Comparing Ethan Frome And Roman Fever, By Edith Wharton

Edith Wharton was a brilliant author who wrote many prominent pieces in her lifespan. She used many techniques which enriched her works, such as incorporating the environment into the famous readings. The way she described the environment gave the reader a visual interpretation of the situation. Wharton’s way of demonstrating the setting elaborately, is shown in her novel Ethan Frome and short story “Roman Fever.” In both, she uses descriptive imagery which brings the reader into the story.
In Ethan Frome, Wharton describes the setting in a way that brings you there. She uses pieces from the environment as images to give a grand visual. The setting is described in immense detail. Wharton described the harsh Starkfield winters, and compared them to the main character, Ethan Frome. Her words while introducing Ethan Frome into the novella were, "I simply felt that he lived in a depth of moral isolation too remote for casual access, and I had the sense that his loneliness was not merely the result of his personal plight, tragic as I guessed that to be, but had in it, as Harmon Glow had hinted, the …show more content…
She used the coliseum and Roman environment as symbols to enrich her story. Many times throughout the story, while they sat on the terrace reminiscing, the ancient ruins they were looking out at were mentioned. Alida Slade was often glancing at the colosseum which reminded her of many things, especially the past and how Grace Ansley became very ill from going there. Wharton uses the environment, which is the coliseum to mend her story. She uses it as a symbol. In history it was a place where men fought. When Grace and Alida had spent their time there, where their relationship and enmity both began. They had been viewing the most beautiful view in the world, the ancient ruins in Rome, which had symbolized their collapsing