Ethan Frome Quotes

According to a quote from the film Braveheart, “Every man dies, Not every man really lives”. This quote seems to apply itself directly to Ethan Frome. In Edith Wharton’s Ethan Frome, the titular character doesn’t get a chance to really live his life. Death and hardship fill up his early life, as his father passed away and left him with little money and large amounts of work to do on the farm. Later, he is obligated to marry the woman who took care of his dying mother, who then got sick herself following the marriage. That in turn doesn’t allow Frome to move away from the small New England town he grew up in. To make matters worse, when his wife’s cousin comes to stay with the couple to help around the house, he falls hopelessly in love with her, but can’t do anything to act on it. In Ethan Frome, the titular character’s life is best described and haunted with the themes of lies, passion, and death.

Cheating is when one is not loyal or faithful to the person one is currently in a relationship with. Generally, when a person cheats on someone, he will tend to treat the person that he is cheating with better than the person that he is cheating on. In Ethan Frome by Edith Wharton, Ethan falls in love with Mattie, and Zeena notices it. Zeena expresses the way that she feels about Ethan being with Mattie and that she knows what is going on between them through her dialogue, actions, and what she observes. It is easy to see that Zeena knows that Ethan is trying to replace Zeena with Mattie.

Humans turn to manipulation when they desperately want something, without focusing on the consequences. For instance, in the novella Ethan Frome by Edith Wharton, characters such as Zeena and Ethan use manipulation when they need or want something. For example, Ethan uses manipulation in order to impress or be with Mattie. This is shown, when Ethan believes, “If the Hales were sorry for him they would surely respond to his appeal… He was planning to take advantage of the Hales’ sympathy to obtain money from them on false pretences.” (112-113), proving Ethan is manipulating the Hales’ sympathy in order to have enough money to leave with Mattie. Zeena also uses her health in order to manipulate others. For instance, Zeena grabs Ethan’s attention

"Zeena herself, from an oppressive reality, had faded into an insubstantial shade." This quote from the perspective of the main character, Ethan Frome illuminates Edith Wharton's theme and message of silence, the working force in the novella which tares the characters apart. It is Ethan and Zeena who, unhappily married, remain together to appease their community while their thoughts continue to remain unsaid, silenced to maintain the lies that lay in the innermost parts of themselves, changing their character beyond redemption. It is this silence that Ethan continues to uphold which cripples him, trapping him in a depression that emits the loudest cry of grief. This significant factor in the narrative intrigues the thought "is it better to

Before the elm accident, Ethan was able to live freely with Mattie which relieved him from his life with Zeena. Wharton describes Ethan daydreaming about Mattie while sneaking in the back of the house, “The sight came with the intense precision of the last dream before

Aside from wanting to leave the town Ethan had another desire, a desire to leave his wife and join with Mattie Silver. These desires were also crushed by reality. First it was the reality of social issues. It was not right to leave you ill wife incapable of helping herself for her cousin. Even with that reality Ethan still carried his desire, not yet letting it be stamped out. Perhaps the biggest obstacle was Zeena, the wife herself. Although ill she was suspicious and did not make life easy on Ethan or Maddie. She kept Ethan poor by spending his money on trips for doctors and remedies, and she kept Mattie in line because she controlled the girls fate. Zeena became a more aggressive obstacle when she decided to replace Mattie, permanently separating the two. Still Ethan protected his desire by desperately making plans. Unfortunately his plans were thwarted, when he could not convince Zeena to change her mind nor could he summon the funds to elope with Mattie and move West. Once again he was being thwarted by external forces. Ethan was desperate but he was tied hand and foot, his desires unable to come true because of his situation. He tried to keep his

Near the end of the story, Frome and Mattie finally express their feelings for each other. The revelation is bittersweet as Frome realizes a happy life with Mattie is impossible, and the sheer thought of it makes “the other life (with Zeena) more intolerable to return to” (144). With this in mind, he agrees to go sledding into the deadly elm tree, to be united in death with Mattie rather than live in separation. Ironically, the two survive the crash, and years later live together with Zeena in painful misery. Out of all of them, Mrs. Hale notes that “it is him (Ethan) that suffers the most” (156).

In Ethan Frome, Edith Wharton is saying that unhappiness resulting from having to choose between love and unwanted responsibility cannot be avoided. Through her use of imagery, she illustrates the difficulty of making choices between what is expected and what is desired. Ethan becomes happy when his responsibility to his wife Zeena goes away when she leaves town, and he is able to pursue his love for Mattie. The world is described differently whether Ethan depending on who Ethan is with, and imagery is used to show his emotions. Mattie is always described as being colorful, while Zeena is seen mostly in darker colors.

Harmon Gow, when asked about the condition of Ethan Frome, quickly notes that “most of the smart ones get away” to which the narrator responds, “Why didn’t he?”. In reality, Ethan has had a glimpse of the life that a new environment promises. He’d gone to the city to

Ethan had opportunities to speak to Mattie but he didn’t take the advantage of it. For instance, the night Zeena was not there, according to Ethan’s own words, “He had not even touched her hand” (Wharton 76). In addition, Ethan never speak up enough against Zeena’s decision to hire a new girl. If Ethan loved Mattie, why did he

Likewise, when Mattie needed a ride to train station Zeena asked Jotham Powell to take her, but instead, Ethan insisted on taking her himself. On their way, they decide to go sledding where Mattie convinces Ethan to commit suicide with her since it was the only way they could be together forever. Ethan’s betrayal went to such an extent that he was willing to give up his own life just to escape Zeena and their marriage to run away with

During the 19th century, having morals and executing the expected behavior of social norms was emphasized. Often times, people would face the struggle between following their conscience versus societal norms. This is portrayed numerous times throughout Edith Wharton’s “Ethan Frome,” and Herman Melville’s “Billy Budd.” In “Ethan Frome,” the protagonist, whom the novel is named after, faces a continuous battle with himself as he tries to suppress his desires for another woman, Mattie. In Melville’s work, characters such as Captain Vere and Billy Budd experience internal conflict while on ship.

Before Mattie came into Ethan’s life, he had nothing to fight for. He knew that one way or another Zeena would get what she wants but with Mattie it was different. He knew that she was his only chance at happiness and the fact that Zeena could take that away from him did not settle well with

Ethan feeling hopeless and defeated is majorly expressed in the story. For example, Ethan has been through several conflicts with his wife, Zeena. Ethan came to meet his wife when she cared for his sickly mother. In the novella, it says, “...and mother never could get it through her head what had happened, and it preyed on

Ethan finds the river and sees a 16 ft fence, with signs inscribed, HIGH VOLTAGE RISK OF DEATH, and, RETURN TO WAYWARD PINES BEYOND THIS POINT YOU WILL DIE. Ethan discovers a mountain and starts climbing to escape. While climbing, Ethan notices a tall, scary looking, translucent-skinned creature following him. Ethan becomes chased by the monster, until he throws a rock down to kill the creature. After, he finds an air duct in the middle of the mountain, and crawls into it. Ethan discovers that in the mountain was a facility that kept Wayward Pines running. While exploring the facility, a person named Dr. Jenkins electrocutes Ethan. Ethan wakes up in a helicopter with the town’s sheriff, Arnold Pope, and Nurse Pam, and Dr. Jenkins. The helicopter lands in a forest, and takes a hike with Dr. Jenkins. They then go in a collapsed building in the middle of the forest. Dr. Jenkins tells Ethan that Wayward Pines is the last town on Earth, there are no other humans except in Wayward Pines, humans evolved into creatures Ethan saw on the mountain called aberrations, David Pilcher saved the last humans in Wayward Pines with a process that chemically suspends someone, and Dr. Jenkins is David