Ethan Frome Character Analysis Essay

This quote was found on page 13, in the introduction when Harmon Gow is explaining to the narrator who Ethan Frome is.

In the novel Ethan Frome, the main character Ethan is trapped by the notion of needing to fulfil responsibilities that

Ethan Frome is a victim of his own personal choices and temperament. Ethan constantly ignored tension between Zeena and Mattie, and also never stood up for himself so that he could’ve left with Mattie to the west throughout Ethan Frome. He tries to, sometimes, but doesn’t completely make it all the way. He eventually does what he wants, but never succeeds, ends up where he started at, the Frome family farm in Starkfield. Ethan Frome runs into a girl wearing a red fascinator, and discovers the girl is Mattie Silver.

As shown in Ethan Frome by Edith Wharton symbolism plays a key role in establishing the characters and plot of the story. Ethan and Zeena’s cat symbolizes Zeena and takes her place when she isn't home. The red pickle dish is a symbol for Ethan and Zeena’s broken marriage. Mattie’s red scarf and ribbon are symbolic of the passion and love shown through Mattie. Each of these symbols contributes to the story as a whole and add depth to it as well.

The pickle dish represented Zeena’s hopes, dreams, and view on her marriage, or the lack of one. When the cat knocked over the pickle dish from the table and shattered, both Ethan and Mattie were terrified of Zeena’s wrath. It had occurred to Zeena and

The novel "Ethan Frome" by Edith Wharton was based on the moral of Fate vs. Freewill. Ethan Frome's decisions (free will) caused him many accidents later in life. After meeting Mattie Silver, Ethan's wife cousin, Ethan began to feel thrilled every time he was near Mattie. Despite of being married to Zeena, Ethan began to have an affair with Mattie. After coming back from seeking treatment, she began to suspect that Ethan and Mattie had something going on, so she decided to replace Mattie with someone else. Before Mattie left, Ethan and her went to village hill to purposely commit suicide to died together, but only ended up being injured.

What is it that causes the mind to question itself and allow wandering thoughts? To ponder this, a look at what it means to be uniquely American can provide some answers in the book Ethan Frome (Wharton). To be an American is a concept of being the best one can be and always striving to be better. If one finds that their ethics, or design of life is in opposing directions in their head and/or heart it can lead to confusion. Being pulled apart in our drive to betterment by chasing what one wants for their health, wealth, or relationships can cause one to self destruct, as is the case of the main character, Ethan Frome, in his quest for the American dream.

An ineffective hero, known as a tragic hero, possesses many characteristics. Ineffective heroes are doomed from the beginning, but most importantly, are wounded physically or emotionally, in most situations, as a result of their own flaws. Ethan Frome of Edith Wharton's novel, Ethan Frome, possesses characteristics of an ineffective hero. He suffers from the beginning of the novel, stuck living with his sick parents, and as a result of his flaws, he marries Zeena and falls for Mattie, resulting in both his physical and emotional fracture. However, Ethan cannot succeed and ultimately suffers, as a result of his neediness.

Throughout the novel, Ethan Frome’s sense of responsibility lives strong enough in him to forget about his own happiness with Mattie, to stay with his wife Zeena, and to take care of the town when all of the others have passed away. In Edith Wharton’s Ethan Frome, Ethan’s sense of responsibility to his wife and land prevents him from achieving true happiness and causes his ultimate emotional death.

Mattie seamed to know a great deal more about the pickle dish than Ethan did. She had to remind him "It was a wedding present don't you remember? It came all the way from Philadelphia, from Zeena's aunt that married a minister"(70). Ethan never bothered to

The novel Ethan Frome by Edith Wharton tells the story of Ethan Frome and the tragedy he faces in his life. The story mainly focuses on the relationships between and among Ethan, his wife, and his wife’s cousin, with whom he is in love. Wharton uses different literary devices to develop the plot, including irony as one of the most effective. The use of irony in the novel, especially in the climatic sledding scene, greatly adds to the development of the tragedy.

When Mattie first gets the pickle dish out Ethan is concerned because he knows how Zenna feels about the dish. However, he also doesn’t want to upset Mattie because he’s looking forward to a nice evening alone with her (Wharton 35). This represents his feeling for Mattie pulling him away from his marriage and making him realize how dead his marriage is. When the dish is broken, it represents Mattie shedding light on Ethan and Zenna’s broken relationship. Ethan hasn’t seriously thought about breaking up his marriage, at this point he just wants to spend his time with Mattie and pretend they are together “he set his imagination adrift on the fiction that they had always spent their evenings thus and would always go on doing so . . .” (Wharton 38). This is symbolized by the fact that he tries to cover up the damage to the pickle dish and tries to put it together so Zeena won’t see the damage right away (Wharton 36). He knows there’s no way he can hide the real damage. By putting the dish (his marriage) in a position to be broken, Mattie is putting his marriage to Zeena in the same

The motifs in this novel are illness and disability and also the snow and cold weather. The illness and disability motif shows us how Ethan and those close to him suffer from illness and disability. Ethan has had to take care of sick and disabled people from the beginning of the novel. He first had to take care of his sick mother and then he had to take care of his wife, Zeena. At the end of the book Ethan had to spend the rest of his life not only taking care of Mattie but himself as well because of his and Mattie’s attempted suicides.

Literature has remained as a distinctive aspect of society for thousands of years. A society’s literature exists as a window in which one can peer into and discover more about its culture. Although a very diverse concept, literature is generally defined as written or printed material, either in the form of novels, poems, or journals. However, a more restrictive approach considers literature as “a higher art form” (Lombardi), or one that manipulates language to convey an experience. Ethan Frome serves as a notable example of literature at its best. The novella complements aspects of literature, such as strong characters and meaningful themes, with takeaway value and unpredictability.

The theme of Ethan Frome is that unloving marriage made hastily will lead towards unhappiness and possibly cause a smash up in one’s life. The novella shows this by including many scenes of the life Ethan Frome lives now that he is married after a whimsical thought, and what his hasty lifelong commitment has done to him. Edith Wharton takes the side of people making their marriages those of true love and planning them out to allow the solemn vows can be carried out lovingly to last forever. Edith Wharton is saying that when marriages end up not being sincere, those involved will live in silent resentment of each other so long as they live together. In Edith Wharton’s novella, Ethan Frome, the root of all of Ethan’s problems boil down to his marriage with Zeena. Should he not have married Zeena, a multitude of bad moments in Ethan’s life would have never have occurred. However, on the flip of the coin, some of the good things that happened to Ethan might not have happened either.