analysis of ethan frome
Ethan Frome is a story of ill-fated love, set during the winter in the rural New England town of Starkfield. Ethan is a farmer who is married to a sickly woman named Zeena. The two live in trapped, unspoken resentment on Ethan's isolated and failing farm. Ethan has been caring for his wife for six years now. Due to Zeena's numerous ailments they employ her cousin, the animated Mattie Silver, to help in the house. With Mattie's youthful presence and attitude in the house, Ethan's bitterness of his youth's lost opportunities and the dissatisfaction with his life and empty marriage are reawaken. This resentment leads to Ethan and Mattie in turn, falling in love. However, they never follow their love due to Ethan's morals and the respect he has for his marriage to Zeena. Ethan eagerly awaits the nights when he is able to walk Mattie home from the town dances. He cherishes the ground she walks on and would do anything for her.After a visit to the doctor, Zeena is told that she needs more appreciable hired help. Thus, she decides to send her incompetent cousin away and hire a new one. Ethan and Mattie are desperate to stay together. However, Ethan's lack of financial m
Ethan can barely scrape a living off the land. People stay indoors and keep to themselves. They figure it is the only way they can be together. Ethan is in some ways, a piece of the scenery, or as the narrator says, "a part of the mute melancholy landscape, an incarnation of frozen woe. When Mattie enters she is wearing bright clothing and ribbons tied in her hair. Ethan's isolation is intensified, because he is often tongue-tied. Once he returned to the farm to care for his parents, he couldn't go out with them even if he wanted to. In college Ethan acquired the nickname "Old Stiff" because he rarely went out with the boys. " He lacks the strength to shake himself loose before it's too late. From her first appearance, the reader becomes aware that Mattie is very different from Ethan's wife. The setting of Ethan Frome also expresses the isolation. For example, when he wants to impress Mattie with beautiful words of love, he mutters, "Come along. Mattie, on the other hand, seeks refuge from loneliness at the Fromes' farm.
Common topics in this essay:
Ethan Frome,
Starkfield People,
Edith Wharton,
Ethan Mattie,
Mattie Ethan's,
Zeena Ethan,
Mattie Silver,
Zeena Mattie,
Starkfield Ethan,
Zeena Ethan's,
ethan frome,
town starkfield,
ethan mattie,
mattie silver,
ethan's wife,
edith wharton,
loneliness isolation,
attracts readers,
|
Acceptance Essays
