In stories, "Fourth of July" and "Shooting an Elephant", the main characters' experience a conflict within themselves. Without these conflicts, it would be hard for the authors' to support their narrative point.…
Thesis: Ethan Frome’s introverted personality and distant demeanor is not a result of his personal choices but the harsh and gloomy environment around him.…
Literature often shows coincidences, accidents and tragedies that completely change the course of the story. In Shakespeare’s romance Romeo&Juliet if the word from the Friar had gotten to Romeo before the news of Juliet’s death, they would never suffer from such a tragic ending. Accidents and coincidences are very present in throughout literature works. In Ethan Frome the novel by Edith Wharton, the main character Ethan Frome has a dark past; he lived in misery for most of his life married to a sickly woman Zeena. When he finally faces a little bit of joy in another woman named Mattie Silver, he loses her joyful spirit in a terrible accident and is forced to re-build his life with a crippled arm and lots of misery. Edith Wharton novel has as one of its main themes accidents, coincidences and tragedies. Clearly noticed throughout Ethan Frome’s life story resulting in his terrible gloom.…
typical choice in that day and age. Zeena is ill but tends to complain and demand a little too…
Ethan Frome is the protagonist of the novel. A "ruin of a man," according to The Narrator .He appears to be tall, " He has "strong shoulders" , blue eyes and brown hair . He has a "powerful look," that is "bleak". Ethan is a poor man who is simple, straightforward, and responsible. When The Narrator first gazes to Ethan's face in a moment, he sees Ethan as a man who " . . . looks as if he (is) dead and in hell. . . . "…
I am a victim of introspection(Sylvia Plath), Ethan Frome is a victim of this and society. Ethan Frome is a man that married a girl for the wrong reasons then finds his true love but society gets in the way ,written by Edith Wharton published in 2004.Ethan isn’t the only victim there is , Zeena, and Mattie. This shows that everyone in the world is a victim to society. Society is an obstacle for them and it could destroy their lives.…
Archetypal tragic heroes are often portrayed in ancient settings with unrealistic situations. In the novella Ethan Frome, Edith Wharton, counters this opinion by crafting a tragic hero that both connects with the archetype and defies the classic setting. The novella takes place in wintery Starkfield Massachusetts, in modern times. Nevertheless, Ethan Frome fits the characteristics of an archetypal tragic hero, as he has a tragic flaw and increased awareness of his situation. Thus, many arguments claiming that Ethan is not a tragic hero can easily be countered with close analysis of Ethan Frome. Thus, Wharton proved that Frome was a tragic hero, despite being placed in a modern, American setting.…
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.…
Like many individuals in today's society, Ethan Frome merely wished to achieve his aspirations and pursue lifelong contentment. However, Frome's over ambition created more complication than achievement. Frome possessed many extraordinary qualities such as his intelligence and benevolent nature—albeit he contradicts his moral character and principles. Though his moral character possessed merit and his actions were of good intent, this is what ultimately drove him to a tragic end. As a young adult, Frome postponed his own education in order to tend to his parents until their demise. He then fell in love with his mother’s caregiver, Zeena, who he later felt obliged to marry. Once Zeena became ill, her cousin, Mattie, became her caregiver. Frome…
Conflict is the struggle between opposing forces in a story as the story develops. In the case of the short story by Rios the conflict here is that the…
In the novella Ethan Frome by Edith Wharton, main character Ethan Frome is a man that faces many disappointments as well no self-assurance. Ethan Frome is definitely a tragic figure that functions as an instrument of the suffering of others in the novel. Ethan Frome overall is a very tragic tale of misery and suffering, and any of the main characters involved can be connected to that suffering. Wharton makes Ethan not only the victim, but the function of all the other characters suffering to truly get in depth with the flaws that Ethan possesses.…
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.…
Without interaction there could be no conflict. It takes interdependent people that perceive that their goals are most important and someone else is interfering with them reaching their goals. Perception and interpretation of one’s behaviors and attitudes can cause conflict. A good example the book used was the employee that didn’t want to step one someone’s toes so they were perceived as being cold and distant. The employee probably thought that he was doing his coworker a favor by staying out of his and way and giving him space. The other coworker perceiving his behavior as cold and distant probably didn’t understand why he was acting cold and…
The conflict must not be overwhelming that it overtakes the importance of the story. Too much conflict turns the story into a something that is situational driven and plot driven as opposed to character driven.…
In theories of personality, conflict is considered as a state of discomfort or stress caused by an individual’s experiencing two or more desires or needs that are incompatible.…