Ideal Gender Roles In Ethan Frome By Edith Wharton

Light wind whistles throughout the cold mountain air as the snow starts to fall and piles up higher than the tall peaks. The winter gloom is starting to settle in when the log cabin fires start to crackle. Trapped in their homes, people start to become claustrophobic and ill. Resentment builds between families, and tensions can be cut with a knife. This eerie scene is somewhat identical to Edith Wharton’s Ethan Frome. Born in New York City, Wharton’s most famous works center around uncomfortable and unaccepted circumstances of society in the late 1800s (Anderson). Ethan Frome follows suit by telling the unfortunate life story of a man named Ethan Frome. Frome is surrounded by misfortune his whole life, starting with the death of his father. Putting his entire life on hold, he goes home to his mother only for her to fall ill shortly after. After his mother dies, Ethan turns to the arms of his mother 's caretaker, …show more content…
Not only are all the characters isolated by the harsh mountains and inconvenient weather, but they are also isolated by society’s ideal gender roles. Mattie, in the story, was raised on an idea similar to the Cult of Domesticity. The Cult of Domesticity revolves around the idea that women should remain pure, submissive, and domestic (Abbott). A woman’s role is to be at home, taking care of the family and setting an example for all other people. Mattie tries to live up to these expectations, but her unfortunate luck gets in the way of that. The only reason Mattie comes to help aid Zeena is because she lived in poverty. Zeena looked at this as an opportunity to push Mattie around. What Zeena does not realize is that Mattie strays from the normal model of a woman. Even though Mattie is sharp and learns quickly, she often fails to do all of her expected work. After the accident, however, she definitely can not fulfil Zeena wishes and Zeena is forced to conform into an ideal woman