Major Works Data Sheet

Elaine and Robert, Mattie's two unmarried children, along with other family and friends, are encouraging her to be what they expect a seventy-eight year old woman to be. They talk about how she needs to get rest because she is slowing down and can't keep going as steady as she seems to think. When she decided to try and help a young juvenile, Wesley Benfield, become a better person by taking him to church and offering him to stay the night with her, Robert thought that Mattie was sick.

So, it can be seen that Zeena and Mattie do have common feelings for Ethan Frome. She probably has resentment and dislike for Ethan From and even herself since it was her idea to crash the sleigh into the oak tree. Also, since her youthfulness was cut short because of an accident and there was no everlasting love that followed it.

Soon after being deserted on the road, grandfather comes down with a summer grippe and becomes helpless. Mattie then needs to take care of them both by finding food and water. This shows responsibility because she not only had to take care of herself, but of her grandfather too with no help from anyone, and no one to tell her what to do.

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

Mattie is a strong self confident mechanic, she pushes through the hardships and helps her friends do the same. Taylor arrives in Tucson, Arizona, with two flat tires, little to no money, and a small childtoddler given to her by a stranger. UMattie takes a look upon seeing Taylor,M having a rough time, Mattieshe invites her inside for some coffee and juice. (Chapter 3) When Mattie first meets Taylor, she sees that she is

Lastly, the parallelism of Starkfield can be juxtaposed to Mattie and Ethan in an emotional state. Ethan is stuck in an emotional labyrinth: He knows that he must care for Zeena, his wife, but he also loves Mattie. He ultimately decides that life with Zeena would be worse than dying next to his true love, Mattie, which causes his suicide attempt, which he bails out on at the last second, causing his disfigurement. Mattie is trapped emotionally in the same way: her love for Ethan. She shows her feelings multiple times, with the major attempt during their dinner alone. Her plan is to eventually get him away from Zeena and to marry her instead, but this is not a valid option in Ethan’s eyes, again pointing back to the sledding accident.

As previously stated imagery concerning Mattie is very warm and summer-like. Mattie's face seems to Ethan like "a window that has caught the sunset". Her effect on Ethan was likened to " spring rills in a thaw". Mattie's mood changes were, to Ethan "the flit of a bird in the branches.". When Ethan puts his arm around Mattie when they are walking home it seemed that they "were floating on a summer stream." When Mattie tells Ethan that she would never want to leave his house, "The iron heavens seemed to melt and rain down sweetness."

Ethan being very needy marries Zeena, and once she turns cold, Ethan suffers. Ethan had been very lonely, living with his sickly mother.

Zeena appears to use her illness as a way to manipulate others to do things. Ethan usually does things to please Zeena. He is taking care of her and feels as if he cannot run off and abandon her. Zeena is controlling over Ethan and wants him to do whatever she pleases. She went away to see another doctor to get a second opinion on her illness and used Ethan’s money to pay for the treatment that she was prescribed even though she knew she wouldn’t be able to do the treatment. As the relationship between Ethan and Zeena becomes worse, Zeena is able to sense the relationship between Ethan and Zeena and becomes

Mattie and Ethan never follow their love due to Ethan's morals and the respect he has for his marriage to Zeena. He wants Zeena to be well and he takes care of her when she is ill. Frome’s feelings for Mattie never oscillate and he wants to be with this woman who is not his wife. Even though Ethan only had one night with Mattie alone, he cannot help but think of what he has done as he sits in the kitchen. Mattie presents minority, beauty, and good health- all of which Zeena does not possess. It seems he favors the more hip, young, and beautiful women than dull, boring, and unattractive women.

Before dying, Mattie’s mom made Mattie promise to stay with her family and the farm, making her do endless work, leaving no time for writing. Her older brother leaves soon after getting into an intense argument with Pa. She wants to go to New York for college, and write a lot more after receiving news that she has a scholarship at Bernard College. But she can’t afford the train ticket and she can’t leave her younger sisters alone at the farm. So she stays and helps, still looking for money to get there, asking her wealthy Aunt Josie to give her money to get to New York, which Aunt Josie flatly denies.

When Mattie is to be sent away, Ethan and Mattie grow desperate looking for a way out of their impossible situation. They decide that it is better to die in a sledding accident together than live their lives apart. Ethan hesitates slightly, “But in a flash

Isolation is used as a means of developing relationships between the characters, whether friendly or hostile. An obvious relationship that is formed is the one between Ethan Frome and Mattie Silver. Mattie was brought in by Zenobia, or Zeena, Frome as an assistant around their house. Ethan, being isolated from most other people that would bring him happiness, quickly begins to fall in love with Mattie. This is made clear early on, stating, "The girl was more than the bright serviceable creature he had thought her. She had an eye to see and an ear to hear; he could show her things and tell her things, and taste the bliss of feeling that all he imported left long reverbations and echoes he could wake at will" (Wharton 32). Due to the fact that Ethan had no one else but Zenobia in his life, Mattie was the only person keeping

This event, referred to as a “smash-up”(2) by natives of Starkfield, is revealed to be a pact between Ethan and Mattie to commit suicide by sledding into an old elm tree. Ethan finally knew Mattie's “avowal, the wild wonder of knowing at last that all that had happened to him had happened to her too”(52). She confirms finally that she felt the same for Ethan as he had for her, and persuades Ethan to commit suicide with her so that they would “never have to leave each other any more”(52). This grand gesture shows the true devotion they felt for each other, and in agreeing with her, demonstrates Frome’s fatal flaw: he loves Mattie over reason or even life itself.

Zeena’s return from the new doctor was met with disappointment, for Ethan’s time alone with Mattie had come to an end. This disappointment was only made worse when Zeena revealed that the doctor recommended getting a hired girl to do all of the work around the house, which meant replacing Mattie. “Despair seized [Ethan] at the thought of her setting out alone to renew the weary quest for work. In the only place where she was known she was surrounded by indifference or animosity… It was not possible to think of such things without a revolt of his whole being” (Wharton 88). Ethan had loved Mattie and wished to persuade Zeena to let Mattie stay, but she could not be swayed, which added to his distress. To further communicate this sorrow, Wharton