Symbolism In Ethan Frome By Edith Wharton

Ethan Frome by Edith Wharton is a story that is much more than meets the eye. Wharton’s novel is a tragic tale of a man who marries on a whim and years later falls in love with another, that particular other being his wife’s cousin and handmaid. This tale ends with an “accident” gone wrong, and the three are almost trapped in their home forever (Wharton 74-77). Throughout the story, Wharton uses symbolism to give the story so much meaning. Wharton includes symbolism within her setting, objects and their colors, and her characters. Wharton uses her setting for much more than a mere setting. Her cold and icy setting is the perfect place for her tragic tale to take place. “The village lay under two feet of snow, with drifts at the windy corners” (11). This frozen atmosphere creates a sense of isolation; it adds to the tragic elements of the story. “The ubiquitous snow makes the New England farmhouses even more isolated, and the chain of despair seems frozen into place”(White). As White describes it, the setting takes the story and makes the despair almost unchangeable.

The setting is also a culprit for this despair as “ it delays him in getting the glue for the broken pickle dish and leads inexorably to

White says “ The colors of Ethan Frome are black and white…” with a touch of color(White). Wharton uses color for specific objects to add symbolism. A prime example of this is the pickle dish. The dish is red, and is to symbolize Zeena and Ethan's marriage, as it was given to them as a wedding present. When it is broken during Mattie and Ethan’s night alone together, it represents Ethan and Zeena’s marriage shattering. After Zeena discovers what had happened, she gathered “up the bits of broken glass she went out of the room as if she carried a dead body”(Wharton 54). Zeena is starting to realize how their marriage is falling apart, and like the pickle dish, it is shattered and unlikely to be