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What Is Ethan Frome Internal Conflict

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Conflict in a story can make or break a story in many ways. There are also some many different types of conflict but they are broken down into internal and external conflicts. A lot of the best story have the best conflicts for example. In the crucible by aruthur miller and Ethan Frome by Edith Aaron both have different different types of conflict but both the thrive off their conflicts.

In the crucible by Arthur Miller there is an external conflict between Abby and the proctor, also this conflict is built on lies. This conflict started when John cheated on his wife with Abigail and regrets it ever since. His wife Elizabeth proctor never forgive him for it. Then Abigail is caught doing witchcraft in the woods and starts lying her …show more content…

In the beginning of the story, the reader learns about Ethan trying to go to college, but his father died and that brings Ethan back home. Then Ethan’s girlfriend Zeena moves in to take care of his mother. Once Ethan’s mother dies Ethan fears being lonely so he gets married quickly. Zenna is a bad person as shown here in the text “Zeena made no reply: She did not seem to hear what he had said” (Wharton 51)”. So Zeena cousin Mattie, who is an orphan, came to live with them Ethan instantly liked her. Now he can’t let Zeena know this because Mattie will get sent away. It is shown Ethan has a crush on Mattie when he said “He became suddenly conscious that he was looking at Mattie while Zeena talked to him…”(Wharton 50). This shows how Ethan rather be with Mattie then Zeena. The internal conflict going on inside him. Later on in the story, a “smash up” happened. It is a sledding “accident” but really it’s a suicidal attempt by Ethan and Mattie because they realize they will never be able to get together in this world. During the attempt, Ethan pulls away. “But suddenly his wife face, with twisted with monstrous lineaments, thrust himself between him and his goal”(Wharton 20). This quote shows the internal conflict going on with Ethan. This conflict is built on not being in touch with his feeling. The story of Ethan Frome should show everyone how important it is to be in touch with your

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984 Words | 4 Pages

Ethan flirted with Mattie and would try his hardest to impress her, for example, he began shaving his face everyday which he never used to do for Zeena. These inappropriate actions caused chaos within the household. Ethan began to lust over Mattie, wanting to spend as much

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359 Words | 2 Pages

I have been left with a feeling of despair after reading Ethan Frome. This novel was very challenging to read, but even more challenging to comprehend. This bleak novel is an account of the bitter life of Ethan Frome as the narrators perceives it to be. Wharton used a frame story to compare the Ethan Frome in the past and present. The narrator meets Ethan Frome in the beginning and then starts to piece together information about Frome’s life and how he managed to remain in the dreadful town of Starkville.

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1441 Words | 6 Pages

In Ethan Frome, Edith Wharton depicts Ethan as a tragic hero who gets downtrodden by his circumstances and mainly, his personality. He has the tragic flaw of not being willing to put anyone in pain even if he benefits from it. Through this, he gets blocked from pursuing an education when he must care for his ill parents. Consequently, he also doesn’t get to socialize with other people of his age, making him feel awfully lonely. To further his tragic predicament, he marries Zeena, his cousin who arrives to take care of his mother and unfortunately, she prevents him from pursuing his love for nature and engineering by wanting to stay in Starkfield forever for her own ego.

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496 Words | 2 Pages

Your personal fulfillment versus your duties can cause a rift in your life. Ethan Frome was in competition with the duties for his wife and his personal happiness and choosing to be with Mattie. He had to always choose on the important things in his life. This very thing caused confusion in his life. The author uses point of view , imagery, and the setting to show how Ethan’s feelings were portrayed about both women in the book and his life.

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456 Words | 2 Pages

Conflict: The main conflict in this story is between Ethan and his father. Ethan’s father does not want him to be with Rachel, so he sabotages their relationship. This causes Ethan and Rachel to drift apart, even though they desperately want to be together. This is all the doing of Ethan’s father, who will do anything to get Ethan to marry a girl with more stature than Rachel has.

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1142 Words | 5 Pages

Ethan compares her to a fire on (probably his) a cold heart meaning he's been in this cold and lonely place for so long, he doesn't even care who comes into his life as long as there's someone he can interact with that's not Zeena. But Mattie was different because she was interested in natural beauty as well and that shocked Ethan because he thought he was the only one. This was the reason he “falls in love” with her. The author says that there were “sensations... which drew them together with a shock of silent joy: the cold red of sunset behind winter hills... the intensely blue shadows of hemlocks on sunlit snow.

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672 Words | 3 Pages

Then, when it comes to the big “smash up”, Ethan gets hurt pretty badly which symbolizes the almost irreversible consequence of him trying to escape his own sour circumstances. After the accident, the sled gets broken which is quite important because it shows Ethan’s dreams shattering right in front of him. Generally, the symbolism in Ethan Frome resonates throughout the entire novel, amplifying the themes of loneliness, regret, and mighty power of shattered desires. Wharton employs an incredibly unique narrative technique to enhance the tragic aspect of Ethan Frome’s lifestyle.

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2138 Words | 9 Pages

This common struggle is portrayed particularly in Ethan Fromes desire to leave his miserable marriage to Zeena in order to run away with his passionate affair with Mattie. Zeena recognizes Ethan's interest in Mattie, ordering that Mattie leave immediately, this causes Ethan to consider running off. While writing a letter to Zeena of his departure, he quickly realize that "[hes] been in a dream, and this is the only evening that [he and Mattie] will ever have together"(56) ultimately because running away would be a hopeless endeavor. Although, Ethan is unhappy, noticeable by his silence that "does not reflect emptiness, but, instead, mirrors veery present but muted morals"(Wendt 158), he chooses that his moral obligation to Zeena is more important. Yet "the facts of poverty and his marital obligation act like prison guards"(Carrol) causing eternal imprisonement in the soul of Ethan.

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836 Words | 4 Pages

Throughout the novel “Ethan Frome”, many of the characters made irrational decisions. Quite a few of which impacted their daily life, for example Ethan’s decision to marry Zeena. Once Mattie moved into their home to carry out the housework Zeena was unable to complete due to her debilitating illness, Ethan developed feelings for her which only led to more chaos in their household. Their love blossomed into a greater intimacy than Ethan and Zeena’s marriage ever was. Not thinking logically, they pursued each other in the same house as Ethan’s wife.

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523 Words | 3 Pages

The main character, Ethan, starts to like someone else, despite him already being married. Although he starts to have such thoughts, his intentions are understandable considering that he was never in love with his wife, Zeena. In Edith Wharton 's Ethan Frome, Ethan doesn 't come out as an admirable person because he can 't face his problems, and he always tries to run away from them. Ethan has never faced the problems between him and Zeena, and neither has he ever confronted his feelings to Mattie. Ethan doesn 't understand that running away from problems isn 't going to make them disappear.

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675 Words | 3 Pages

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.

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834 Words | 4 Pages

He attended college and found that his dream was to live in a metropolitan area where he could experience all that life in the city had to offer. This dream took a hard hit when his father died and his mother became ill. His cousin Zeena was there for both his mother and him, this convinced Ethan that he could not live alone, so he married Zeena. The nice girl turned wicked and miserable, forcing Ethan into a cycle of unhappiness that he could not break out of. Ethan Frome gave up his dreams, his happiness, for a miserable life with a miserable woman.

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550 Words | 3 Pages

Ethan Frome's tragedy was completely caused by his own

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763 Words | 4 Pages

The nature of the Frome’s marriage was made transparent when Ethan fell in love with another woman. When the novel begins, Frome demonstrates his cowardice when confesses that he

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1006 Words | 5 Pages

Right after the dish breaks, Ethan said that Zeena would have to blame it on the cat. In chapter 7, Ethan blames the cat which caused Zeena to “turn her eyes to Mattie” (Wharton, chap 7). This could also mean that Zeena blames Mattie for breaking the dish and relationship. In chapter 6, Ethan gets the glue to fix the dish. Symbolically it could mean that he found a plan or a way to fix his relationship.

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