Everybody has tragic flaws. Some of the decisions that we make in life have an everlasting impact. Edith Wharton, author of Ethan Frome, writes about Ethan Frome, a man troubled by his own decisions. Ethan, married to Zeena Frome, has an affair with Zeena's cousin, Mattie Silver, leaving him stranded between the two. In his effort to have his clandestine affair with Mattie and cover up so Zeena would not find out, Ethan manifests qualities of fear, desperation, and impracticality.
             Ethan has many fears, which tend to plunge him into senseless acts of desperation. One night, when Ethan stood outside in the cold winter of his village, he saw Mattie dancing with Dennis Eady, a local handsome man. Ethan thought about himself and "the sight made him unhappy, and his unhappiness roused his latent fears" (31). Ethan is married to Zeena and shouldn't feel jealous of Dennis Eady. After she finished dancing, Ethan approaches Mattie. Afraid of being alone, Ethan "slipped an arm through hers, as Eady had done" (40). To worsen his fear, Zeena catches Ethan shaving, a sign that Ethan is improving his countenance for someone. Zeena's thrust of forthrightness "had frightened him more than any vague insinuations about Denis Eady" (34). Ethan will never stop fearing as long as he continues to have his affair with Mattie.
             Also, Ethan acquires impracticality. First, Ethan is impractical when he falls for Mattie Silver. He feels that "she had an eye to see and an ear to hear" (29). Ethan is married and should not seek pleasure in other women. Likewise, when the cat breaks Zeena's priceless pickle-dish given to her as a wedding present, Ethan takes the broken pieces and "laid the pieces together with such accuracy of touch that a close inspection convinced him of the impossibility of detecting from below that the dish was broken"(76). Ethan's attempt to ...