Symbolism In Ethan From By Edith Wharton

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
He felt that he might have ‘gone like his mother' if the sound of a new voice had not come to steady him" ( 35). With the long, cold and lonely winters of Starkfield, one needs companionship. Zeena appeared to be perfect, but he married Zeena under false pretenses. "Zeena had always been what Starkfield called "sickly" "(18), and this was just another one of Ethan's many problems he could not allude. The winters seemed to bring out the best in Zeena illness or what she may call her "complications". Over time Ethan began to question his marriage to Zeena. He often wondered if, "it would not have happened if his mother had not died in the spring instead of the winter…" (35). He is saying he married Zeena only as an escape of the loneliness of winter. It is as this time that Ethan makes a reference to the fact that winter is a time when the worst things in his life happen. Like the black vine that hangs on his porch which represents death and winter, Ethan can not allude either of them. Like when, Ethan and Mattie attempt to preserve their happiness and remain together the only way they see it possible,
But his dreams fades with the passing of each cold winter. The best way to explain Ethan's dreams are "all snowed under" (8). Like the snow that accumulates in Starkfield on top of the soil Ethan's dreams have in a sense been snowed under, which made them hard to reach and eventually unattainable. Although Ethan's dreams have become in a sense snowed under he does find a way to escape his cold wife and bitterness of winter. The arrival of Mattie is like the warm clean air of a new spring that has brought excitement into Ethan's life. Mattie was his release and helped him forget all his ills in Starkfield. Unlike his private time with Zeena, Ethan looked forward to his private moments with Mattie, for example when Zeena went to the doctor in Bettsbridge "all his thoughts were on the prospect of his evening with Mattie" (37). Like the anticipation of a new spring [Mattie], Ethan forgets all his troubles in the past winter [Zeena]. In contrast to Mattie's radiant warmth, Zeena is like that of