Ethan Frome, who has to face multiple conflicts throughout the book with his nonstop dream to be an engineer which is crushed due to the illness of, Zeena, his cousin, but who also happens to be his wife. Also a love begins to grow mid way through the book between a girl named Mattie and Ethan, even though he is still married to Zeena which ultimately leads to the distance between their love. In the book Ethan Frome, the feeling of isolation in Ethan and Zeena becomes more prominent, while anger grows between Ethan and Mattie from having denying their love, which contributes to the many mistakes and downfalls Ethan has to face throughout the book.
In the novel Ethan Frome by Edith Wharton the narrator tells the readers how he met the main character,Frome, in Massachusetts. Edith Wharton takes the reader twenty-four years into the past and there we see that Frome is a young man,who chased after an education in science, but when his father dies he is forced to return back to the farm. After that his mother becomes ill and his cousin Zeena comes to take care of her,but when his mother dies, Frome marries Zeena out of loneliness. As time passes by Zeena becomes more sick, due to this their marriage is without love and Frome feels very lonely and has no one to talk to. Then Mattie silver,Zeena’s cousin,comes to take care of her,and Frome falls in love with her and can not imagine life without
Reader Response Literary Analysis of Ethan Frome The novel Ethan Frome written by Edith Wharton is a classic novel of the early 1900’s. Wharton created a novel that is only fully comprehended in the cold winter months with snow swirling outside your home as you read with a cup of hot tea to warm you. It is an icy writing, with many different thoughts to extract from it. A main theme in this novel is society and morality are obstacles to the fulfillment of desire(“Ethan Frome”)
Melissa Palacios English 3A Feb. 21 2017 The novel Ethan Frome by Edith Wharton is about a tragic hero, Ethan who is not in love with his wife, but another person named Mattie. An important symbol in this novel is a pickle dish. This dish symbolizes Ethan’s relationship with his wife. The pickle dish first appears in chapter 4 of the novel.
In the novel, Ethan Frome by Edith Wharton, the main character, Ethan Frome, is to blame for the misery of the characters at the end of the novel due to his guilt. When Ethan is starting to write a letter to Zeena about how he is going to leave her and move West, he stops and thinks. Ethan says (directed towards Zeena), “‘I’m going to try my luck West, and you can sell the farm and mill, and keep the money’”(115). He ends up not finishing the letter to her because his guilt takes over and causes him to not follow through with his plan to move West. Ethan feels that he should not just leave Zeena in Starkfield with nothing.
This not only causes a fake relationship, but makes their view one-sided with each other. With this, Edith Wharton proves that people are afraid of how others perceive them, which causes them to hide who they are like Ainsley and Alida. Another common theme in Edith Wharton's writing is forbidden desires. One major example is when Ethan loves Mattie while married to Zeena, this can be seen in this quotation “It pleased Ethan to have surprised a pair of lovers on the spot where he and Mattie had stood with such a thirst for each other in their hearts, but he felt a pang at the thought that these two need not hide their happiness.” Ethan is in love with Mattie and explains how she makes him happy, But instead, he has to keep his love a secret, comparing himself to the other people in town who can show openly.
The story, Ethan Frome, by Edith Wharton is about a man who is married to a women named Zeena. Ethan and Zeena have a servant who works at their house named Mattie, who happens to be Zeena’s cousin. Throughout the entirety of this novel, Ethan catches feelings for his wife’s cousin, Mattie. Although, he is still married to Zeena he does not want to be. The story shows the evolution of Ethan’s feelings and attraction to their maid.
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.
The Fulfilment of Desire In the novella, Ethan Frome by Edith Wharton, the theme of desire is the most prominent throughout the book. The book focuses on the love and desire that Ethan Frome has for his wife’s relative, Mattie Silver. The fulfilment of desire plays not only a key role in Ethan Frome but also in society. In society, we often desire people or things that we can not obtain.
An emotion is a distinctive feeling deriving from a relationship with other individuals. Emotions can be very powerful and can either hinder or strengthen an individual. In the novel Ethan Frome written by Edith Wharton, the hamarita that Ethan possesses is the abundance of concern he has for others. This means that his emotions for others hinder his life. This leads to his demise which is when Ethan and Mattie crash the elm tree and they are sent to the hospital.
Edith Newbold Jones-Wharton, author of Ethan Frome, was born into a wealthy New York family. She grew up in the world of high society, but her true interests were not in wealth, but rather the beauty of language. She consistently read and wrote numerous pieces from a young age. She later ended up marrying Teddy Wharton, a mentally challenged man. Ethan Frome, spurs from her own personal experiences with her husband.
That looks on tempests and is never shaken” (Lines 1-7). In Edith Wharton’s classic, Ethan Frome, this theme is present for protagonist Ethan Frome, who falls in love with his maid, Mattie, and forsakes his wife, Zeena. Ethan and Mattie’s flirtation with infidelity sets a catastrophic series of events into play: Zeena is jilted by the lovers’ betrayal, Mattie asks for the irrational way out of her situation, and all three characters make destructive decisions. Ethan’s indifference toward his wife and lack of compassion for her illnesses clearly demonstrates Ethan and Zeena’s loveless relationship.
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.
In Edith Wharton’s most remarkable novel, Ethan Frome, the main character, Ethan Frome, is in love with a prohibited woman… his wife's cousin. His wife, Zeena, is a sick woman who has a villainous essence to her and an irrevocable hold on Ethan. Mattie Silver is Zeena’s cousin and the woman Ethan is infatuated with. Through Ethan’s eyes, Mattie is described as youthful, attractive, and graceful basically everything Zeena isn’t.
Readers may not always be aware of the careful consideration involved in the narrative aspect of literature, but its significance should not be overlooked, for narration can play an enormous role in the development and reception of a novel. First, second, or third person. Limited or omniscient. Objective or subjective. All are components of that which constitutes a narrator, and all have the ability to dramatically alter the manner in which a story is relayed to the audience.
