What is Ethan Frome about?
This very sad tale Ethan Frome is an account of the life of Zenobia Frome, ‘Zeena’. She was named after the great Roman queen who led a revolt against the empire - somewhat like Princess Leia. Zeena had sacrificed her life to the man she loved, Ethan Frome.
What does Ethan Frome look like?
Ethan Frome is the protagonist of the novel. A "ruin of a man," according to The Narrator, he is still a "striking figure." He appears to be tall, though his "strong shoulders" are "bent out of shape." He has blue eyes and brown hair with a streak of light.
How does Ethan come to consciousness in the Canterbury Tales?
In the wake of the collision, Ethan comes to consciousness dazedly, reaching out to feel the face of the softly moaning Mattie, who opens her eyes and weakly utters his name. Jumping forward twenty years, we find ourselves back in the company of the narrator as he enters the Frome household.
How is naturalism used in Ethan Frome?
The connection between land and people is very much a part of naturalism; the environment is a powerful shaper of man's fate, and the novel dwells insistently on the cruelty of Starkfield's winters. The New York Times called Ethan Frome "a compelling and haunting story."
What is the story Ethan Frome about?
Ethan Frome is a poor farmer, trapped in a marriage to a demanding and controlling wife, Zeena. When Zeena's young cousin Mattie enters their household she opens a window of hope in Ethan's bleak life, but his wife's reaction prompts a desperate attempt to escape fate that goes horribly wrong.
What is the main idea of Ethan Frome?
Society and Morality as Obstacles to the Fulfillment of Desire. The constraint social and moral concerns place on individual desire is perhaps the novel's most prominent theme, since Ethan Frome's plot is concerned with Ethan's desire for a woman who is not his wife.
What happens in the end of Ethan Frome?
Instead of finding escape in suicide, he and Mattie have ended up in a state of living death, in which all Mattie's vitality has been leeched away, and she has transformed into a carbon copy of her former opposite, Zeena.
What is the irony in Ethan Frome?
One of the ironies was when Ethan repeatedly saw Zeena's face in the rocking chair while coasting; this instance is ironic because of how Ethan is deliberately coasting with Mattie to avoid Zeena, yet her face appears in front of him, demonstrating how he could never leave his stark reality in Starkfield.
Is Ethan Frome based on a true story?
Wharton likely based the story of Ethan and Mattie's sledding experience on an accident that she had heard about in 1904 in Lenox, Massachusetts. Five people total were involved in the real-life accident, four girls and one boy.
What ultimately happens to Mattie?
Their aborted suicide attempt transforms Mattie forever. As a result of the accident, Mattie is paralyzed from the neck down. At the time of the Epilogue, she has lived with the Fromes and been cared for by Zeena for over twenty years. Mattie has become querulous, whining, and petulant.
What does the Cat in Ethan Frome symbolize?
The Cat and the Pickle Dish The animal serves as a symbol of Zeena's tacit invisible presence in the house, as a force that comes between Mattie and Ethan, and reminds them of the wife's existence.
What does Mattie lose at the picnic?
As they walk together through the wintry landscape, they remember their encounter of the previous summer at a church picnic on this very spot, where Ethan found a lost gold locket of Mattie's.
What is the climax of Ethan Frome?
climax Ethan and Mattie confess their love for each other and decide to commit suicide by sledding into a large tree. falling action Ethan and Mattie regain consciousness after crashing into the elm; Zeena takes both of them in and cares for them into old age.
What is the resolution of Ethan Frome?
The falling action and resolution take place in the present day of the novel. The narrator has learned the full details of the accident, and he now knows -- as does the reader -- that Ethan has continued to live with both Zeena and Mattie for the past 20 years, being in love with Mattie but honoring his duty to Zeena.
Why did Ethan marry Zeena?
When Zenobia Pierce, his cousin, came to help nurse his mother, Ethan was grateful for the company and conversation, and when his mother died, rather than being alone again he asked Zeena to marry him. Ethan married Zeena because he was afraid of silence, just as his mother was.
How does Ethan Frome feel about Mattie?
Because Ethan never talks to Mattie about his feelings for her, he is unsure of her feelings for him. He agonizes, wondering if Mattie could ever love him. When he is around Mattie, Ethan feels a sense of mastery. For example, he feels protective of Mattie; he feels authoritative, important, and needed.
Where did Ethan Frome live?
She based the tale on her experiences of several summers' residence at the Wharton country home in Lenox, Massachusetts.
What is the theme of Ethan Frome's vision of frustration, catastrophe, and prolonged pain and despair?
In theme, Ethan Frome 's vision of frustration, catastrophe, and prolonged pain and despair reflects a maturity and complexity of thought not apparent in the earlier vignette Wharton composed in French. Serialized in Scribner's Magazine from August to October in 1911, Ethan Frome was published in book form the same year.
What novel did Wharton use the New England locale in?
The book showed that Wharton's talents were by no means limited to novels of New York society manners. Wharton used the New England locale again in a novel, Summer (1917), and a short story, "The Bunner Sisters.".
What does Hart swear to do in the French version of Anna?
Waiting for the train to take her away, Hart swears to desert Anna and follow Mattie; Mattie emphatically rejects this idea, and so the French version ends. Wharton put aside the French tale for a few years and when she approached it again, she made radical changes in structure and theme.
Where did Ethan Frome live?
Ethan Frome was set in a small New England town aptly named Starkville, and concerns the life of a poor farmer and his unhappy marriage.
Who is Ethan Frome's wife?
Ethan Frome works his unproductive farm and struggles to maintain a bearable existence with his difficult, suspicious and hypochondriac wife, Zeena. But when Zeena 's vivacious cousin enters their household as a hired girl, Ethan finds himself obsessed w
What does Zeena do when Ethan is suspicious of Mattie?
As Zeena starts to become suspicious of Ethan’s growing feelings for Mattie she takes steps to send her away and finds a new maid to come live in the house.
Why does the narrator go to Ethan's house?
Because of a snowstorm, the narrator is invited into Ethan's house, where he ostensibly learns the bits and pieces of Ethan’s tale. From there, and for the bulk of the book, Wharton switches to the third-person for what amounts to an extended flashback, showing how Ethan came to be that “ruin of a man.”.
What is the meaning of "He seemed a part of the mute melancholy landscape"?
“He seemed a part of the mute melancholy landscape, an incarnation of it's frozen woe, with all that was warm and sentient in him fast bound below the surface; but there was nothing nothing unfriendly in his silence. I simply felt that he lived in a depth of moral isolation too remote for casual access, and I had the sense that his loneliness was not merely the result of his personal plight, tragic as I guessed that to be, but had in it, as Harmon Gow had hinted, the profound accumulated cold of
Who is Edith Wharton's husband?
Edith Wharton wrote this book during a time when she was having difficulties with her husband, Edward (Teddy) Robbins Wharton. She certainly seemed to feel as ensnared by marriage as her character Ethan Frome, even though she was living on her beautiful Lenox, Massachusetts estate called The Mount at the time.
Is Ethan Frome a novella?
Ethan Frome is remarkable, in probability wrongly, in my mind for its relentless bleakness. This is an American novella, by an American author in which there is no escape. The West is there, but the protagonist can't afford the journey. This an impoverished landscape, the modest hero ploughs an infertile furrow.
What is the cause of Ethan's tragedy?
A partial cause of Ethan's tragedy is that he does not plan ahead. Instead, he escapes reality through self-delusion. Ethan deliberates between doing what's right and doing what he wants. In the end, he submits to his obligations.
Who is Ethan's cousin?
Aware of the isolation and loneliness facing him after his mother's death, Ethan marries Zeena, a cousin who nursed his mother.
Why does Ethan not talk to Mattie?
Because Ethan never talks to Mattie about his feelings for her, he is unsure of her feelings for him. He agonizes, wondering if Mattie could ever love him. When he is around Mattie, Ethan feels a sense of mastery. For example, he feels protective of Mattie; he feels authoritative, important, and needed.
What does Ethan do when the pickle dish breaks?
When the pickle dish breaks, Ethan becomes assertive; he takes over and makes decisions. He tells Mattie that he will glue the red dish together the next day before Zeena returns home. Ethan's intention is to deceive Zeena and protect Mattie. In so doing, he is proving his manhood and his love for Mattie.
What does Ethan discover in Mattie?
In Mattie, Ethan discovers a kindred spirit. She seems to understand him. Ethan experiences an internal conflict when he realizes that he is in love with Mattie. He feels that it would be unfair to Mattie to reveal his feelings or to provoke her feelings for him.
What does Ethan look like?
He appears to be tall, though his "strong shoulders" are "bent out of shape.". He has blue eyes and brown hair with a streak of light. He has a "powerful look," that is "bleak and unapproachable.". Everyone who knows Ethan respects his taciturnity. Ethan is a poor man who is simple, straightforward, and responsible.
Does Ethan have contact with Mattie?
Although there is no physical contact between Ethan and Mattie, their nonverbal communication reveals the deep feelings they have for each other. After Zeena tells Ethan that Mattie will have to leave their household because a hired girl is coming, Ethan's antipathy for Zeena is evident.
Where is Ethan Frome?
Ethan Frome. Finding himself laid up in the small New England town of Starkfield for the winter, the narrator sets out to learn about the life of a mysterious local named Ethan Frome, who had a tragic accident some twenty years earlier. After questioning various locals with little result, the narrator finally comes to learn the details ...
Who is Ethan's hired man?
The next morning, Ethan remains eager to reveal his feelings to Mattie, but the presence of his hired man, Jotham Powell, coupled with his own inhibitions, prevent him from making a move. Ethan makes a run into town to pick up some glue for the pickle dish.
Why does Ethan take Mattie to the station?
Against Zeena’s wishes, Ethan decides to bring Mattie to the station himself. In a fit of nostalgia, he takes her by a roundabout route, and they eventually end up stopping at the crest of a village hill in order to take a sledding adventure they had once proposed but had never undertaken.
What does Ethan experience in Mattie's presence?
As they continue on their way together, Ethan experiences a sense of thrill in Mattie’s presence, and the tension between the two becomes apparent. However, the tension dissipates when they arrive home and Zeena, Ethan’s sickly, shrewish wife, who has kept a late-night vigil in anticipation of their return, greets them.
Who is the woman in the chair in the fire?
Frome apologizes for the lack of heat in the house and introduces the narrator to the woman preparing their supper—his wife, Zeena —and to the seated, paralyzed woman in the chair by the fire—Miss Mattie Silver. The next day, the narrator returns to town, where he lodges with Mrs. Ned Hale and her mother, Mrs. Varnum.
What did Frome do to shake the snow from his boots?
Frome stamped on the worn oil-cloth to shake the snow from his boots, and set down his lantern on a kitchen chair which was the only piece of furniture in the hall. Then he opened the door.
Who passed tobacco to the other cheek?
Harmon thoughtfully passed his tobacco to the other cheek. "Oh, as to that: I guess it's always Ethan done the caring."
What did Harmon draw from his pocket?
Harmon drew a slab of tobacco from his pocket, cut off a wedge and pressed it into the leather pouch of his cheek. "Guess he's been in Starkfield too many winters. Most of the smart ones get away."
Edith Wharton introduces Ethan Frome
I had known something of New England village life long before I made my home in the same county as my imaginary Starkfield; though, during the years spent there, certain of its aspects became much more familiar to me.
A short tale with a challenging structure
The problem before me, as I saw in the first flash, was this: I have to deal with the subject of which the dramatic climax, or rather the anti-climax, occurs a generation later then the first acts of the tragedy.
The difficulty of presenting fictional subject in fullest relief
Every novelist, again, who “intends upon” his art, his lit upon such subjects, and been fascinated by the difficulty of presenting them in the fullest relief, yet without an added ornament, or a trick of drapery or lighting.
Presenting a mysterious case through multiple points of view
Each of my chroniclers contributes to the narrative just so much as he or she is capable of understanding of what, to them, is a complicated and mysterious case; and only the narrator of the tale has scope enough to see it all, to resolve it back into simplicity, and to put it in its rightful place among his larger categories.
