One of Ethan Frome’s centric ideas is that Ethan retreats from life into a vision. He escapes his reality to enjoy a few blissful moments in his dream, but never acts to make that dream come true. Harmon Gow says, “Guess he’s been in Starkfield too many winters. Most of the smart ones get away.”(Wharton 6) While having every reason to leave Starkfield and his querulous wife, Ethan doesn’t. Ethan’s moral and social values combined with his indecisiveness causes Ethan to retreat from life into a vision.
Ethan retreats into his vision to escape reality. He is a poor man tending to a hateful, sick wife. He lives in a cold, desolate town with a community that is indifferent at best. Ethan’s “vision” brings him happiness and escape from his cruel life. “Must he wear out all his years at the side of a bitter querulous woman? Other possibilities had been in him, possibilities sacrificed, one by one, to Zeena’s narrow-mindedness and ignorance. And what good had come from it?” (114). It is hard to blame Ethan for escaping into this vision. He truly does have a cruel life. …show more content…
He goes overboard in imagining things, imagining that everything will be okay. That simply isn’t the reality. He doesn’t act upon his dreams because he knows they will not work in the end. The man ruminates, “If he gave the farm and mill to Zeena what would be left to start his own life with? Once in the West he was sure of picking up work-he would have not feared to try his chance alone. But with Mattie depending on him the case was different. And what of Zeena’s fate? Farm and mill were mortgaged to the limit of their value, and even if she found a purchaser-in itself an unlikely chance- it was doubtful if she could clear a thousand dollars on the sale.” (115). This alone shows that a pleasant ending isn’t likely if Ethan chases his dreams. Frome escapes into his vision rather than making it come true because of the uncertainty and lack of control that comes with
Ethan retreats into his vision to escape reality. He is a poor man tending to a hateful, sick wife. He lives in a cold, desolate town with a community that is indifferent at best. Ethan’s “vision” brings him happiness and escape from his cruel life. “Must he wear out all his years at the side of a bitter querulous woman? Other possibilities had been in him, possibilities sacrificed, one by one, to Zeena’s narrow-mindedness and ignorance. And what good had come from it?” (114). It is hard to blame Ethan for escaping into this vision. He truly does have a cruel life. …show more content…
He goes overboard in imagining things, imagining that everything will be okay. That simply isn’t the reality. He doesn’t act upon his dreams because he knows they will not work in the end. The man ruminates, “If he gave the farm and mill to Zeena what would be left to start his own life with? Once in the West he was sure of picking up work-he would have not feared to try his chance alone. But with Mattie depending on him the case was different. And what of Zeena’s fate? Farm and mill were mortgaged to the limit of their value, and even if she found a purchaser-in itself an unlikely chance- it was doubtful if she could clear a thousand dollars on the sale.” (115). This alone shows that a pleasant ending isn’t likely if Ethan chases his dreams. Frome escapes into his vision rather than making it come true because of the uncertainty and lack of control that comes with