In the novel Ethan Frome by Edith Wharton we follow the story of a man named Ethan his sickly wife Zeena and her cousin Mattie silver.As a young man Ethans father dies and leaves him to manage the far and he struggles to make ends meet with him being the only one working the farm and his mother being sick and needing round the clock assistance. Ethan meets Zeena when she comes to assist his sick mother who later dies. After her death Ethan takes Zeena as his wife and she becomes ill as well and is advised by doctors to hire a girl to come take care of things around the house where she can’t. Her family sees it fit to send her cousin Mattie Silver to do the jo as she has become sort of a family disappointment after the death of her father.