The Failed Suicide

Once he was introduced to Mattie, he was happier. It was almost like he got a sense of adrenaline from the situation. Ethan just made everthing worse. Zeena came back from her trip basically planning to get rid of Mattie. Ethan and Mattie didn’t realize that. But seeming that “Nobody can tell with Zeena” (Wharton 82) makes it excusable. Zeena soon found the broken pickle dish and she was heated. “You wanted to make the supper-table pretty. . . and you waited till my back was turned. . .” (Wharton 111). Ethan tried his best to argue against Zeena but it didn’t work. Because of Ethan, Mattie was being sent away. Ethan couldn’t fight against Zeena and he knew that if he left Zeena, he would have to deal with a quicker downfall of himself. “...he was a poor man, the husband of a sickly woman” (Wharton 142). That’s all Ethan was because he chose to marry Zeena. He got himself stuck in a permanent situation. Instead of moving, he agreed to take Mattie but on the way they decided to symbolize their love for each other. They atteempted suicide together but this did not work. Ethan and Mattie ended up together. But, they ended up with Zeena taking care of them. Mrs. Hale describes it as being “. . . pretty bad, seeing all three of them there together” Wharton 154). Ethan’s actions caused him to live the rest of his life dreadfully when he might as well have been

He is suppose to stay with Zeena, who was not a choice, they got married because of debt, growing apart “Then she too fell silent. Perhaps it was the inevitable effect of life on a farm, or perhaps, as she sometimes said , it was because Ethan ‘ never listened’”(42). Ethan feels that with Mattie he is able to express himself, he is able to give love and receive it as well. Him taking action makes him act more bold then he had the whole novel saying to Mattie “ what’s the good of either of us going anywhere without the other one now?”(90). This shows him being bold and taking things into his hand. Ethan with Mattie before she leaves is the only time that Ethan does what he really wants. The way Ethan wants to live his life, to be free to do what he wants, even what he wants to say. Ethan gets the courage to say “Oh,Matt,I can’t let you go!”(90). This shows how Ethan wants to go against his fate of being with Mattie, using his own free will. Avoiding his responsibilities and following his free will to be with Mattie. Ethan wanting to stay with Mattie, is his form of rebellion. Ethan trying to commit suicide and failing, what he says to Mattie after they fail “Oh Matt, I thought we’d fetched it,”(94). This shows Ethan realizing that he was trying to defy his fate. He begins to think this is the result of trying to change your fate. The failed suicide attempt shows Ethan what he was doing was what he wanted to do, but the results had led to something that neither

That makes him stand between what he want and what he need and all he wants, just to stop at thinking. And Ethan's thoughts become his biggest barrier to reaching happiness. Ethan loves Mattie. Ethan dreams about the happiness of him and Mattie. We know that when Ethan says, "I guess we'll never let you go, Matt," he whispered, as though even the dead, lovers once, must conspire with him to keep her; and brushing by the graves, he thought: "We'll always go on living here together, and someday she'll lie there beside me.". But there is no way that comes true when he becomes passive in front of Zeena. When Zeena figures out what is wrong in her family, and try to indirectly force Mattie to leave the farm, Ethan is passive with his feeble reasoning cannot protect Mattie. Then, Ethan plans to flee with Mattie. But once again, another thought comes up to Ethan's mind as an excuse for his passivity, and make him flinch. The narrator states, " If he gave the farm and mill to Zeena what would be left him to start his own life with? Once in the West he was sure of picking up work—he would not have feared to try his chance alone. But with Mattie depending on him the case was different. And what of Zeena's fate? Farm and mill were mortgaged to the limit of their value, and even if she found a purchaser—in itself an unlikely chance—it was doubtful if she could clear a thousand

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.

The poem “Preface to a Twenty Volume Suicide Note” by Amiri Baraka uses vivid images of sights, sounds, and daily activities to symbolize a heartfelt story. In the poem, Amiri, is one of the African American slaves who is frustrated about the discriminatory treatment by whites. So frustrated he wants to commit suicide. The writer used transition words starting with “lately”, “now”, and “then” for each stanza. He was imagining how he acted before his death and how his daughter reacted to his death.

Ethan faces reality when he realizes that he cannot leave his wife even if he does not love her. Ethan had married his wife out of debt which had caused them to be distant.“Then she too fell silent. Perhaps it was the inevitable effect of life on farm, or perhaps, as she sometimes said , it was because Ethan ‘ never listened’”(42).To explain, Ethan found nothing in common with his wife.. Due to their lack of interest with each other, they had ignored one another and their household was quiet until one needed something from the other. To continue, near the end of the book Ethan realises his real dream is to run away with his true love, Mattie, and to start a new life. Once given the option, Ethan and Mattie try to act fast to leave but realise they have not thought it through. He says,“ what’s the good of either of us going anywheres without the other one now?”(90). To clarify, once they think about leaving Zeena, Mattie and Ethan realize they have nowhere to go. The lost, forbidden lovers are soon given the option that they are able to live out their false dream through death. On their way back to convince

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

The climax of this novel is when Ethan and Mattie confess their love for each other and decide to commit suicide by sledding into a large tree. The falling action was that Ethan and Mattie regain consciousness after crashing into the tree; Ethan takes both of them in and cares for them into old age.

Without Ethan’s love for Mattie, the accident never would have occurred. Because he loved Mattie so openly, his wife, Zeena, wasn’t oblivious to his affections. Zeena’s envy led her to replace Mattie with a hired girl, which is why they were even on the hill sledding in the first place. They were reminiscing the times they had spent together and plans they wished

Ethan was in an unhappy relationship because Zeena was sick and miserable, which made Ethan miserable. When Zeena needed help, her cousin Mattie Silver came to stay with them in Starkfield to aid her. Ethan began to grow fond of Mattie and over time developed strong feelings for her, for she was young and pure compared to Zeena whom was old and ill. As Ethan and Mattie grew closer, Zeena decided to get rid of Mattie and hired a girl that would best suit her needs, to take care of her. Before Ethan withdrew from Mattie, they took a sled ride and crashed into a tree because they couldn’t bare not being together. They chose to attempt suicide; however, their suicide attempt failed and they are left crippled with Zeena to take care of

Previously, Ethan went to work hauling wood, meanwhile, through his work, he was perpetually thinking of Mattie, and how he should have kissed her when they were together. Moreover, Ethan decided to continue working, due to his frustration, however, he decided to head on home, where he encountered his wife wearing her best dress, due to she was planning to see a new doctor, as a result of no longer being able to withstand her pain.

It's the way your father begun, and I was warned of it when I took you, and I tried to keep my things where you couldn't get at 'em-and now you've took from me the one I cared for most of all” Mattie came between Ethan and Zeena's marriage. Despite the marriage being not the best and basically already broken and gone. It was still a marriage good or bad. Even though she may not have meant to get feelings for Ethan, when she realized she did have feeling she didn't ignore them and leave. She stayed and let it play out. Mattie's suffering was that she became paralyzed, After her and Ethan's accident. A daily reminder of the choices she made to come between a marriage and go behind her cousins back.

Lastly, Ethan is entirely responsible for accepting Mattie’s suicidal idea. Although Ethan did not suggest the idea, he put up no fight against it. After she first recommends it, Ethan says, “Why, what are you talking of? You’re crazy” (Wharton ch.9). This shows that he sees the danger in this idea, but nevertheless he goes along with her idea. They are both at fault for this, and therefore they both end up suffering a terrible consequence of living death because of this

Ethan was alone in his own dark and uneventful world, but when Mattie came along she showed him how it was like to truly care and love someone. She helped him escape from his loneliness and the dark, cold winter his life had become. The effects of emotional isolation made Ethan very protective of the one thing he cared for the most, which is Mattie that he was willing to sacrifice his own

I am so desperate to die because of someone whom I really loved and had given everything of me. I tried to cut class because of him. I tried to make time because of him. I tried everything just to be with him. However, I was never enough for him. He left me. From then on, I tried to win him back, I war text him, I called his phone number and I sent numerous Facebook messages. I told myself that if I can't win him back I will commit suicide.