In addition, to confliction being one of Ethan Frome’s downfall manipulation was one of the major downfalls that made him weak. Throughout the whole story the reader is able to see how manipulation plays the second biggest part in the story. It seems as if each chapter opened up a new ways to manipulate. Manipulation came from characters the reader would least expect. In the book Ethan Frome the main character seems to manipulate himself into believing in a situation that don’t have to come true.…
TS #3: Throughout Ethan’s childhood he lived with his sick mother who would rarely speak to him. He was raised as a very quiet, voiceless child and this carried over into his adult hood. This is showed throughout the novel because although he only has few interactions with outsiders, he is very shy and keeps the conversation to a minimal.…
Mattie had shown that she was passionate towards Ethan since she seemed to be very comfortable around him and marked him as trustworthy. Mattie would lean towards Ethan when she is frightened. One example is when a loud noise vibrated through the forest. She had “shrank closer to Ethan, and quickened her steps” (26). This shows trust among them since Mattie had instinctively moved towards Ethan. During frightening situations, Mattie showed that she would rely on Ethan to protect her. In addition, Mattie shows that same trust in Ethan when she destroys Zeena’s pickle dish. She completely believes that he would rectify that issue even without asking him his method: “Completely reassured, she shone on him through tear-hung lashes, and his soul swelled with pride as he saw how his tone subdued her. She did not even ask what he had done” (47). These reasons of trust and comfort had led to Mattie’s overall passion towards…
Ethan Frome is a dramatic romantic story based on the love triangle between Ethan, his wife Zeena, and their housekeeper Mattie Silver. The author introduces multiple themes and conflicts throughout its words and pages. Within these themes of love, poverty, and isolation the author introduces three distinct symbols being the outdoors, bedroom and kitchen which come to mean much more than originally thought of as the novel progresses. These three symbols highlight and contain the major conflicts that arise all throughout the novel.…
“There are two big forces at work, external and internal. We have very little control over external forces such as tornadoes, earthquakes, floods, disasters, illness and pain. What really matters is the internal force. How do I respond to those disasters? Over that I have complete control.” - Leo Buscaglia. Ethan Frome is a book full of internal and external ‘disasters’. These disasters compel the characters to make choices. Ethan Frome’s decision to semi-pursue a relationship with Mattie was influenced by internal forces, because he is attracted to Mattie, unhappy in his marriage, and was never truly in love with Zeena.…
Mattie made him want to follow his dreams while Zeena no longer brought happiness and passion into their marriage. This is shown when Zeena “ [gathered] up the bits of broken glass she went out of the room as if she carried a dead body..."(Wharton 66). When Ethan and Mattie were having a romantic dinner, their cat knocked over and shattered Zeena’s pickledish that was a wedding gift from her aunt. The shattering of this dish symbolized the death and shattering of their marriage and love. The red symbolizes the passion that they both once had for eachother. That broken dish symbolized the end of their lives together. It foreshadowed that something would end between Ethan and Zeena. It could have even meant that something else would shatter just like Mattie and Ethan’s sled accident. Passion can make both fortunate and unfortunate things happen in…
In Ethan Frome, Wharton uses symbols and archetypes to create Ethan's anguish to his moral obligation to his wife Zeena which keeps him from his true love, Mattie. His moral prison is established with the headstone of another Ethan Frome and his wife that bores that they "dwelled together in peace for fifty years," which interests Ethan (Frome 66). Later on, his own neighbors "don't see there's much difference between the Fromes up at the farm and the Fromes down in the graveyard" (Frome 140). The symbol of "the Fromes down in the graveyard" establishes Ethan's similarities to the dead illustrating his moral obligation to Zeena for eternity (Frome 140). When Ethan feels Zeena's presence, coincidently Zeena's grey cat "[elongates] its body in the direction of the milk-jug, which stood between Ethan and Mattie" (Frome 69).The cat then tries an unobserved retreat and "[backs] into the red pickle-dish, which [falls] on the floor with a crash" (Frome 69). The color archetypes of red' establish Ethan and Mattie's love while the grey' cat establishes Zeena who breaks their love, the dish. Ethan is always besieged by Zeena even when lacking her presence. He…
Uncontrollable elements, affect one’s decisions. Naturalists believe human behavior is controlled by social and economic conditions, environmental forces, and internal stresses surrounded amongst one’s self. Edith Wharton’s novel Ethan Frome, is the epitome of Naturalistic belief. Ethan Frome is bursting with examples of how unmanageable components of life shape one’s choice. The key decision of the novel is made when Ethan Frome and Mattie Silver fall in love, and choose to be together eternally. This leads to the petrifying crash, which prevents Ethan Frome and Mattie Silver from being together. Economic stress in the Frome household, which in part, causes emotional instability within the marriage of Ethan and Zeena Frome, and society’s disapproval of Ethan Frome and Mattie Silver’s relationship channel the decision to commit death.…
The choices a person can make in a single heart beat can affect their entire life. Life can be cruel and unforgiving. Ethan Frome written by Edith Wharton and published in 1911 is a concrete example of how life can be a tragedy. The novel is about how Ethan Frome became disabled and the choice he had made decades ago that lead to the accident—or how the locals in the story prefer to call it as Ethan’s “smash-up.” His accident was the conclusion to his escape from his miserable life with an impossible love. Unfortunately, his choice did not go as plan and permanently impacted the lives of his sick wife Zenobia, his love interest Mattie, and Ethan himself. Another example of life being cruel and unforgiving is in the film Harold and Maude released in 1971. The film displays a young man fixated with death named Harold and his short-lived relationship with a woman on the verge of becoming 80 years old, Maude. Harold just like Ethan found an impossible love interest with Maude. Maude did not want to live pass 80 and decided to die on her own terms. Life is not always sunshine and happy-ending like those in fairy tales, Ethan and Harold are completely different characters but have a few parallels in common.…
Although Frome’s actions seem to contain merit, his vacuity is what causes him to live in constant moral isolation. The author foreshadows Ethan’s fate with an allusion to a grave: “SACRED TO THE MEMORY OF ETHAN FROME AND ENDURANCE HIS WIFE…” (Wharton 70). This depicts Frome’s tragic end to a great extent, because he does not die a physical death, but rather a mental demise. Frome’s poor judgement of allowing Mattie to convince him to commit suicide resulted in him being trapped in moral isolation. Furthermore, it resulted in Mattie becoming paralyzed, while Zeena was left to tend to both individuals for the rest of their lives. Frome was left to endure the consequences of his plight. He was also left with a resentful Mattie, who realized that Frome had truly destroyed her. Frome was a “prisoner for life” (Wharton 117) and would continue to be tormented by the constant reminder of his failure and lack of…
Wharton uses infidelity to show symbolism in Ethan's life. Ethan and Zeena’s marriage is in shambles. Zeena has stopped trying and when she becomes a trouble in Ethan's life. “Zeena herself, from an oppressive reality, had faded into an insubstantial shade. All his life was lived in the sight and sound of Mattie Silver, and he could no longer conceive of its being otherwise” (Wharton 410). Once Ethan realized his feeling for Mattie he…
Although Zeena is Ethan's wife, Ethan is repelled by Zeena's constant illnesses and what is portrayed as a miserable marriage. The author used extensive characterization to describe Zeena as a gruesome, aging, flat-chested, angry, and fun-sucking person. This characterization is what turned the reader away from Zeena and edged them towards Ethan's side. Ethan often contemplated moving away to live and pursue a relationship with Mattie, but his conscience destroyed that dream. Even though Zeena was old and grotesque, she was still Ethan's wife, and it would have been morally wrong for Ethan to divorce Zeena to marry a younger and prettier, Mattie Silver. Ethan knew this and he understood it well. Sometimes when he thought of Mattie his conscience would leave him, but it would always come back before he made a…
Ethan From, the main character in the Edith Wharton novel Ethan From, is a man who lives in a world of silence. He lives in the New England town of Starkfield, Massachusetts, with his bitter wife and his wife's cousin Mattie. Over time Ethan is a man who has become trapped in Starkfield due to the number of winters he has endured. The mood throughout the novel is that of Winter. Winter connotes detachment, loneliness, bleakness, bitterness, and seclusion which are all portrayed in the novel. This essay will show how Edith Wharton uses seasonal symbolism to heighten the tragedy in the novel. Ethan is a twenty-eight year old man who feels trapped in his home town of Starkfield, Massachusetts. The novel takes place in the late 1800's, this was…
They where going to make passionate love while sleighing downhill. If they succeeded to finish they would leave to go to Florida and start over again. If they didn’t make it, they would crash on the elm tree and their fate would be in God’s hands. They started gaining speed but because Ethan wanted it to last he purposely slowed them down. Mattie was in ecstasy and wasn’t paying attention, since they both felt as if only the two of them existed in the world. Unfortunately, they crashed. They where like two eagles mating, who flew up high in the air, and let themselves fall, leaving their lives to fate alone. Only one thing was different in this occasion. The eagles of Starkfield never died. Mattie had passed out and was lying on the cold snow, but her face and hair were warm and full of life. For a moment, Ethan panicked, believing his beloved was dead, and he stood over her shouting, ‘Mattie Mattie I love you!’ He was desperately crying while Mattie slowly opened her beautiful eyes and moved her gorgeous eyelashes. Her glimmering eyes looked at Ethan and her luscious lips moved to form the phrase ‘I love you Ethan’. Ethan was relieved, however he knew that in order for them to survive and be happy together, they would first have to pass through Zeena.…
To be a true existential hero means many things. The majority of a persons actions must be in accordance with the strictly defined beliefs of an existentialist. An existential hero is very conscious of the worth and impact of his choices. He is responsible, lonely, independent, self-reliant and free. Andy Dufresne the protagonist in The Shawshank Redemption written by Stephen King and directed by Frank Darabont exhibits these essential existential qualities. The movie has several existential themes within it, made apparent by Andy’s words and actions. For this reason, it is evident that Andy Dufresne is an existential hero.…