Preview

Similarities Between Ethan Frome And The Snow Man

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
450 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Similarities Between Ethan Frome And The Snow Man
Coldness is a prominent theme in both Edith Wharton's Ethan Frome and Wallace Stevens' "The Snow Man." When one thinks of coldness, the misery, the emptiness, and the lack of life associated with it also come to mind. Ethan Frome and "The Snowman" show that the coldness of one's surroundings turns one cold and numb on the inside by taking away all feeling and imagination and leaves a person with nothing.

Ethan Frome is the story of a man's unfortunate life. It is set in the cold and dismal town of Starkfield in New England. The effect of the long winters is evident in all the townspeople. The narrator is "struck by the contrast between the vitality of the climate and the deadness of the community" (7). Even when the warm, effervescent months come along, they are not enough to melt the internal coldness of the people, especially Ethan Frome. …show more content…
As more time passes, Ethan becomes more like the austere town of Starkfield. On one cold, snow filled night, the last thing keeping Ethan alive inside, Mattie, is permanently injured. Everything after that has no longer has any meaning to him. He is forever trapped in Starkfield and because he has "been in Starkfield [so] many winters", he becomes "a part of the mute melancholy landscape, an incarnation of its frozen woe, with all that was warm and sentient in him fast bound below the surface" (7,
Continue Reading
View Writing Issues

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Satisfactory Essays

    The Blizzard Play Analysis
    • 116 Words
    • 1 Page

    The Blizzard Play Analysis

    David Ives’s mystery thriller “The Blizzard,” is a play that gives off a theme and message to readers that desire for the better may not always be what you expected once you achieve it. The setting of the play takes place at a country house, toward evening where a couple Jenny and Neil are isolated from the rest of the world by a snowstorm. The main character and hero of the play, Jenny, is a character who is seeking for a more interesting life with mystery and significance. However, the theme of the play becomes clear once the hero experiences what she desired and ends up realizing that her desires were not what she actually wanted.…

    • 116 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Analysis Of Barnabas And His Family In Paul Lynch's 'The Black Snow'
    • 349 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Analysis Of Barnabas And His Family In Paul Lynch's 'The Black Snow'

    Hope crumbles into disappointment and despair for an outsider and his family in The Black Snow, by Paul Lynch. The opening words, “It was the beginning of darkness”, foreshadow the troubled arc of the narrative.…

    • 349 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Ethan Frome Ending Analysis
    • 718 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Ethan Frome Ending Analysis

    Ethan and Mattie were riding down the hill, the Big Elm was coming up quickly. Mattie was ready for death, she hoped they would succeed. Ethan on the other hand, felt as if he was in slow motion. He remembered everything he and Mattie had done together. He decided, he would rather have death than not be with Mattie. Mattie called out to Ethan, “Are you ready Ethan?” “I’m ready Matt”, Ethan replied. Then, they hit. Mattie and Ethan were killed on impact, without a second to feel the pain.…

    • 718 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    The Transmutation Of Weather In Tobias Wolff's Hunters In The Snow
    • 537 Words
    • 3 Pages

    The Transmutation Of Weather In Tobias Wolff's Hunters In The Snow

    “Hunters in the Snow” by Tobias Wolff, shows how essential the cold and frigid weather is to the actions of the characters and the situations that they are involved in. Towards the beginning of the story, it seems that Frank and Kenny have established a vigorous relationship leaving Tub out of the relationship. On the day of their hunt, Kenny and Frank left out their companion Tub forcing him to struggle in the heavy snow. The two men utilized the heavy snow to leave behind their friend. As the story continues it seems as if the snow has become a type of correlation with events that happen in the story. The snowy and frigid temperatures allow for the audience to assume a tragedy may occur as Tub shoots Kenny. Nevertheless, Tub and Frank seemed to initiate a relationship through the misfortune of Kenny. The transmutation of climate in Tobias Wolff’s astonishing short story,…

    • 537 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Ethan Frome Summer Assigment
    • 806 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Ethan Frome Summer Assigment

    In Ethan Frome’s story, he is trapped by bitter futilities in a small city named Starkfield. The story begins through foreign eyes of a narrator who is new to the city and to Frome’s tragedy. When all the stable horses fall ill from an epidemic, the narrator seeks Ethan Frome’s help to take him down to the train station every workday. As one day a snowstorm struck them and the narrator found himself in Frome’s house where he learned the truth about Frome’s misfortunes. The novel already begins with events that change the course of the story. Such as the epidemic that stroked the horses if it hadn’t happened the narrator would never had learned the truth about Ethan. Or the snowstorm that cause the narrator to go into Frome’s house. These events are not there by chance. They occurred so the narrator, fresh eyes, could get a glimpse at Frome’s misery and begin the novel.…

    • 806 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Ethan Frome Outline Essay
    • 2911 Words
    • 12 Pages

    Ethan Frome Outline Essay

    1. Ethan Frome – Ethan, the head of the Frome household, is first seen by the narrator to be a stiff/stern man who looks as if he is quite saddened. Ethan carries a limp and bears a scar on his face. As the narrator learns about Ethan’s past through various stories, he sees that young Ethan is quite the antithesis of the old Ethan. This young Ethan is portrayed as a man full of intelligence, strength, and optimism. Though he has an engineering degree and a healthy physique – which is widely sought for at the time of the novel – Ethan is stuck in Starkfield because of his sick…

    • 2911 Words
    • 12 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Essay On The Weather In Ethan Frome
    • 552 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Essay On The Weather In Ethan Frome

    Where Zeena is cold, damp and bleak, Mattie is crisp and bright-eyed. It an also be noted that the aspects of the weather pertaining to Zeena’s character are often thought of as restricting ones. Excess snow or rain results in limited access to roads for transportation, particularly those near Ethan’s remote farm. This correlates to Zeena’s influence and control over Ethan and his movement in regards to Starkfield. Zeena binds Ethan to the town just as the weather often does. In comparison, the aspects of the weather relating to Mattie allow freedom for Ethan to walk and drive as he pleases. The night he accompanies Mattie on the trip back to the farm is described as a pleasant one. There is no worry that his routes will be…

    • 552 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Ap Literature - Irp - Ethan Frome
    • 604 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Ap Literature - Irp - Ethan Frome

    In Ethan Frome, the setting plays a large part in the development and creation of internal conflicts between characters. Internal conflicts within the novel are a direct result of the cold winter season, bleak snow-filled landscape, and condition of Ethan Frome’s farmhouse in society.…

    • 604 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Trapped Souls In Edith Wharton's Ethan Frome
    • 961 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Trapped Souls In Edith Wharton's Ethan Frome

    Within Edith Wharton’s “Ethan Frome”, Wharton began the story with a nameless narrator visiting Starkfield, Massachusetts on some engineering business. This nameless narrator describes his first few encounters with Ethan Frome, a mysterious crippled, 52 year old man. Ethan provides transportation for the narrator and they quickly become friends. One day the weather in Starkfield proved to be too dangerous to navigate through, so the narrator took shelter in Ethan’s home where his story began to unravel. The story flashes back to a young Ethan going into town to pick up his wife’s cousin Mattie. Ethan was attracted to Mattie instantly they both developed feelings for each other the more they spent time together. Ethan’s…

    • 961 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Essay On Symbolism In Ethan Frome
    • 498 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Essay On Symbolism In Ethan Frome

    Winter controls over the tragedy in all its signs of snow, wind, cold and darkness. Winter is the worst season for Ethan. In the beginning, Harmon Gow had said, “Guess he’s been in Starkfield too many winters. Most of the smart ones get away” (Wharton 2). Ethan studied science and technology after high school, but after his father died and his mother became sick, he was forced to come back to his hometown of Starkfield. Responsibility for his mother and poverty has prevented him from leaving. Sadly, Ethan’s mother died in the winter. After his mother’s death, Ethan married Zeena because he was so lonely all the time. Winter is symbolizes isolation and…

    • 498 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Hunters in the Snow by Tobias Wolff’
    • 600 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Hunters in the Snow by Tobias Wolff’

    Tobias Wolff’s “ Hunters in the Snow” focuses on symbolism, “Imagery”, settings and atmosphere. Author Tobia Wolff ‘s short story includes three men with distinctive personalities, Tub, Kenny, and Frank, who want to hunt in the cold bitter weather. Tub had waited an hour with his rifle for Kenny and Frank to pick him up, ““Imagery”” and “Atmosphere” was shown on page 172. “ The fall of the snow thickened.” “Tub stood below the overhang of a building.” Across the road the clouds whitened just above the rooftops, and the streetlights went out.…

    • 600 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Edith Wharton's Ethan Frome: Torn Between Two Worlds
    • 965 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Edith Wharton's Ethan Frome: Torn Between Two Worlds

    The novel Ethan Frome, by Edith Wharton, is set in turn-of-the-century New England, in the fake town of Starkfield, Massachusetts. During this time, both men and women were torn between duty and morality, and personal desire. People were expected to follow the societal norms, which although plagued them, were deemed as correct and proper. This social constraint placed on individuals cause them to make the decision of whether to be accepted by society, or whether to be happy. During this time, society was trapped in a web of their own formed ideas and opinions. It is this constant struggle between desire and what is socially acceptable that drives…

    • 965 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Ethan Frome Theme Essay
    • 555 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Ethan Frome Theme Essay

    Picture yourself, trapped in a lackluster world, where everything seems to have a shade of gray. Everyone around you seems to be moving in an excessively slow pace. Yet you’re not able to leave that place, not being able to find a hint of love or joy anywhere you look. That place is called Starkfield, a place where Ethan Frome lives in the novel by Edith Wharton. Ethan is constantly held back by his wife Zeena, not being able to experience much emotion because of her, acting like a leash to a dog. Merely waking up everyday seems like an excruciating task, draining all of the energy out of him. Zeena Frome is like the world, placed on Atlas’s shoulders. Zeena is the greatest hindrance to Ethan Frome and his ability to be free and live a joyful life, bringing negativity to Ethan’s life.…

    • 555 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Ethan From
    • 501 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Ethan From

    The novel Ethan Frome, written by Edith Wharton, takes place in Stark Field, Massachusetts during the late 1800s, early 1900s. In this tragic romance, Ethan Frome, a very poor man who, due to his poverty is isolated from the rest of the town and is forced to live with his wife, Zeena, who has always been what Starkfield calls “sickly” (31) Ethan falls in love with their hired girl Mattie, a “helpful young life…like the lighting of a fire on a cold health,” (29) who also falls in love with him and together they cause the “smash-up.”(Pro) Naturalism is portrayed to illustrate how a characters environment can affect his or her life. Ethan’s environment has caused his literal and spiritual poverty.…

    • 501 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
    Read More
  • Better Essays

    Ethan Frome Critical Essay
    • 2083 Words
    • 6 Pages

    Ethan Frome Critical Essay

    First published in 1911, Ethan Frome is now considered a classic of twentieth-century American literature. A tale of lost opportunity, failed romance and disappointed dreams ending with a botched suicide attempt that leaves two people crippled and dooms another to a life of servitude, Ethan Frome immerses its readers in a world of unrelenting pain and misery. To some, the suffering endured by Wharton's characters is excessive and unjustified; to others, the novel addresses difficult moral questions and provides insightful commentary on the American economic and cultural realities that produced and allowed such suffering. Others still look to the novel for clues about the author's own life. However, no explanation is completely satisfying because regardless of the meaning one chooses to find in the novel, this meaning, like the vision put together by the narrator, will inevitably be shrouded in mystery and ambiguity.…

    • 2083 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays
    Read More

Related Topics