Ethan Frome Altruistic Examples

According to Dictionary.com, altruistic is the “unselfishly concern for or devoted to the welfare to others.” Ethan Frome’s personality is somewhat altruistic, but mainly, his personality is not altruistic and selfish. One example that show Ethan is not altruistic is, he lies to Zeena by making up a story so he could get out of taking Zeena to the doctor himself. Another example is that he does not confront Zeena about his love toward Mattie. Instead, he tries to hide his love for Mattie when they are both around Zeena. Ethan Frome is not altruistic.
The first scene that shows Ethan is not altruistic is when, Zeena gets ill and said she had to go to the doctor. Ethan thought to himself that he could have the day alone with Mattie, but he would need an excuse to not have to take Zeena to the doctor. He said to Zeena, "I'd take you over myself, only I've got to collect the cash for the lumber [from Andrew Hale]" (Wharton, Chapter III). Ethan clearly could have taken Zeena to the doctor, but
Whenever Mattie and Ethan are together and around Zeena at the same time, things get a little awkward. Both Ethan and Mattie try to hide their feelings and love toward one another while Zeena is around. If Ethan was truly altruistic, he would have told Zeena that he does not love her anymore, and that he loves Mattie. Ethan does not do so. Instead, he hides his love for Mattie around Zeena. Zeena slowly begins to recognize signs, and believe, that Ethan gives more attention to Mattie and not herself. Therefore, Zeena wants Mattie to be leave their house, and hire someone else. When Ethan fights for Mattie to stay, it truly showed that Ethan did not care what Zeena thought about Mattis. All Ethan cared about was to persuade Zeena that they needed to keep Mattie around. That was also an example showing Ethan is selfish and only cares about what he