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Ethan Frome Character Analysis

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Jermaine Williams Mrs Koolis American Literature Ethan Frome Essay In Ethan Frome, There are different characters that can be characterized as protagonist, or antagonist . These characters consist of Ethan, and Zenaida. Ethan can be identified as the protagonist of the story, while Zeena being the antagonist. There are multiple reasons as to why these Characters are characterized the way that they are. I characterized Ethan as the protagonist for many reasons, one being he is the main character of the novel. He is important because without him there would be no book. In the beginning of the novel Ethan is walking very awkwardly and it leads the reader and evan the author to question why he is walking like that. “He was the most striking figure …show more content…

One point being that she goes against the main character Ethan. Zeena is very dominate but is the weakest link too. She is always sick, and has been for a long while. Whenever she goes to the doctors she is throwing money out the window, and it makes Ethan have to work harder. She is very needy and pathetic. She whines a lot and really makes it hard on Ethan to move on and do things with Mattie. But when she starts to figure out about the Ethan and Mattie situation she tries to get rid of her. She also locks them out, which is weirs because Zeena never locks the door and when she does she usually leave the key outside. But when Ethan realizes the key isn’t there he starts to panic, and Zeena comes to open the door that is her saying that she knows about Ethan and Mattie. “It’s not there. Such a thing had never happened before. Maybe she’s forgotten it... but both of them knew that it was not like Zeena to forget” (21-22). The next example of this is the pickle dish being broken. This is a symbol their marriage being broken and not being able to be put back together. It alyson stops Mattie and Ethan from doing anything that night alone. For more When Mattie and Ethan get into their Smash Up, Zeena out of nowhere miraculously gets better to help the two. Zeena starts feeling better and Ethan and Mattie have to live together knowing that they tried to get away from the women that is now taking care of them. They

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A long time resident of Starkfield, the protagonist Ethan Frome shows he is considerate by caring for and helping others. He first shows this trait when he gives up his desire to live in a city to support his ill mother. Though he has a strong wish to leave Starkfield, he respects his duty and cares for his mother. Ethan also shows this attribute to Zeena, by looking after her and contributing to her medicine while she also falls ill. Zeena is again thought of by Ethan when the pickle dish breaks.

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Let’s start with Ethan Frome. The women in Ethan Frome are two completely different people with different personalities. They are both portrayed in two completely different ways. Mattie is portrayed as a women who everyone envisions a women being, sweet, caring, helpful, and very nice. Zeena is portrayed as someone who’s always depressed and mad about everything, she’s crazy, sickly, jealous, and controlling.

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Mattie, Zeena and Ethan were all responsible for their own actions which resulted in them getting what they deserved. Ethan Frome was a young, 28 year old man, who lived in Starkfield, Massachusetts and was married to Zenobia Frome. Zeena helped care for Ethan’s mother when she was dying, which is how they got to know each other. After the death of his mother, Ethan began

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In the book, Ethan Frome by Edith Wharton Ethan is the main character. Ethan starts off in the story as a pushover but as the story goes along he gains a backbone against the protagonist, Zenna. Ethan is a round and dynamic character. In the beginning of the story when they go back in time you can tell that he doesn’t speak too much and is kinda detached from the rest of the town.

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The definition of strong is to keep on going even when things are not working out. In the novel Ethan Frome by Edith wharton The character Zeena has unexpected strength and Mattie Silver is surprisingly lacking strength. Zeena has a lot of hidden acts of strength in the book. People always thought that she was sickly but in the end she showed great toughness.

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As a result, his relationships with Mattie and Zeena worsen with him being the one getting the full brunt of the negative effects all because of his decision to try and end both his and Mattie’s lives. The plight of Ethan evokes pity in the audience because even with his strength, intelligence, and affinity towards nature, he remains thoroughly unsatisfied in both of his relationships because of him showing genuine care for everyone. Ethan is a tragic hero because Wharton exhibits his fatal flaw of selflessness as the cause for fixating him in tragic circumstances, and making them go downhill, all the while generating sympathy for him. Through his desire to keep everyone away from unnecessary pain, Ethan evolves as a tragic hero by involving himself in situations that make it hard for him to escape such as his relationships. First of all, he chooses to take care of his parents himself which prevents him from pursuing an education and keeps him socially isolated.

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Ethan Frome is the pathetic protagonist in the novel Ethan Frome, written by Edith Wharton. While reading Ethan Frome it is painfully aware that he is anything but active in taking control of his life. Ethan is observed as extremely passive and a victim of the events happening in his life. Life circumstances, such as, Zeena’s unwavering control over his life, Zeena being constantly sick, and the unmoral love he has for Mattie are on Ethan's shoulders. Ethan is hit with life circumstance after circumstance and he never truly makes the effort to manage his life.

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From great risk, some fortunate few are able to reap the benefits. The title character of Edith Wharton’s “Ethan Frome” often toys with this notion but reaches an inability to act. With nothing risked there is nothing gained, effectively preventing his life from moving forward or backwards. Furthermore, risk does not always yield change, as sometimes the change is the risk, a deviation from the normality of one’s life. Ethan’s inability to take risks keeps his life stagnant, immune to change like a decomposed corps in a grave.

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While everyone has a right to their own happiness, the truth of the matter is that it is not always easy to reach. While a person can struggle their entire life searching for happiness, some may never find what they’re looking for or may never be satisfied with what they have in front of them. The character Ethan, in Ethan Frome by Edith Wharton is a story of full of unlucky love and fate. Ethan stumbles upon a gravestone with his name on it, except this man had a wife, Endurance. This leaves Ethan wondering what his own gravestone with his wife, Zeena, will one day say.

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Certainly, Zeena’s attitude isn’t of the most merry of personalities. When the pickle dish shatters, this can stand to represent Zeena’s bitter personality. Nonetheless, “...Zeena’s face stood grimly” (Wharton), relates

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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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Throughout the duration of the novella, Zeena is certain that she is the bearer of a worsening sickness. However, Ethan is skeptical of this, and as a result questions the prognosis the expensive doctors provide her with. The novella indicates this disagreement when it states, “Turning her head at this, she answered solemnly: ‘I'm a great deal sicker than you think’”(Wharton 68). As indicated by the quote, Zeena believes that she is plagued with a kidney disease, a main constraint endured by the characters. To further explain, it not only provides Zeena with confinement to her home, but it also means that Ethan must work to take care of the farm and the house, restricting him from having time for himself.

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In the works of Literature an epiphany is “a moment of profound insight or revelation by which a character’s life is greatly altered” (24). In the short story “Cathedral” Raymond Carver uses epiphany to draw on the theme, blinded views can alter someone’s behavior. On the realistic level, epiphany advances the plot and character development because they are the basis for the story’s central action. They also help define the narrator and play a vital part in revealing the story’s theme. The following changes in the character’s views have shown an evident development.

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As Ethan and Mattie are eating, the cat interferes by causing the dish to fall. The plate breaks into multiple pieces. The dish mainly represents the broken relationship of Ethan and his wife, Zeena, after Mattie arrives. Ethan Frome by Edith Wharton uses a pickle dish to symbolize Ethan and Zeena’s relationship in the past, and future.

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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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