Ethan Frome Fate Analysis

William joins the military and while he’s gone Margaret invites William’s mother Mrs. Anglin and brother Marshall to her parents’ house for dinner, which doesn’t go well because Mr. and Mrs. Ryder refuse to sign in an even more awkward silence. William comes back injured but not crippled and they live with her parents until he’s accepted into college. Margaret’s parents are sad to see her go but as soon as they can they go see her and it was unannounced. Margaret’s parents are very upset to see the place where she’s living and go to sign how upset they are that William hasn’t provided better for their daughter. Her parents never visit her again. The next time Margaret sees her parents is when she’s very pregnant to let them know that they’ll be grandparents. Lastly William and Margaret move into better housing where they will raise their child till William graduates from college. Margaret and William invite everyone to their baby shower after the birth of their son and her parents show up after everyone has gone. Margaret is upstairs with her son and William answers the door and her parents surprise her. When they see each other all the turmoil between them is gone and they enjoy each other’s company. The movie ends with Janice’s retirement party where Abel, Margaret, William and their son go and Janice’s signs a speech that Margaret

Edith Wharton, author of the novel Ethan Frome, speaks through her narrator to tell the ironically realistic tale of a poor, wishful New England farmer, who quickly realizes that his desire for happiness is futile. Ethan Frome’s acquaintances in town describe him as a man who has lived in the small town of Starkfield, Massachusetts for “too many winters,” yet Ethan is only fifty-two years old (Wharton 10). As the narrator relates the “tale of unremitting isolation, loneliness, intellectual starvation, and mental despair,” it is obvious that Ethan’s suffering is something “neither poverty nor physical suffering could have put there” (Faust 817; Wharton 13). The misery from which Ethan suffers is the heartbreak over the unaccomplished dreams of his past. In Edith Wharton’s novel Ethan Frome, the author examines the effects of reality on the fulfillment of the dreams of the characters and the narrator through social conventions, isolation, and fatalism.

In Edith Wharton’s novel Ethan Frome, setting is an important element. The setting greatly influences the characters, transportation, and activities.

The novel Ethan Frome is a short story packed with detail. It takes place in Starkfield and is about a farmer named Ethan Frome. Ethan made poor decisions because he was trapped living with two women; his wife, Zeena, and his wife’s cousin, Mattie. Ethan fell in love with Mattie. When Ethan and Mattie fell in love, they made a horribly rash choice making this novel a tragedy. A tragedy in literature is wherewhen a main character or hero suffers a downfall because of a character flaw, error in judgement, or forces beyond human control. The short novel, Ethan Frome, written by Edith Wharton, is a tragedy because of Ethan Frome’s character flaws, errors in judgement and the forces beyond his control.

The novel didn’t really have the best satisfaction between characters, its atmosphere was really awkward, unsettling and funny at times; it is basically a mix of all that. I felt there was no connection between Andy, Connor and Kajsa, and Ethan for the majority of the novel. The three got along well, and Ethan didn’t, which made things awkward in a minute. Ethan wouldn’t help out in setting up tents/putting tents down (“You have to help break camp,” Andy said sternly. “I have to do nothing I don’t want to do,” I replied. “But we’re a team,” Kajsa said. “We’re a team?” I said. “I’m not wearing any uniform. I didn’t join any team” 117; 20-25). Ethan would also play mind games at times, chapter fifteen is an excellent chapter to see how Ethan

The Novella of Edith Wharton, Ethan Frome, is a tragedy. Ethan Frome suffered tragedy because of his character flaws, errors in his judgment, and forces beyond his control. Ethan Frome married a woman, Zeena, he was lonely and not truly in love with her. When her cousin, Maddie comes to live with them Ethan becomes infatuated with her. When Maddie has to leave, Ethan and Maddie decide to kill themselves so they never would have to leave one another. In the novella of Edith Wharton, Ethan Frome, Ethan is a unique character who suffers a downfall due to character flaws, and errors in judgment, and most important forces beyond human control to in which he gains wisdom.

In the novel Ethan Frome by Edith Wharton, the minor character Mattie Silver serves as a foil towards the main character Ethan Frome. Throughout the novel, Ethan is a man who faces many challenges in his path causing what little happiness he has to vanish therefore illuminating the work as a whole. One may realize the faults of Ethan’s ways through theme, symbolism and irony.

Edith Wharton’s brief, yet tragic novella, Ethan Frome, presents a crippled and lonely man – Ethan Frome – who is trapped in a loveless marriage with a hypochondriacal wife, Zenobia “Zeena” Frome. Set during a harsh, “sluggish” winter in Starkfield, Massachusetts, Ethan and his sickly wife live in a dilapidated and “unusually forlorn and stunted” New-England farmhouse (Wharton 18). Due to Zeena’s numerous complications, they employ her cousin to help around the house, a vivacious young girl – Mattie Silver. With Mattie’s presence, Starkfield seems to emerge from its desolateness, and Ethan’s vacant world seems to be awoken from his discontented life and empty marriage. And so begins Ethan’s love adventure – a desperate desire to have

Many people oppose society due to the surroundings that they face and the obstacles that they encounter. Set in the bleak winter landscape of New England, Ethan Frome by Edith Wharton is the story of a poor, lonely man, his wife Zeena, and her cousin Mattie Silver. Ethan the protagonist in this novel, faces many challenges and fights to be with the one he really loves. Frome was trapped from the beginning ever since Mattie Silver came to live with him and his wife. He soon came to fall in love with her, and out of love with his own wife. He was basically trapped in the instances of his life, society’s affect on the relationship, love, poverty, illness, disability, and life.

Tracing back to the year that changed Ethan Frome’s life forever, the reader finds themselves outside of a church where Ethan Frome is mesmerized by the sight of this girl, Mattie Silver, who is actually his wife’s sister. When Mattie

Edith Wharton utilizes multiple literary devices in Ethan Frome to convey different meanings for the readers to decipher. She exercises the use of symbolism the most throughout this novel. Ethan Frome is the story of a man trapped in his marriage while falling for his wife's caretaker and cousin. This complicated relationship and its many tense situations, allows Wharton to dive into different scenarios and symbolic meanings. The most notable uses of symbolism occurs during Ethan and Mattie’s first night together.

Although Frome can be held responsible for his moral inactivity, he can be considered a morally inadequate man in his present state. His inadequacy, however, was not a constant in life or a sudden occurrence-- it snowballed from his youth and finally solidified through the ‘smash-up’. His earlier experiences in a university and the joy it brought him was quickly interrupted after a year by his sickly parents. The unfortunate circumstance forces Ethan Frome to move back to the depressing Starkfield he had just escaped. His parents’ illnesses bring along Zenobia, who would be another future, unseen oppression along with Starkfield. For years, Ethan lives in depressing conditions that decline as time goes on. The chance to finally leave them behind, however, comes in Mattie, Zenobia’s cousin and maid. Ethan’s inability to act on this chance of escape finally seals his fate when Mattie is paralyzed and he is critically injured. Although jinxed with unfortunate circumstances, Ethan Frome’s life could have been bettered if one small step or action was taken by him for himself with the intention to create personal joy or pleasure.

On the other hand, one of the differences between the book and the film happens to be how each portray some of the internal feelings of Ethan, which include his moral. In the novel as well as the movie his moral is the source of his constant indecisiveness. In the book there is a significant increase in the portrayal of Ethan’s internal struggles. For instance in the novel Ethan never is physically intimate with Mattie, while in the movie there are multiple scenes displaying their affection and passion for one another. “When the door of the room had closed on her he had remembered that he had not even touched her hand” (Wharton 53).

"The Morality of Inertia" by Lionel Trilling is about how Ethan Frome refuses to take action for what he wants due to moral issues. Trilling talks about how miserable is Frome's life. He has this desire to share his life with Mattie, but at the same time he can't leave his marriage with Zeena. Trilling talks about how literature doesn't get along with inertia, and how Wharton creates a story where the main character is experiencing life in death. Throughout the whole story, Frome is always thinking about leaving Zeena to be able to have a future life with Mattie, but he loses momentum all the time.

Two years after Ethan’s participation in the Civil War in favor of the Confederacy, he returns to visit his family who has migrated westward. His family consists of his brother and his wife, their two daughters, and two sons whom one of which is adopted. Ethan bears gifts for his family such as the saber he gave to Ben and the medal that he gave to Debbie, when she requested a necklace similar to the one that was given to her sister. Within a week of his return they are visited by the ranger and preacher, Samuel Johnson, who is fairly surprised by the return of Ethan, who proceeds to challenge his authority and nullifies Martin’s oath to becoming a ranger.