Edith Wharton Essay

Individuals willingly or forcefully become separated from communities. This is called isolation. Isolation can have drastic consequences on an individual. Physical and social isolation can only affect an individual negatively. Ethan Frome conveys the story of a static farmer who is married to a woman he doesn't love called Zeena. Ethan is forced to pay and take care of Zeena because she is suffering fatal illnesses; however, they rarely speak or act with love towards each other. When Zeena’s

father – then his mother – then his wife” (Wharton 5). Ethan does not want to abandon anyone during their time of agony and despair. Overlooking the fact that he

Tom Wingfield and Ethan Frome are both intellectual dreamers who live in stifling, hopeless conditions. Ethan gave up his dreams of becoming an engineer due to his duty to care for his ailing parents, and later Zeena. Similarly, Tom writes poetry, reads literature, follows European politics, and dreams of escaping from his current circumstances. Just as Ethan never fulfills his dream of becoming an engineer, Tom is trapped in his job at a warehouse to support his family. Both of these characters

Lastly, Ethan’s greatest misfortune of being unable to have Mattie’s love due to his wife's domination led to the complete subordination of his character. Wharton emphasizes Ethan’s confinement to his wife Zeena by stating, “the inexorable facts closed in on him like a prison-warder handcuffing. There was no way out-none. He was a prisoner for life” (69). Ethan suffers in silence due to the duty of caring for his ill wife. The lack of being able to express his feelings for the woman he loves because

Allison McGlone Mary Sites January 12, 2017 English 12A Ethan Frome stories Wharton used symbolism in the pickle jar to show that it is representing Zeena and Ethan’s marriage. The movie foreshadows that the pickle jar would be knocked over by the cat. The cat also symbolizes an uncontrollable force. The cat is meaning Ethan and Matties love for each other ruining the marriage. The sleigh ride that Mattie and Ethan go on shows the fun they have. Ethan and Zeena do not have the same relationship

Mattie’s change in attitude represents the toll of financial and moral obligations of the fortuneless, often prohibiting them from pursuing their interests. When Mattie Silver, coming from a more prosperous background, first arrives at Starkfield to work for the Frome couple, her curiosity and love of nature contrasted that of the rest of the working-class town. Afterwards she realizes the harshness of New England life through her attempted suicide with her love interest Ethan Frome that leaves her

Entry #1: “As though nothing less tenuous than ether intervened between the white earth under his feet and the metallic done overhead” (Wharton 13). Wharton describes a still and serene snow scene to depict the entire mood of Starkville, the dull town where Ethan lives. Wharton shows that before Mattie arrives, Ethan continues a monotonous and bleak life at his vaccant farm with little human interaction. The white, dull, and cold snow represents the emotionless life that Ethan experiences. There

The quote, “You can leave home all you want, but home will never leave you”, by Sonsyrea Tate relates to the novel Ethan Frome in that that main character, Ethan, cannot escape the life he had created. Ethan is a victim of his own demise because his fatal flaw is being too passive which prevents him from taking the necessary actions to improve his life. Despite all the times he attempted to leave, every night he would return home because a home is everyone's final destination at the end of a day

In Edith Wharton’s Ethan Frome, the author places Frome in situations where he is shown to be caring and/or sentimental to demonstrate the irony of his miserable life in Starkfield. In the beginning of the story, Harmon Gow describes how Ethan once gave up his education to care for his father, who “went soft in the brain, and gave away money like Bible texts before he died…” (12) and his mother, who “got queer and dragged along for years as weak as a baby” (12). At his heart, Frome is a very caring

author described his experiences on the farm with “Left alone, after his father’s accident, to carry the burden of farm and mill, he had no time for convivial loiterings in the village; and when his mother fell ill the loneliness of the house grew…” (Wharton 60-61). Ethan, despite knowing the hardships he would have to handle all alone, he chose to help his family, instead of following his dream. Ethan’s morals clearly focus on doing what is right and what is better for his family, not just himself.