Ethan Frome
Edith Wharton's Ethan Frome inspires many different thoughts on the way a person from a rural background lives. Although the beginning and end of the book are told from a narrator's point of view, most of the novel concerns Ethan Frome's actions and view on life. Ethan is by far the most round character in the novel, giving us access to most of his thoughts. Ethan is generally a sympathetic character, while his wife Zeena is very unsympathetic. Ethan lives a life of many struggles. Personal issues, lying, and decision making are among Ethan's problems. Ethan Frome dreams of escaping his dark lonely farm to live a life outside of Starkfield. Ethan also dreams and wishes that Mattie was his wife. For example the book states "Her wonder and his laughter ran together like spring rills in a thaw"(40). One dream comes true for Ethan, but the dream of leaving Starkfield does not. Ethan lives a somewhat boring life; he walks to the Post Office every day and lives what seems to be a dark unhappy continuing adventure. However Ethan does realize that he has
but also because he knew from experience the impudence of letting Zeena think he was in funds on the eve of one of her therapeutic excursions"(55). Ethan sees life in two different perspectives; life with Mattie and be happy, or live with Zeena and not be happy. Because he lied he realizes that he will have to ask Hale for money, and he knows Hale will not pay. Edith Wharton portrays Ethan as a very poor man in attempt to make the reader sympathetic towards Ethan. In the end, Ethan lives a sad life which makes for a suicide attempt. He has trouble on how to decide and deal with this problem of his, because he has not lived a fantastic life. Secondly and most importantly, this makes Ethan unable to face consequences for any decision that he has made in the past. Winning Mattie's love obviously upsets Zeena, which leaves Ethan in a bigger conflict then before he met Mattie. He flat out stinks at making decisions. So as you can see his lies dig him in deep holes, therefore creating a downside to his personality. To make himself feel better he preys on innocent Mattie Silver and wins her love. It's seems as if now Ethan will have to make a decision, which leads to the final point.
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Acceptance Essays
