Edith Wharton Essay

belongingness and love needs, our esteem needs, and our self-actualization needs. According to Maslow, it is when these needs are met that we become whole people. Ethan Frome is a book that centers on the needs of a man and his family. The author, Edith Wharton, shows a range of characters that are at times at various levels of the needs that Maslow explains in his hierarchy. What we humans need to fulfill our own self-actualization is often times shown in Wharton’s work. It is the building of one such

Forster). Many authors write in order to express their deepest thoughts and experiences to their audience; when the thoughts and experiences can be continuously related to the reader throughout any time period, it becomes a classic. This is exactly how Edith Wharton’s The Age of Innocence has been brought about as a classic and is still relevant to people today. Wharton’s work reveals multiple unique perspectives to people through the development of her characters in her specific writing style. Academics

Edith Wharton’s short story “A Journey” tells the story of a woman who travels to New York with her husband. During the first half of the story, the narrator describes the relationship between the main character and her husband, even during his sick days and the second half of the story offers insight into the main character’s reactions towards her husband’s sudden death including her interactions with the secondary characters. In “A Journey”, Edith Wharton’s choice to include secondary characters

Roman Fever Roman Fever" is an outstanding example of Edith Wharton's theme to express the subtle nuances of formal upper class society that cause change underneath the pretense of stability. Wharton studied what actually made their common society tick, paying attention to unspoken signals, the histories of relationships, and seemingly coincidental parallels. All of these factors contribute to the strength and validity of the story of Mrs. Slade and Mrs. Ansley. "Roman Fever" at first

conservatism” that unknowingly evaded the moral standards of the modern time (Burt). New York was incapable of opening its eyes and finding meaning in its world; the people “could only look blankly at blankness,” unable to find purpose behind the unpleasant (Wharton 28). Society spreads unpleasantry through gossip and rumor to alienate different and innovative individuals to ultimately stifle the revelation of a changing world. Society reflects one of its pitfalls when involving itself in the infliction its own

In "Ethan Frome," Edith goes into the theme of communication, or the lack of it, with the characters in the small community of Starkfield. In the novel, characters struggle to express their thoughts and emotions, leading to misunderstandings and sad consequences due to the misunderstandings. Wharton uses this theme to highlight the loneliness and isolation experienced by the characters, showing the barriers that prevent connection and intimacy. One area of communication shown in the novel is the

the heartaches she had experienced. Her abandonment from her lover, failed marriage, and suicidal attempt, all gave the life to her writing. Sylvia Plath is a great example of what followed Kate Chopin. Edith Wharton was a successful female writer, whose career stretched over forty years. Edith Wharton was a young woman who suffered various difficult situations in her

to conflict that creates a canvass for an author to paint their message. Ultimately, the resolution of those conflicts come about because of the drive the main character possesses to fulfill their motivations and desires. The main characters in Edith Wharton’s House of Mirth and H.G Wells’s The Invisible Man, Lily Bart and Jack Griffin, both posses very different ambitions that lead them into unique conflicts, but both end up with similar, tragic resolutions. Lily Bart, an entitled, down-on-her-luck

novella, Ethan Frome, the author Edith Wharton portrays Ethan’s downfall caused by marrying Zeena for convenience but loving Mattie Silver instead. “The inexorable facts closed in on him like prison warders handcuffing a convict. There was no way out-none.” Throughout the novella, Edith Wharton displays a continuous theme of trapped by expressing Ethan's temptation to love Mattie but cannot because of his commitment to Zeena which makes him feel like a prisoner. Wharton depicts the theme trapped throughout

arts, literature has in the past been assumed to reflect cultural norms and values, the ethos and the stresses of a society, the process of dialect materialism, and the historical development of a society or culture” (Albrecht 177). In the case of Edith Wharton’s short story, “Confession”, there was both an influence from historical events and societal norms. Throughout the short story, there were three obvious influences from the time period. The story is loosely based on a historically famous murder