John Fernandez Survey American Lit. 3/15/23 The Fates of the main characters in the story Ethan Frome are not deserved but happen because of the choices they make. Ethan Frome and his Lover Mattie silver find themselves in a failed suicide pact and end up having to be taken care of by Ethan's wife Zeena for the rest of their lives. Zeena Fate in the story is she has to take care of Ethan and Mattie after their failed suicide. Zeena doesn’t deserve but caused her fate was she didn’t know that Ethan and Mattie were trying to kill themselves because it would have been better than living apart from each other. If Zeena knew that they were trying to kill themselves she wouldn’t have been so willing to take care of them after the accident. The …show more content…
They both ended up surviving but needed to be taken care of which Zeena provided. Another reason Zeena doesn’t deserve her fate is that she was forced to marry Ethan as payment for taking care of his parents. The fate of Mattie Silver in the book Ethan Frome is that she is paralyzed from the neck down and needs help from another person most if not all the time. “When I came in she turned her head quickly toward me, without the least corresponding movement of her body.” page 66 One reason Mattie doesn’t deserve her fate is that she was forced to go live with Ethan and Zeena because both her parents had died and she had barely any money because her dad was an investor before his death. …show more content…
Both Ethan and Mattie got seriously injured in their failed suicide which is undeserved. One reason Ethan’s fate was undeserved was that he had to leave college early to go help his dying dad. “His father's death, and the misfortunes following it, had put a premature end to Ethan's studies.” page 11 His dad's death leads to his mom dying. Ethan being left all alone lead him to marry the only person around Zeena who had been taking care of his mom. Ethan's marriage with Zeena was a very poor decision by the two, they both were unhappy with the relationship they had but Zeenas parents thought that it was the least he could do for taking care of his mom. “Yes; and my folks all told me at the time you couldn't do no less than marry me after” page 42 Another choice that led to Ethan's fate was that of deciding to not let Jotham Powell take Mattie to the train station and do it himself. “I want you should stay here this afternoon, Ethan,” his wife said. “Jotham can drive Mattie over.” Mattie flung an imploring glance at him, but he repeated curtly: “I'm going to drive her over myself.” page 56 This decision led Ethan to take Mattie sledding. Ethan dividing to go sledding with Mattie was the final big decision that he decided to make that caused his fate. During sledding, Both characters decided that life wasn’t worth living if they weren’t