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Zeena, By Edith Wharton

527 Words3 Pages
While everyone is designated to seek happiness, the truth stands by the fact that very few ever achieve it. One’s morals, standards, conscious, or perhaps even fate, keep them from accepting a pure form of satisfaction. The character Ethan, portrayed in Edith Wharton's novel, acquires the qualities of an emotionally weak man and throughout the novel the author sets a man versus self environment of Ethan trying to break free from Zeena’s oppression. Through Ethan’s loveless marriage to Zeena, Wharton emphasizes that at times one needs to be disloyal or let go of people that restrict his happiness
Likewise Zeena stands as Ethan’s struggle to overcome the obstacles ahead of him. When seen through Ethan’s perspective, Zeena seemingly awful, allows
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A long time resident of Starkfield, the protagonist Ethan Frome shows he is considerate by caring for and helping others. He first shows this trait when he gives up his desire to live in a city to support his ill mother. Though he has a strong wish to leave Starkfield, he respects his duty and cares for his mother. Ethan also shows this attribute to Zeena, by looking after her and contributing to her medicine while she also falls ill. Zeena is again thought of by Ethan when the pickle dish breaks.

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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.

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247 Words | 1 Pages

After hearing the story of Ethan Frome, Ethan is actually a very strong person. He is emotionally strong. Throughout the story, Zeena always got on Ethan for even the smallest things but she does not know how aggressive she is coming off. Zeena always boss Ethan around and make him do everything. Then she takes most of his money then use it to go see a doctor that will supposedly help her.

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984 Words | 4 Pages

“Is fate getting what you deserve, or deserving what you get?” (Jodi Picoult). Ethan Frome, written by Edith Wharton in 1911, embodies this quote. In Ethan Frome, all three main characters, Ethan, Mattie and Zeena have made decisions that will affect the rest of their lives. Ethan and Mattie had an inappropriate relationship behind Ethans significant other, Zeena 's, back which caused each of them to be emotionally distraught.

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480 Words | 2 Pages

Ethan Frome, the story of a man with a difficult romantic triangle between his wife and her cousin constructed by Edith Wharton. The tragic outcome of the story was slowly created throughout the story due to the faulty actions of Zeena. Some of which fell under the categories of playing pity games, attention seeking exertions, and improper/poor decision making within the entire story. I believe without the faulty acts taken by Zeena within the relationship and close surrounding subjects between herself and Ethan, there would have never been a “seed” to sprout from. Throughout the story Zeena played plenty of pity games giving Ethan more motive to feel uneasy in regards to their relationship fundamentals.

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839 Words | 4 Pages

Ethan chooses his duty to Zeena over his dream with mattie he would receive when proposed with the option of moving to the West, he decides against it because of what he owes to Zeena. He doesn 't knows if she would not be able to support herself and that clouded future is why he doesn 't agreed to leave. Again, Ethan chooses between duty to Zeena and seeking his personal dream when he and Mattie were going to take their lives so they would not have to live without each other. Throughout his time with Zeena, he was forced to choose between duty to his family and his dreams. He could have left and continued his dream of being an engineer but instead he married her do to a sense of payment for what she had done for his mother.

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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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204 Words | 1 Pages

Throughout the novel, Wharton juxtaposes Ethan's feelings for Mattie and Zeena through

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550 Words | 3 Pages

In Edith Wharton's famous book Ethan Frome, main character, Ethan Frome’s story is a personal tragedy. His own decisions he makes are his own fault. But what is his tragedy? Well, to a certain understanding, his tragedy is that in the present day, he is always dreary and not as happy as he could have turned out; in other words, one could say that his tragedy is that he is unsuccessful in happiness. Although one may argue that the tragedy wasn’t all Ethans fault, and that the weather of new england caused it, that certainly isn’t true.

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200 Words | 1 Pages

Happiness is a mental or emotional state of well-being which can be defined by positive or pleasant emotions ranging from contentment to intense joy. Sadly, Ethan Frome, the main character of Edith Wharton’s novel “Ethan Frome” didn’t often have the luxury to experience such an emotion. The story of Ethan Frome takes place in the cold, gray, town known as Starkfield during the winter. The main character, Ethan Frome, is an isolated farmer who is struggling to maintain living conditions, all while caring for his cold wife Zeena who is faking her illness. Everything changed for him when his wife’s cousin Mattie Silver arrives to help out at the farm after having nowhere else to go.

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763 Words | 4 Pages

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.

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1336 Words | 6 Pages

After all, the narrator “began to piece together this version of the story” through information given to him by Ethan Frome. Of course Zeena appears to be the epitome of the quintessential antagonist. It is only natural that bias was introduced, for Ethan would certainly not paint himself in a negative light, and due to his infatuation with Mattie, she too is spared from any condemnation. Through no fault of Ethan Frome or the narrator, the narrator’s “piecing together” of Ethan Frome’s life is incredibly unreliable and it is incredibly subjective. Unless a reader mulls over the effects of utilizing certain types of narration, Zeena will forever be seen as the villain of the story.

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1006 Words | 5 Pages

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.

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753 Words | 4 Pages

Edith Wharton writes to those people whose lives or dreams have become restricted by other people or natural causes to show them that what other people shouldn’t dictate how they live and the decisions that they

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738 Words | 3 Pages

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.

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