The short story, ‘Ethan Frome’ written by Edith Wharton in the early 1900’s, tells the story of Ethan who grew up on a farm where his descendants lived and worked and died. Ethan’s story is told from the first person point of view and details the story of a sad and unfortunate young man who lives in a New England village. The choices that he has made have him trapped hopelessly in situations that befall him one by one. Ethan had left home to study technology at a college in Worcester. He had big dreams of living in the city where he would enjoy the life that a city offers. His dreams however came to an end when he had to return home to take care of his mother after the death of his father. His loyalty to his parents brings him back and he stayed to take care of his mother and to run the family farm. After the death of his mother, instead of returning to school to complete his education, he stayed.
He soon marries Zenobia, his cousin who had come to help take care of his mother. After the funeral, “when he saw [Zeena] preparing to go away, he was seized with an unreasoning dread of being left alonehe had asked her to stay there with him(Wharton 4.6)” Ethan hopes and dreams of moving out of Starkfield were further shattered when his wife became ill. He could not leave her so he stayed and took care of her. There was no hope of getting out now. In fact, after two failed attempts to get out of Starkfield, he gave up all hope and resigned himself to a life of loneliness, silence and dire poverty. Mattie, Zenna’s cousin, comes to help take care of her and Ethan fell in love with her. He wanted to use her to fill the void that was never fulfilled by marrying Zenna, or he blames her for his miserable life and wanted to get back at her. Either way Ethan again makes a terrible choice.
Ethan first came to the writer’s attention when one day he noticed him at the post office. The narrator, who was an engineer, had come to Starkfield to work on the project. He describes Frome as “the most striking figure in Starkfield” (Wharton 3). The narrator sees in Ethan something that he had not seen in any other man since he came to Starkfield. He began to make inquiries, and the townspeople failed to give him information. Their seemingly reluctance to talk about Ethan, made him even more curious. Harmon Gow provided a little bit of information that led the narrator to ask what was meant by the “smash-up”. Ethan had foolishly fallen in love with Mattie and had allowed her to manipulate him into committing suicide with her. That was they would be together forever since they could not bear the thought of being away from each other. The narrator asked Harmon, “It was a pretty bad smash-up?” (Wharton 5)
Ethan Frome failed because he was weak. “most of the smart ones get away,” (Wharton 18) In his time he represents the typical youth who has big dreams but did not know how to take action that would allow him to fulfil those dreams. He allows his heart rather than his mind to lead him and makes mistakes after mistakes that only compound his situation. Edith Wharton uses different devices to reveal the character’s past and to allow the reader to understand the reason for Ethan’s present condition. Isolation is another recurring theme in the novel. Ethan tried to escape his father’s farm and the dreary and unexciting life that a village offers but he finds himself back home. He is inextricably linked to the farm and the life of the rural folk. He marries, but lives in isolation because he soon finds out that his wife has nothing to offer him but a life of misery and constant complaining. Ethan is isolated from the outside world, he does not receive love from his wife and so he seeks love from Mattie. It was hard to believe that a man like Ethan Frome would allow anyone to influence his thoughts and his behaviour.
Like many of his ancestors Ethan Frome was trapped. He, like his ancestors, was born on a farm where they spend their whole life working. They remained poor and could only dream of escaping. Ethan’s move is an example of breaking away from the poverty stricken life but did not have the will to remain there. Education too was not the most important item on the agenda. Things were changing but people were reluctant to embrace the technological change. Ethan’s subsequent withdrawal from school represents those kinds of persons. “I have been told that Frome was poor, the sawmill and the arid areas..scarcely enough to keep his household” (Wharton 8). Ethan made the decision to stay and take care of Zenna, convincing himself that he could not leave her because she suffered from physical and psychological weaknesses. This was really a sign on his part that he was mentally weak and lacked the will-power to rise above his circumstances.
He was smart and intelligent, so what was preventing him from making it in life? If he was not married he would be like the narrator. So what led him to do that? According to society’s expectations Ethan is expected to care for his wife. It was not the right thing for him. He was cultured to behave a certain way and probably to please, but in doing so he pays the price for not doing what he wants to do. Ethan allows Zenobia to control him. From the outset she was the one who ruled the household. Ethan fall prey to his cousin probably because he thought that he could not live without a woman after his mother died. His taking of her tells us that he was afraid to venture out to seek a wife. He marries his cousin knowing full well that this constitutes incest. It is possible that that was the norm so he was just doing what society expects of him. He had to repay Zenobia for her kindness. She uses her illness to manipulate Ethan and his softheartedness could not let him abandon her. Mattie and Ethan manipulated each other too. She needed somewhere to live as her parents had died and he needed comfort. They both used each other to their own selfish end. The silence in the novel echoes Ethan’s isolation from civilization.
Although he was a quiet man by nature he barely exchanged words with the rest of the villagers. “But everyone in Starkfield knew himgreeting tempered to his own grave mein.” (Wharton 5). Ethan lives with two women who live in a world of their own. Their only means of communication are their constant complaining. Ethan plunges into a world of silence. Even though he is in love with Mattie there is no verbal interaction between them. The choices that Ethan has made and those he is unable to control, all combine to make his life a sad experience.
The setting is as its name implies, and is especially cruel to those persons who live there. Its harsh climate is unkind to the inhabitants and leaves them frigid and cold and hopeless. It is boring and the land is barren. Its inhabitants find it hard to eke out a meagre living The harsh winter is a hinderance to many of the villagers. It prevents them from planting crops on the farm. “under a sheet of snow perpetually renewed from the pale skies” (Wharton 7).There is snow all year. It prevents the residents from leaving. It is preventing Ethan and his family from leaving also. Since he cannot plant any crops he will not be able to earn enough money to go back to school. Winter signifies disappointment, trouble and misfortune. All these surround Ethan’s life.
The harsh winter climate destroys not only the townspeople, but also their possessions. Winter is symbolic of death and old age. The landscape is dead and the few scraggly trees are symbols of barrenness. Man’s soul is dead, the land is dead, so too are the houses within which the inhabitants live. Ethan points out to the narrator that he had had to remove a portion of the structure. The narrator sees this as symbolic of Ethan himself. The house depicts confinement and isolation. It keeps everyone in and shelters them from the harsh climate yet it acts as a deterrent to communication.
Ethan and the citizens of Starkfield did not embrace the new change that was coming. To them technology did not have an impact on their lives. Technology could have helped them to begin to cultivate the land. The young people showed no interest, and the old was too set in their ways to embrace it. Ethan could have been the one to bring the change to Starkfield. The contractor realized that Ethan was intelligent when he offered to lend him he book of bio-chemistry. Even that showed he had lost or given up hope when Harmon asked him if that sort of thing interest him. He replied not really.
Ethan has to live with the choices he makes. He is strong and intelligent. A man who has seen the outside world yet he allowed circumstances to get the better of him. He allows society to dictate his happiness and in turn ends up being the unhappy one. Ethan did what he thought was morally right or what he thought society would applaud but in doing so he stood in his own way of happiness. He was too giving and softhearted and he paid the consequences. Ethan acted as if he was guilty, and would be blamed for going away from Starkfield to make a living for himself. Edith Wharton uses the character of Ethan to represent the typical American who thinks that he or she has an obligation to family first and foremost and then to the country to stay linked to the land. Ethan stayed and tried to make a living from the land but it consumed him instead. The land beckons and Ethan answers. He is weakened by what he thought was love. If Mattie truly loved him she would not have suggested suicide. She would have asked him to run away with her and together their new life would represent the determination of a new people, a new set of Americans who does not allow them self to be bound by the past.
Ethan remained bound by the rules of society. The writer uses Ethan to show that when people are going against the rules of society they themselves become trapped by those rules. Ethan had to stay bound to his marriage vows. He did not see anything wrong to be in love with another woman as long as he stays married to his wife. So he weaves the web deception and thinks that it would work. The rules of society however had him bound and he could not escape the inevitable.
Works Cited
http://lisasliterarylife.com/2012/01/01/ethan-frome-by-edith-wharton/ web. Retrieved 2014
http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/frome/canalysis.html web, Retrieved June 2014
Steinbach, Lori. How are the major themes in Edith Wharton’s Novel displayed in John Madden
film version. November 12, 2013
http://www.enotes.com/homework-help/how-major-themes-whartons-novel-ethan-frome-
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Thompson, Mary. ‘Ethan Frome’ by Edith Wharton Setting Analysis. September 2011.
http://www.studymode.com/essays/Ethan-Frome-By-Edith-Wharton-Setting-784224.html
Wharton, Edith. ‘Ethan Frome’. Dover Thrift Edition. New York 1991
