The Pickle Dish In Ethan Frome By Edith Wharton

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In the book Ethan Frome by Edith Wharton, Wharton was able to paint a picture of the situation using motif such as the red pickle dish. This dish was a gift given to Ethan and Zeena on their wedding day by a relative of Zeena, therefor the pickle dish symbolized the marriage. The pickle dish is was described as red which is a color only associated with Mattie so the pickle dish also symbolized Mattie. The fact the object was a pickle dish tied the object with Ethan because he was the only main character that has a “pickle”. It is very obvious that the pickle dish means a lot to all three characters by how they react when it breaks. When cat broke the pickle dish Mattie “had sprung from her chair and was down on her knees by the fragment”(Wharton