Ethan Frome Reaction Paper

“…In sickness and in health until death do us part.” Marriage, which is one of the most sacred traditions, is taken on so lightly by many people. The book, Ethan Frome, is a perfect example of this broken institute. Ethan Frome is a story that I feel was written before way before its time, in 1911. Divorce was not only illegal in some places but extremely frowned upon by society. Divorce is such a common thing in our culture nowadays that this book is extremely eye opening to look at what people are willing to do to betray their spouse and turn their back on the sacred vows they made, specifically, in the traditional vows “…In sickness and in health until death do us part.” I related very closely with the novel Ethan Frome due to personal
When my stepfather was ill, he had home health care eight hours a day so that my mom could work. Eventually we no longer could afford home health care and my mom and I cared for him ourselves. When this novel was written, having home health care was obviously not even a possibility but the money strains that it put on our family was much similar to the ones that Ethan faced every time Zeena went to a new doctor. He was always bothered by her going because they were so expensive but if he truly loved her he would have accepted her going to them no matter what the cost, my mom did for my stepdad because that’s what it takes to
There comes a time with some people when they realize that marriage isn’t right for them, and that’s okay but I think Ethan had animosity towards his wife due to her sickness and wanted to be anywhere as long as it wasn’t with her. I think that Zeena is a much stronger character than she is given credit, the fact that she is caring for Mattie and Ethan after he would rather commit suicide than be with her shows that she is a much better person than she is made out to be and she truly does love Ethan even though she may not show it in the best way at the start of the