The Night that Changed My Life

860 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Essay of solitude

The Night that Changed My Life

The night’s darkness blanketed the cabin and the landscape like a mother and her newly born child. The winter snow on the ground illuminated the moon’s light and made it very easy for seeing into the distance, but there was nothing to see; for miles and miles tall pines and rolling terrain contained nothing but Mother Nature. I lay silently in my bed and watched out my window the snow drifting methodically to the ground. The tall pines stood watching over the cabin and their shadows seemed to have a life of their own. The howling wind caused an occasional screech and moan of the old wooden door. I was alone in my cabin except for the wicked cold, which made me a number of times reach for my blanket as it nipped at my exposed body. I trembled and my teeth began to chatter as I read my newspaper by the candlelight. As I began reading I came across an article about an escaped madman from a Maine jail. I looked at the picture and for some reason I thought I knew the man, but in reality I knew I did not. I continued to read as I tried to pass time as I expected the arrival of my girlfriend, Michelle, who like myself, was looking for an escape from this harsh world. This isolated spot in Northern Maine had great privacy and seldom had visitors. I lay patiently awake and a wait a knocking on my door.

Suddenly, without warning, the candle blew out and a chill came across my body that was indescribable. I quickly rose to my feet to relight the candle, but I soon realized that I was out of matches. I hesitated to move, I hesitated to breathe, but then there was a knocking on my door and my heart suddenly dropped into my stomach. BANG, BANG, BANG. I stood frozen in the middle of the room like a deer caught in a car’s headlights. I practically crawled to the door to see who it was. I prayed after each step that it was Michelle, but for some reason I knew it was not. I went to the door and stood silent, almost like I was waiting for that person on the other side to open the door before I did, but they didn’t. I searched for the handle in the darkness, but I need not to find it.

Show More
Related

  • Ethan Frome Essay

    700 Words  | 2 Pages

    “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.

    Read More

  • The Witch Wins in Ethan Frome by Edith Wharton

    1087 Words  | 3 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • Irony in Ethan Frome by Edith Wharton

    1031 Words  | 3 Pages

    Edith Wharton’s brief, yet tragic novella, Ethan Frome, presents a crippled and lonely man – Ethan Frome – who is trapped in a loveless marriage with a hypochondriacal wife, Zenobia “Zeena” Frome. Set during a harsh, “sluggish” winter in Starkfield, Massachusetts, Ethan and his sickly wife live in a dilapidated and “unusually forlorn and stunted” New-England farmhouse (Wharton 18). Due to Zeena’s numerous complications, they employ her cousin to help around the house, a vivacious young girl – Mattie Silver. With Mattie’s presence, Starkfield seems to emerge from its desolateness, and Ethan’s vacant world seems to be awoken from his discontented life and empty marriage. And so begins Ethan’s love adventure – a desperate desire to have Mattie as his own; however, his morals along with his duty to Zeena and his natural streak of honesty hinder him in his ability to realize his own dreams. Throughout this suspenseful and disastrous novella, Ethan Frome, Edith Wharton effectively employs situational irony enabling readers to experience a sudden shock and an unexpected twist of events that ultimately lead to a final tragedy in a living nightmare.

    Read More

  • In The Lake Of The Woods Sparknotes

    862 Words  | 2 Pages

    It’s human nature that people want to see the good in others. While reading In the Lake of the Woods by Tim O’Brian, the reader can not help but feel empathetic towards John, and want to believe that his powerful love towards Kathy is incapable of causing her harm. Although a lot of the evidence suggests that Kathy had taken it upon herself to run away, or simply have wandered away and have gotten lost, the evidence towards John as a possible murderer thwarts any probability of Kathy being the cause of her own disappearance; John’s experience in Vietnam and twisted relationship with Kathy epitomizes his potential as a murderer.

    Read More

  • The Day That Changed My Life Forever

    838 Words  | 2 Pages

    Throughout life we come across many people, some who influence us in negative ways, and those who influence in good ways, often changing our complete outlook on life. For me, it took the struggle of one of my best friends to open my eyes. I only wish it wasn't too late to thank her.

    Read More

  • Descriptive Essay On A Strange Place

    1210 Words  | 3 Pages

    Standing on the balcony, I gazed at the darkened and starry sky above. Silence surrounded me as I took a glimpse at the deserted park before me. Memories bombarded my mind. As a young girl, the park was my favourite place to go. One cold winter’s night just like tonight as I looked upon the dark sky, I had decided to go for a walk. Wrapped up in my elegant scarlet red winter coat with gleaming black buttons descending down the front keeping away the winter chill. Wearing thick leggings as black as coal, leather boots lined with fur which kept my feet cozy.

    Read More

  • The Handmaid's Tale

    469 Words  | 1 Pages

    The world around her turned frozen as the leaves fell from trees and the flowers withered and faded. The ice of loneliness wrapped its cold frost around her soul. Nothing but sadness filled her heart with longing to have her husband back. She sobbed in her search for Oden when at last she found him in a fair

    Read More

  • A Hazy Memory from Childhood

    1098 Words  | 3 Pages

    .... Finally, my parents arrived, riding the sound of their running footsteps on the hollow wooden dock. Dad immediately relieved my weary arms of their burden and pulled my brother out of the cold blue lake. I looked up into my Mom's face to see tears of mixed panic and joy as she embraced my younger brother, heedless of the world that surrounded the two of them. She focused only on her son, who looked back at her silently with deep brown chestnut eyes.

    Read More

  • Descriptive Essay - Our Mountain Cabin

    1354 Words  | 3 Pages

    We slowly crept around the corner, finally sneaking a peek at our cabin. As I hopped out of the front seat of the truck, a sharp sense of loneliness came over me. I looked around and saw nothing but the leaves on the trees glittering from the constant blowing wind. Catching myself standing staring around me at all the beautiful trees, I noticed that the trees have not changed at all, but still stand tall and as close as usual. I realized that the trees surrounding the cabin are similar to the being of my family: the feelings of never being parted when were all together staying at our cabin.

    Read More

  • An Event Which Changed My Life

    1937 Words  | 4 Pages

    “An Event Which Changed My Life” An Event which changed my life, well when, I think back on my life there’s Many changes for the good and some were bad but, there were some learning experiences that help make me a better person. The events in my life, was dealing with the Birth and The Death of my first daughter. The First, Event was the birth of my first daughter it, was a joyous event in my life.

    Read More

  • Scary Story

    990 Words  | 2 Pages

    I looked up at the black sky. I hadn't intended to be out this late. The sun had set, and the empty road ahead had no streetlights. I knew I was in for a dark journey home. I had decided that by traveling through the forest would be the quickest way home. Minutes passed, yet it seemed like hours and days. The farther I traveled into the forest, the darker it seemed to get. I was very had to even take a breath due to the stifling air. The only sound familiar to me was the quickening beat of my own heart, which felt as though it was about to come through my chest. I began to whistled to take my mind off the eerie noises I was hearing. In this kind of darkness I was in, it was hard for me to believe that I could be seeing these long finger shaped shadows that stretched out to me. I had this gut feeling as though something was following me, but I assured myself that I was the only one in the forest. At least I had hoped that I was.

    Read More

  • A Typical Day – A Short Narrative

    988 Words  | 2 Pages

    I wearily drag myself away from the silken violet comforter and slump out into the living room. The green and red print of our family’s southwestern style couch streaks boldly against the deep blues of the opposing sitting chairs, calling me to it. Of course I oblige the billowy haven, roughly plopping down and curling into the cushions, ignoring the faint smell of smoke that clings to the fabric. My focus fades in and out for a while, allowing my mind to relax and unwind from any treacherous dreams of the pervious night, until I hear the telltale creak of door hinges. My eyes flutter lightly open to see my Father dressed in smart brown slacks and a deep earthy t-shirt, his graying hair and beard neatly comber into order. He places his appointment book and hair products in a bag near the door signaling the rapid approaching time of departure. Soon he is parading out the door with ever-fading whispers of ‘I love you kid,’ and ‘be good.’

    Read More

  • A Event That Changed My Life

    769 Words  | 2 Pages

    Sometimes it just takes one event to forever change your outlook on life. One such event happened to me when I was only 5 years old. My day started out as most 5yr olds growing up in the south in the late 60’s, only I was a bit different because unlike my neighborhood friends, my mom was 55yrs old. My mother gave birth to me when she was 50 years old and I was the youngest of 8 children, most of which were grown with children of their own when I came along. My mother spoiled me rotten, she was very attentive to my every demand. And I mostly demanded cereal, Rice Krispies only! My mother wasn’t very playful with me (what 55yr old would be?) but I felt her love. She would not let me out of her sight, she was always there, until one day she wasn’t. I woke up that morning in my mother’s bed as I often did, and I shook her to wake her up as I always did, only this time the shaking wasn’t working. I remember yelling for my siblings to come wake mommy up, I needed my Rice Krispies! Only instead of waking her up they began yelling and screaming and calling people on the phone. What’s going on? It’s not that serious, just get mommy up! I saw men in white shirts running into the house and then leaving with my mother on a stretcher. I didn’t

    Read More

  • The Event That Changed My Life

    1241 Words  | 3 Pages

    There have been very few events throughout my lifetime that I feel have impacted or inspired me with such noteworthiness and that I know will change my outlook on the world and affect me forever. One of those events occurred when I traveled to Portugal, my parent’s homeland. From this excursion in 2007, I learned the importance of family, most importantly the distant kind. It provided me with a totally different perspective on the world and how large and extended one’s family can really be; even across cultures and continents. I felt so fortunate learning this lesson at a young age and growing to appreciate the ideals I was brought up with as a child. The family I have in Portugal has always been there; however, their faces have aged and are blemished with the passing of many years and difficult times. Some newer additions to the family have started to become a part of the modern Portuguese workforce. One of my cousins was studying to become a veterinarian and another was working as a nurse at the local hospital of Montalegre (or “Happy Mountain”).

    Read More

  • The Most Important Event in My Life

    802 Words  | 2 Pages

    The Most Important Event in my Life The most important event in my life, didn’t even happen to me, but happened to my older sister, Becky. The reason I am writing about her is because the things that have happened to her and the things she has done in the past have affected me tremendously, as well as my family. Her life used to be filled with nothing else but drugs, stealing, and lying. My family has never been the same since then.

    Read More

More about The Night that Changed My Life

Open Document