Edith Wharton Essay

The Subconscious and How it Affects One’s Personality in the Novel, Ethan Frome. Throughout life people always say listen to your conscious and “follow your heart”, but can this task be accomplished? Although it sounds simple, it takes a special skill to solely follow your conscious or what is known as the ego portion of your subconscious. In the book, Ethan Frome, the character’s of Mattie Silver, Zeena Frome, and Ethan Frome all have different personalities based on their subconcious. Zeena bases

In chapter eight and nine of Ethan Frome, Ethan finds a note in Mattie’s handwriting telling him not to worry. He sits and thinks about the note and comes to a conclusion that he is going to leave Zeena a note saying that he is leaving her and running away with Mattie. However, he then sits on the couch in tears realizing how hard it would be to start over with nothing, and how heartbroken Zeena would be. When Ethan wakes up he realizes that it is Mattie's last day. After they have breakfast, he

Juxtaposition is used to put two characters side by side and depict the similarities and the differences of them. Within the novel, Ethan Frome, Zeena and Mattie were two contextual characters whose individuality stood out. By studying Zeena’s and Mattie’s attitudes towards life, their roles as women in the late 19th century, their age, appearance, and their treatment of Ethan and each other throughout the novel, the reader can more deeply comprehend not only the similarities and differences of these

that many would never have dared to say (and some would not know to think about) are being debated and considered. Society still influences a major part of daily life, but it used to have almost complete control over others’ actions and views. In Edith Wharton’s The Age of Innocence, a restrictive society works to maintain the same traditions, and put its next generation into the exact roles as those who came before them. In the following passage, Archer is having a conversation with Winsett, an

Caroline Gemes American Lit Mrs. Saunders 28 July 2015 Federico Lorca once said, “To burn with desire and keep quiet about it is the greatest punishment we can bring on ourselves.” I believe Ethan Frome would have said the same thing as Lorca. This quote perfectly describes the relationship between Ethan and Mattie. Ethan had a burning desire to love, cherish, and be with Mattie; however, some factors in his life thwarted his desire. Ethan was forced to keep quiet about it due to opposing

Analysis of Ethan Frome The strife between monogamy and the lust for another is often the cause of a marriage ending before "death do us part." The challenges of infidelity in these situations often shape the individual enduring them in mostly negative ways. The novel Ethan Frome presents a main character facing an internal battle about responsibility versus his innate immoral nature, and the author exposes this extended metaphor as a struggle to warn that the conflict between moral standards and

The short story Ethan Frome is a story about a new blossomed love between Mattie Silver and ethan Frome that is separated by Zeena Frome. The fairytale story “Snow White” is about an envious witch who is also the stepmother and queen of the main character Snow White who tries to get rid of her. The novel Ethan Frome and the story of “Snow White” share some resemblances between the characters Zeena Frome and the Witch.. Zeena and the Witch are similar in many ways. In both stories, Zeena and the

picking up work—he would not have feared to try his chance alone.”(Wharton 90). He was just about to give up Mattie, just because he wouldn’t break up with Zeena, even though he had a plan. “He knew a case of a man over the mountain—a young fellow of about his own age—who had escaped from just such a life of misery by going West with the girl he cared for. His wife had divorced him, and he had married the girl and prospered” (Wharton 89). Ethan ends up throwing away the note for what he thought was

The House of Mirth, written by Edith Wharton, depicts the social system and how it functioned during the late 1800’s and early 1900’s. Through looking at the social rise and fall of Lily Bart, the protagonist, one can see how education, gender, and social status determine value and success. By the evident contrast between upper class and lower class values in the novel, the theme of performance is illuminated. Each character in the novel is performing—Lily, especially—and does so as a way of socially

woman who had an affair with her best friend’s fiance? Certainly not a dull mother who enjoys knitting, as is the case in the short story “Roman Fever.” Edith Wharton effectively makes use of direct and indirect presentation to create two round, yet static characters in her short story to escalate the powerful and surprising climax. Edith Wharton uses mostly direct presentation to describe Alida Slade and Grace Ansley in the beginning of her short story; “Roman Fever”; however also successfully incorporates