Symbolism In Ethan Frome

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.

Symbolism can give additional meaning to a variety of texts. From music to movies to novels, symbolism creates an even deeper meaning than found in a surface reading. The symbolism found within Ethan Frome adds to the inherent meaning of the text to give it an even deeper meaning. Edith Wharton uses the pickle dish, the Oak tree, and the cat as symbols to achieve deeper meaning. The pickle dish is of great significance in the novel. It is used to represent Zeena's virginity.

Question marks symbolize the unknown, four leaf clovers symbolize luck, and an olive branch symbolizes peace, but in Ethan Frome it’s not quite that simple. The author presents the symbols in a way that there are an abundance of inferences that need to be made throughout different occurrences in the novel. To recognize the brilliant symbolism within the novel, you need to think about all of the details within the plot. Some of the symbols can’t even be recognized until the last occurrences and events take place. The author of Ethan Frome, Edith Wharton, uses a variety of symbolism including symbolic and indicative colors, contrasting lights, and significant names to add to the development of the plot as long as well as the takeaway from

Ethan Frome written by Edith Wharton was an astounding yet surprising novel. The theme that really stood out the most in this story was courage. Throughout the story Ethan has to build the courage to deal with his feminine conflicts that change his outlook towards other characters. The discussion of characters and their choices will take place throughout this essay too.

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.

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.

As the story of Ethan Frome progresses throughout the novel, the reader along with the narrator begin to understand the true definition of the barren winter land Ethan Frome seems to be stuck in. We all come to the understanding that at points throughout

One’s moral duty is often conflicted with an emotional drive or a strong passion. The drive it takes to deviate from knowing what is right and wrong can lead to unfavorable outcomes, such as suffering. Not only does this engagement establish a war within the mind, but it also hinders certain responsibilities. In Edith Wharton’s novel Ethan Frome, the protagonist, Ethan, encounters a dilemma: his strong feelings for his wife’s cousin, Mattie, compels him to reconsider his devotion to Zeena. Ethan allows himself to seize feelings for Mattie, through which he disregards his moral duties to his wife, typifying that addressing a private passion over responsibility can lead to suffering.

Ethan Frome by Edith Wharton is a novel about a man who falls in love with the feeling of being freed. Ethan’s mother becomes sick and needs a caregiver, Zeena. Ethan has felt trapped ever since his wife, Zeena, becomes ill. Zeena needs a caregiver, so her cousin, Mattie, moves in with them. Ethan begins to fall for Mattie because she makes him feel as if he can live again. Each of the characters show isolationism in this novel.

Ethan Frome was novel about a love story that could not be fulfilled, because the characters that are having the secret love story are already married or about to be married. The theme that was shown the most through the book was love. This theme was talked about a lot during the book with two of the main characters. Between the three main characters one was the string through the whole novel and that was Zeena. The way Ethan life turn out is because of the choices he has made he cause everything that has happen to him. Everything can change with just one decision you make.

In the novel Ethan Frome, Edith Wharton uses words and symbolism to convey the deeper feelings that the characters cannot themselves express. The symbolism in the novel ranges from the sled that ultimately disfigures Ethan and paralyzes Mattie to symbols of death that foreshadow not literal death but the tragedy of the story. Color symbolism is a major literary tool used throughout Ethan Frome to enrich the story and show who the characters really are. White in the story is in a sense used to show the sterile life of Ethan and just how badly his dreams have become buried like underlying life gets buried under a mountain of snow. A major color used throughout the novel though is the color red.

Ethan Frome was too passive. Ethan Frome never took control of his life. He’d make decisions, but he never committed to them. Ethan wanted to have a romantic evening with Mattie, run away from Zeena with Mattie, and even commit suicide, but he could never commit. Although he had some strong moments in the story, when it came to important decisions, he’d always fail to commit.

Rural literature explores ideas, themes, and situations that occur “in the country”. The simple life that exists outside the hustle and bustle of many towns is enticing to those that live everyday with the noises and chaos that surrounds city life. People seem to find interest in some of the characteristics that define rural. There is something relaxing and serene about the thought of seeing the stars and smelling fresh cut grass; just the slower pace that rural life offers is inviting. The fact is, however, that while many rural places have certain things in common, they are all quite unique in their own way.

“Shallow men believe in luck or in circumstance. Strong men believe in cause and effect.” (Ralph Waldo Emerson). In the novel Ethan Frome, by Edith Wharton, it tells a story of a futile love between Ethan Frome and Mattie Silver. Ethan Frome was born on a farm in Starkfield, Massachusetts and has spent nearly the totality of his life there. He went away to college at Worchester but begrudgingly, returned after his father’s death and stayed to take care of his mother whose health was rapidly declining. That’s when he met his wife, Zeena, a woman seven years his senior, who came to his home to help his ailing mother. Due to uncontrollable external and internal forces they married. As for Mattie Silver, she was a daughter of a cousin of Zeena’s from Connecticut. Mattie’s father led the family to believe that they had a thriving business, but after he passed the family found out he made poor investments and because of that all their money was gone. Then after Mattie’s mother died, she was left with fifty dollars and the sale of a piano to her name, jumping from relative to relative hoping to have somewhere to stay. (Wharton 31). Once she meets Ethan, while Zeena and her family are quite cold to Mattie, Ethan shows her sympathy and compassion. Within this novel there is a loving and passionate force that tears apart the household. Ethan had many dreams that are now scattered in the wind and lost due to the prospects of time. There is a multitude of aspects of