Essay On The Use Of Imagery In Wharton's Ethan Frome

The novel Ethan Frome by Edith Wharton has an extensive amount of imagery, many scenes are accompanied by descriptions of the bitter winter that encompasses the town. Even the name of the town that the characters inhabit, “Starkfield”, contributes to this imagery. In the novel, Ethan Frome is no longer in love with his wife, Zeena, but now yearns for her younger cousin, Mattie Silver. During the harsh winter that the main story takes place in, Mattie is a warm and comforting presence to Ethan in contrast to his ill wife who seems as cold as the weather described by the author. Each winter scene described can also be interpreted as one of the many reminders Ethan has of his wife’s presence and the marriage he feels is an inescapable prison. A Significant pattern of this winter imagery is how whenever Ethan can be alone with Mattie the atmosphere is somewhat warm and sweet, even though the cold winter is still prevalent. These scenes contrast with any other scene where Zeena has a presence and the atmosphere becomes cold and tense. …show more content…
The man speaking means to say that Ethan has had to deal with the freezing winters for far too long, which have given him a harsh and “dead” look as described by the narrator: “...He looks as if he was dead and in hell now!”(13). However the “winters” he has seen too many of could also stand for his bleak existence that consists of tending for his ill wife he feels doomed to live out the rest of his days with and a failing business that hardly provides for them. Any loveliness the author finds in the winter is quickly forgotten much like any desire Ethan might have had for