This paper discusses three of the important scenes that occurred when the characters in Ethan Frome were in darkness.
The first scene in darkness setting happened at the start of the story. It was midnight and Ethan Frome was walking along Starkfield Streets. He stopped at a place where a dance was happening. Ethan took a view of the event. As the crowd dispersed, Denis Eady went back to the dance floor and the music went on again. In this scene, Ethan draws his focus on Mattie Silver, cousin of Zeena, Ethan’s wife. Mattie worked as a housekeeper of Fromes for a year. Ethan is quite attached to Mattie because they both share the same love for nature.
The next scene happened as Mattie went home. Eady offered to bring Mattie home but she refused. Ethan saw everything. As Mattie traverses the dark path of the hill, he jumped in to Mattie and surprised her with his presence. Together, they walked the road until they reached the sledding section of the hill. In this scene, there is an apparent mystical friendship between Mattie and Ethan. Ethan has some feelings of infatuation towards his wife’s cousin. Zeena has suspicions about her husband’s feelings so to keep the two from running away, Zeena told her husband that the doctor ordered for her not to be alone.
The third scene happened in a lamp lit room. Ethan was in a rocking chair and he called Mattie to keep him company. But in the dark room, Mattie felt uneasy. So, she stood and went her way to the kitchen. Nonetheless, Ethan did his best to lighten up the mood until they started to become at ease with other again. When the conversation provokes intimacy, both Mattie and Ethan avoided the subject.
These scenes illustrate how intimate moments and awkwardness of emotions may happen between two individuals who feel the same way for each other but are bounded by each other’s respective partners, Ethan with Zeena while Mattie with other men.
Works Cited
Bernard, Kenneth. "Imagery and symbolism in Ethan Frome." College English(1961): 178-184.
Wharton, Edith, Kristin O Lauer, and Cynthia Griffin Wolff. Ethan Frome. 1st ed. New York: W.W. Norton, 1995. Print.
