Theme Of Sympathy In Ethan Frome

Yash Shrivastava The Power of Sympathy Sympathy is the strongest emotion. Sympathy can cause pain and suffering but can also bring joy and delight to society. No matter how far back you go, you will always find some form of authority in the community, whether in the social hierarchy, a place of work, or even a friend group. In Ethan Frome by Edith Wharton, Mattie seems to lose Zeena's trust, although by losing Zeena's faith, she can gain Ethan's sympathy and has higher control over Ethan, who does have Zeena's trust. Mattie gains authority through Ethan's sympathy, giving her confidence. Ethan disregards Zeena when he is with Mattie, giving Mattie confidence boosts. Ethan makes sure he can spend the most time with Mattie possible, especially

Ethan is vexed with acquiescing to Zeena's requests, which starts the original attention toward Mattie. After Zeena expresses all her frustration towards Mattie about the broken pickle dish, Mattie knows that Ethan will interfere but does not want him to. Mattie describes this through a note to Ethan, which gives him a "strange new sense of her nearness; yet it deepened his anguish by reminding him that henceforth they would have no other way of communication with each other" (55). Ethan now starts to feel closer to Mattie, realizing that he will not be able to communicate with Mattie in the future, further reducing Zeena's importance to Ethan. There have also been rumors about Dennis Eady supposedly marrying Mattie, which Ethan and Zeena had been stressing about. If that does happen, they would likely move away, meaning they would have to find a new helper. While Ethan is picking Mattie up from the church, Dennis Eady and another lady offer Mattie rides home, although Mattie sternly rejects them and waits for Ethan (18). There is trust in Ethan's relationship with Mattie, unlike his relationship with Zeena, giving new levels of importance and distinction to his relationship with