Names For Ethan Frome

Front 1

Ethan Frome

Back 1

Theprotagonist of the story, Ethan is a farmer whose family has livedand died on the same Massachusetts farm for generations. A sensitivefigure, Ethan has a deep, almost mystical appreciation of nature,and he feels a strong connection to the youth, beauty, and vitalspirit of Mattie Silver, his wife’s cousin. However, he ultimatelylacks the inner strength necessary to escape the oppressive forcesof convention, climate, and his sickly wife.

Front 2

Zenobia Frome

Back 2

Ethan’ssickly wife, more commonly known as “Zeena.” She comes across asprematurely aged, caustic in temperament, prone to alternating fitsof silence and rage, and utterly unattractive, making her the novel’sleast sympathetic figure. She is acutely interested in the treatmentof her own illness, displaying a degree of hypochondria (imaginedillness or minor symptoms secretly relished and exaggerated by thepatient). Despite Zeena’s apparent physical weakness, she, not Ethan,holds the dominant position in their household.

Front 3

Mattie Silver

Back 3

Zeena’scousin, who comes to assist the Fromes with their domestic tasks.Attractive, young, and energetic, Mattie becomes the object of Ethan’s affection,and reciprocates his infatuation. Because the reader sees Mattieonly through Ethan’s own lovesick eyes, Mattie never truly emergesas a well-rounded character. She often seems more a focus for Ethan’s rebellionagainst Zeena and Starkfield than an actual flesh-and-blood personwith both strengths and weaknesses.

Front 4

The Narrator

Back 4

Althoughhe recounts the story’s events, the narrator (an engineer by profession)plays no part in the story itself. That he remains nameless highlightsthe thinness of his character. As a stranger to Starkfield, he viewsEthan Frome’s story with fresh eyes and operates as a conduit betweenthe closely guarded story of Frome’s tragedy and the reader in theworld outside the novel.

Front 5

Denis Eady

Back 5

theson of Starkfield’s rich Irish grocer, Michael Eady, and sometime-suitorof Mattie Silver. Denis is the focus of Ethan’s jealousy in thenovel’s early chapters, before Ethan learns of Mattie’s true feelings.

Front 6

Mrs. Ned Hale

Back 6

Widowof Ned Hale and landlady to the unnamed narrator. The narrator describesMrs. Hale as more refined and educated than most of her neighbors. Althoughshe was once intimate with the Fromes, she hesitates to discusstheir plight with her inquisitive lodger.

Front 7

Ned Hale

Back 7

RuthVarnum’s fiancé and later her husband. Ned and Ruth’s romance contrastswith the fruitless love of Ethan and Mattie. Ned has died by thetime the narrator comes to Starkfield.

Front 8

Andrew Hale

Back 8

Ned’sfather, Andrew Hale is an amiable builder involved in regular businessdealings with the young Ethan. When Ethan requests that Hale extendhim an advance on a lumber load, Hale is forced to politely refuse,citing his own financial constraints. Nevertheless, Ethan (mistakenly)continues to regard him as a possible source of a loan.

Front 9

Mrs. Andrew Hale

Back 9

Ned’s mother and Andrew’s wife, Mrs. Hale extendsan unexpected degree of warmth to Ethan after encountering him bychance one winter afternoon. Her kindness and praise for his dedicationto Zeena lead Ethan to reevaluate his decision to borrow money from AndrewHale to elope with Mattie.

Front 10

Jotham Powell

Back 10

Thehired man on the Frome farm. Powell’s main duty is to assist Ethanin the cutting, loading, and hauling of lumber. Markedly reticent,Powell is sensitive to the tensions between the Fromes but loath toinvolve himself in them.

Front 11

Harmon Gow

Back 11

Aformer stage-driver and town gossip. Gow provides the narrator witha scattering of details about Ethan Frome’s life and later suggeststhat the narrator hire Ethan as a driver, paving the way for the relationshipthrough which the narrator learns Ethan’s story.