Trapped Souls In Edith Wharton's Ethan Frome

Trapped Souls 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
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
Ethan and Mattie wanted to run away and be together in the first place but were not able to. Ethan was trapped from the start and this was mentioned when the narrator said, “Sickness and trouble: that’s what Ethan’s had his plate full up with, ever since the very first helping”(Wharton 6). This was also again mentioned when Ethan mentioned that his ancestors were buried on his property, foreshadowing that he could never leave. When Mattie became paralyzed and Ethan was crippled they had to live with Zeena which condemned them not only to the home but to the town. They were freed in a way because Zeena wanted Mattie to leave. But not Ethan and Zeena can be together although Zeena might not approve of it. This presented Ethan with the same moral dilemma throughout the story. Whether he should follow his heart and his dreams, which is leaving and being with Mattie. Or do right by his wife and move on from Mattie. Mattie becomes paralyzed and fully reliant on Zeena and Ethan for help, so no matter where she goes she is condemned. The only upside is that she gets to stay with