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Examples Of Realism In Ethan Frome

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Examples Of Realism In Ethan Frome
Matt Grann
January 4, 2009 Ethan Frome is an example of realist text for many reasons. The novel has many gritty facts of life and explains the lower class. It also has shows the harshness of reality. Finally, Ethan Frome is an example of men having no free will and can’t avoid their fate. Ethan Frome shows examples of Realism because of the gritty facts portrayed throughout the novel. It shows many things that make the lower class of life seem horrible and harder than what used to be thought of the poorer men. The upper class felt that poor people had no worries, but as a person would read realist text, they would realize that the poor life is hard and unrewarding. A gritty fact that is placed throughout the novel is that Starkfield is barren town. It is deserted, with limited townspeople and visitors. Also, the snow is not plowed, he has to drive himself around in the weather, and it shows him doing extremely trivial things. “Frome scrambled… heavily booted foot”
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The fact that he can’t avoid his fate is a strong topic throughout the novel. He can’t leave the house and go with matt because he will not have enough money to take her anywhere. The narrator states “There was no way out - none. He was a prisoner for life, and now his one ray of light was to be extinguished”, and this makes him realize life can never be fixed and get better. And he also cannot stay at home, because he loves Mattie and not Zeena so he is stuck in a dilemma, and can’t avoid what was meant to be. Also his mother died in winter, which made him feel as if he would go crazy if he was stuck in the house alone all winter, which made him ask Zeena to stay with him even though he did not love her. This is just a reason of chance, and ended up being his fate. Also he tries to escape his fate, and die with Mattie but he is meant to drag on his life with Zeena for as long as

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