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Economic Conflict In Wharton's Ethan Frome

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Jean Cocteau once said, “true Realism consists in revealing the surprising things which habit keeps covered and prevents us from seeing.” In 19th century France a movement developed with the main objective of representing reality by depicting real-life events and conflicts in a Naturalistic matter. French painter Gustave Courbet named this movement Realism. In literature, Realism represents real-life events and conflicts; detailed Realism shapes human characters through Naturalism. Throughout the Realism period, writers used gender roles, economic struggle, and the effect of the environment to develop human characters within their stories.
Throughout the Realism period, authors used the conflict of gender roles in their writing. There “were …show more content…

Economics “is a science which studies human behavior as a relationship between ends and scarce means which have alternative uses” (Robbins 1). The authors used the economic conflict to show how in times of desperation for money, people make bad decisions with life-long consequences. Throughout the story of Ethan Frome, Wharton embraces Ethan’s financial insecurity for a demonstration of the tension between Ethan and Zeena and their relationship. Ethan exclaims “‘Did the doctor tell you how I was to pay her wages?’ Her voice rose furiously with his. ‘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 7). Zeena and Ethan’s relationship suffered due to financial problems the couple faced. Zeena and Ethan finally accepted their financial situation and that they did not have enough money to continue providing for Mattie and pay a hired girl their relationship finds its ultimate demise. Furthermore, in The Outcasts of Poker Flats, the main characters; John Oakhurst, the Duchess, Mother Shipton, and Uncle Billy, all had “improper” ways of living life, including gambling, prostitution, and stealing. Due to the ways these characters chose to make money, the people of their town exiled them (Harte 1-6). Harte uses the conflict of economic struggle in his story. These characters felt desperate and fell into economic struggle, so they made bad decisions that caused life-long consequences. Economic struggle and conflict can also cause life-long consequences due to frustration. Additionally, in Miniver Cheevy, Miniver “scorned the gold he sought,/But sore annoyed was he without it;/Miniver thought, and thought, and thought,/And thought about it/Miniver Cheevy, born too late,/Scratched his head and kept on thinking;/Miniver coughed, and called it fate,/And kept on drinking” (Robinson 3). Throughout Miniver

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984 Words | 4 Pages

”(Wharton 3). Because of his loneliness, he asked Zeena to marry him without thinking it through. He had no feelings for her and desperately hoped it would make him feel better. While being married to Zeena, his unhappiness peaked and caused him to fall in love with another girl who was the Fromes’ maid, Mattie Silver. Romance was in the air and most definitely not between Zeena and Ethan.

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1427 Words | 6 Pages

In fact, the only reason Ethan and Zeena married each other was for the desperate demand for money due to sickness, first with the poor health of Ethan’s mother and then the sickness of Zeena. They were stuck in a cycle of finding money just to take care of each other, especially since all the debt that accumulated from the farm was now stuck to their name. While some people were constrained by money, others went out to look for ways out, such as in the story, “A Wagner Matinee,” which illustrates Aunt Georgiana, a young Boston music teacher, who decides to marry a younger man named Howard Carpenter. The author explains, “Carpenter, who of course had no money, took a homestead in Red Willow County, fifty miles from the railroad... They built a dugout in the red hillside, one of those cave dwellings whose inmates usually reverted to the conditions of primitive savagery.

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480 Words | 2 Pages

As well as making Ethan feel guilty for not having proper funds making him unable to seek high-quality medical care for her. Zeena committed various acts trying to draw more attention to herself from Ethan, and away from Mattie. Zeena would have Ethan and Mattie repetitively fetch her medicine and prepare meals for her due to her illnesses and make multiple other demands. As Zeena started to figure out the premeditation of Mattie’s and Ethan’s scarper, she started to act more clingy as well as emotional towards Ethan to draw more attention to that instead of planning on leaving.

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1538 Words | 7 Pages

In the enigmatic morality play ‘An Inspector Calls’ Priestley unequivocally conveys money as a fundamental theme, signifying how money motivates others, presenting how those at the lowest social order are dehumanised by their lack of money and how dependent on maturity the ability to handle money is affected. Priestley exhibits how the level of maturity someone has affects how they handle money. This is portrayed through the characterisation of Eric as he lacks financial literacy. Mr Birling states Eric has 'more money to spend and time to spare than I had’ demonstrating his inability to appreciate the significance of money and his obliviousness of how individuals in the lower class, such as Eva, live in poverty struggling to make enough money

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530 Words | 3 Pages

Wharton uses him to show the problems gender roles can create in a marriage and everyday life in general. Ethan marries Zeena because that’s his options. Zeena agrees because she’s already been living with him and there isn’t much difference. They assume the normal husband-and-wife roles and continue living. Zeena did the cooking (until she got “sick”) and Ethan did the farming.

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836 Words | 4 Pages

Throughout the novel “Ethan Frome”, many of the characters made irrational decisions. Quite a few of which impacted their daily life, for example Ethan’s decision to marry Zeena. Once Mattie moved into their home to carry out the housework Zeena was unable to complete due to her debilitating illness, Ethan developed feelings for her which only led to more chaos in their household. Their love blossomed into a greater intimacy than Ethan and Zeena’s marriage ever was. Not thinking logically, they pursued each other in the same house as Ethan’s wife.

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1410 Words | 6 Pages

The writers of this period tried to accurately represent the environment and manners of everyday life and they way people lived, dressed, thought, felt, and talked. They sought to explain why ordinary people behave a certain way. Realism writers relied on sciences such as biology, psychology, and sociology; as well as their own insights and observations of life (Holt 379-381,

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550 Words | 3 Pages

Ethan’s bad choices of leaving school, feeling lonely and marrying Zeena and then also being avoidant when he wants to leave her. Obviously, Ethan Frome’s tragedy is all caused by his personal decisions. One of many ignorant choices Ethan makes is when his mother gets ill, somewhere in the beginning of the story. During this time, Ethan dropped out of college.

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763 Words | 4 Pages

Forcing Mattie to leave is Zeena’s desperate attempt at solving the love triangle. Zeena hoped that Mattie leaving would guide Ethan and Zeena back to their original relationship without distractions. However, Zeena could not have anticipated that the lovers’ prospective separation is needed for them to confess their feelings for each other and the culmination of the painful saga. The story comes to a climax when Mattie says “we’d never have to leave each other any more” referring to their suicide and unity in death (Wharton 63). Ethan agrees to her solution and the problem of their living apart is solved.

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718 Words | 3 Pages

Realism is a way of thinking that allows people to express themselves using a real life approach this became very popular among African Americans. After embracing the new Negro approach. Being able to express one’s self without restraint of consequences and to give the truth of their circumstances with unrated reality. Some authors who demonstrated realism in their works would be Dorothy West. In her excerpt “The Living is Easy” creates a story of a woman who can’t escape the circumstance of which she was raised while struggling with her self-identity.

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Discuss the significance of money in An Inspector Calls. You must consider language, form and structure in your answer. In the play ‘An Inspector calls’ J.B. Priestley utilises the significance of money and its effects on varying classes by emphasising how money can corrupt and distort societies priorities and sense of moral character in order to prove money is the root of society's problems. His characterisation of the Birlings and how they affected Eva Smith highlights the detrimental effects of class inequality.

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286 Words | 2 Pages

Professor Sallie McFague describes the meaning of economics as a “well being of the human, about who eats and who does not, who has clothes and shelter and who does not, who has the basic for decent life and who does not. Economics is about life and death, as well as the quality of life. Economics is not just about money, but about sharing scarce resources among all who need them. Economics is a justice issue”(McFague,119). In my opinion, she explains this complicated branch of our society simple and straight forward, meaning she gives the basic definiton of what economy is and what purpose should it serve.

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515 Words | 3 Pages

Throughout history there has been movement upon movement wether its overthrowing governments, scientific, or in the line of Arts and Literatures. These movements have to be fueled by people, which leads to, who was an important figure in Realism. Realism can be defined as a movement where it portrayed ignored figures such as middle and working classes, everyday situation. One of the many famous writers of this movement was Henrik Ibsen, who was a Norwegian playwright. Henrik Ibsen was important to the Realism movement because he shows life of ordinary people, he uses dark or controversial subjects, and he changes the form of drama.

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738 Words | 3 Pages

Both Zeena and Ethan have varying responses, however both showing some commitment to repair their union. In Ethan Frome, Edith Wharton utilizes a broken pickle dish, to represent the views of espousement, and the representation of their varied human actions. Ethan and Zeena Frome’s marriage represents a union based on obligation rather that love. Throughout the story, Ethan is a weak and submissive husband under the control of a domineering wife.

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1167 Words | 5 Pages

However, it is evident from many of the novels published during this period, that such harmonious assimilation, even in fiction was not available to them. Thus, in many novels of this phase, the feminine heroine was seen as growing up in a world without female solidarity, where women in fact police each other on behalf of patriarchal tyranny. Also, the deficiencies of feminine novelists were seen in male portraiture which were attempts to conceal these deficiencies. The model heroes were thus the product of female fantasies about how they would act and feel if they were men.

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