable aspects of the story. The walk that Ethan and Mattie take in the snow at night is beautiful and if you have ever experienced a night walk on a country road with stars and the moon lighting the way, reading the description of this one will bring memories of it back:

The night was so still that they heard the frozen snow crackle under their feet. The crash of a loaded branch falling far off in the woods reverberated like a musket-shot, and once a fox barked, and Mattie shrank closer to Ethan, and quickened her steps.

Here is another example of Wharton's precision of description. It is the scene in which Ethan watches Mattie and Eady from a distance, not knowing if she will go with him in his vehicle:

By this time they had passed beyond Frome's earshot and he could only follow the shadowy pantomime of their silhouettes as they continued to move along the crest of the slope above him. He saw Eady, after a moment, jump from the cutter and go toward the girl with the reins over one arm. The other he tried to slip through hers; but she eluded him nimbly, and Frome's heart, which had swung out over a black void, trembled back to safety.

The contrast between Zeena and Mattie is most extreme! Zeena is fully undesirable and Mattie is a veritable angel:

He and Zeena had not exchanged a word after the door of their room had closed on them. She had measured out some drops from a medicine-bottle on a chair by the bed and, after swallowing them, and wrapping her head in a piece of yellow flannel, had lain down with her face turned away. Ethan undressed hurriedly and blew out the light so that he should not see her when he took his place at her side. As he lay there he could hear Mattie moving about in her room, and her candle, sending its small ray across the landing, drew a scarcely perceptible line of light under his door.

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