Poverty In Edith Wharton's Ethan Frome

Ethan’s ignorance and hopefulness. He doesn’t fully comprehend his actions which also emphasizes his immaturity.

Events such as his attempt at suicide or how they both survived their suicide attempt and Ethan was forced to relive his dreadful life of taking care of the one he loved in their debt. This is a great example of how Edith Wharton uses irony to support the idea of Ethan being a tragic hero. The entire novel, Ethan and Mattie had been sneaking behind Zeena’s back, secretly taking part in a very confusing, somewhat childish relationship, and going as far as to try to kill themselves, only for Ethan to remain stationed in his life of aid and depression. Another example that supports this idea of a tragic hero is one in which Wharton uses the literary element of symbolism. During the event in which it is Ethan and Mattie’s first time home alone, Mattie decides to bring down Zeena’s sacred pickledish off the shelf onto the dining room table, only to be knocked over and broken by their cat.

In the bitter town of Starkfield, Massachusetts, a traveler finds himself in a snowstorm and has to take shelter in the house of Ethan Frome, a old man with a bad leg. Many years prior, Ethan worked as a millworker. He later married Zenobia Frome who fell ill soon after. Zenobia’s young cousin, Mattie Silver, goes to the house to assist her. Ethan finds himself infatuated with Mattie and can’t bare the thought of living with his dull wife in that bitter town. Ethan dreamt of running away with young and beautiful Mattie. Did he stay to tend to his wife, or was he smart and got out of town?

Many people aim to please society because of the fear of getting reprimanded by others. Most people don’t pursue their dreams because of the concern of what their peers might think of them or how others will view them for the rest of their life. Ethan Frome faces many of the same conflicts such as whether to stay by his sick wife’s side or run away with her cousin, whom he actually loves and has feelings for. Edith Wharton uses many symbols, such as the red colored items, the household cat, and the pickle dish, in Ethan Frome indicating the deeper meanings of the characters’ situations.

I chose poverty and isolation can weaken the human spirit because Ethan's spirit is weakened by his lonely marriage. Ethan marries Zeena only out of loneliness. Throughout the book, Ethan feels trapped by Zeena and is always under the weather. Ethan lived in isolation with Zeena in the remote, cold Starkfield. Ethan finds Mattie as an escape of reality. He finds himself overjoyed and in love with Mattie's youth and appearance. Poverty weakens the human spirit because Ethan is usually not lucky with money, his money goes to Zeena's sickness and medicine. Ethan's spirit was weakened due to all these things.

Ethan Frome went through a lot of struggles and kept going through big struggles in the novel some people would of giving up if they ever went through what ethan went through. Ethan kept going and going

Ethan Frome, a novel by Edith Wharton, is a story about a man who is no longer in love with his wife, and soon finds love with her cousin. Ethan got married to an older woman named Zeena and is who he’s fallen out of love with. Mattie Silver, (Zeena’s cousin) moved in with them to help around their house because Zeena is sick. Ethan soon becomes head over heels for her. At this point, he can’t even stand the sight of Zeena and wants to run away with Mattie. As much as he wants to be with Mattie, he doesn’t wanna go against his vows of marriage with Zeena.

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.

 In the novel Ethan Frome, by Edith Wharton, the character of Ethan Frome plays an important role in the development of the rest of the book. He has several character traits which distinguish him from the other main characters. Also, there are many factors which play against him throughout the novel.

   "Dependent personality disorder."(Morris)  To people who suffer from this disorder, making a decision is virtually impossible. It is only by getting assistance from others that they can make even the simplest of choices. When some of these people come together, they rely on each other to help them with decision-making.  Unfortunately, the codependency created by this situation frequently makes it impossible for these people to separate. In fact, they often become so interdependent that subconsciously they increasingly act in ways that will maintain the status quo. In Edith Wharton's novel Ethan Frome, the three major characters are so dependent on each other that no matter

In Edith Wharton’s Ethan Frome there are many symbols that are used to represent the many emotions or moods present in the novel. The setting of story is in Starkfield, Massachusetts in the middle of winter which is an occurring symbol in story and, how it effects the people in Starfield especially Ethan Frome and his family. The winter represents the different circumstances that appear in the novel such as Starkfield which is seen as a dull, dark, and quiet place full of mostly poor people. The people of Starkfield aren’t full of joy and seem to be very sluggish and unfriendly.

Themes, which are main ideas or underlying meanings in work, are used to add more definition and meaning to a story. In the novel, “Ethan Frome” written by Edith Wharton, the themes of death and life are often expressed within the characters. The characters Ethan and Mattie are examples of the theme of life, while Zeena becomes an example of death.

Fulfillment of desire is human nature, an aspect of a person that is universal. Throughout the story of ‘Ethan Frome’ by Edith Wharton, the self-titled protagonist struggles to fulfill his own desires, battling social norms as well as his own morality. Even when the whole situation has been set out to work perfectly for Frome, he cannot bring himself to cheat on his wife, an aspect that is admiring, but ultimately self-crippling. His indecisiveness is not only an aspect that drives the whole story forward, but a trait that leads to his own undoing. In a final twist of irony, the penultimate scene of the story not only sums up the consequences of the characters’ mistakes, but as well as a fate that coincides with the very same social and moral

Since the story uses a certain object, the Jacket, as the meaning of several issues, it primarily focuses on the narrator's poverty-stricken family. First of all, an example of the poverty is demonstrated when the narrator complains that the jacket "was so ugly and big that I knew I'd have to wear it a long time"(paragraph 3). It is clear that his lack of money was a problem in which he

The story of “Ethan Frome” by Edith Wharton bring many different themes into question and conflict. One of these ideas is the dispute between ethics and morals versus personal desire. In the story, Ethan wants to leave Zeena because she is shrewish, while Mattie is kind, gentle, radiant, and a perfect match for Ethan. Ethan's desire to leave Zeena for Mattie is therefore completely understandable. Yet, because Ethan knows that society standards in this time period would cause him to be severely judged as a man who abandoned his wife. The author uses variety of literary tools to help contribute to the theme morals and ethics versus personal desires. The setting, character, and plot contribute to the theme morals and ethics versus personal desires.