Jessica Howze
AP Literature
Adams
16 December 2016
2nd 9 Weeks Essay Harmon Gow said of Ethan in Ethan Frome, “how could any combination of obstacles have hindered the flight of a man like Ethan?” In Ethan Frome, the main character Ethan is stuck in the town of Starkfield. The question of why he hasn’t left is a main theme in the novel. The combination of this theme and the motif of illness and disability hinder Ethan’s flight from the town of Starkfield. Everyone in Ethan’s life suffers from an illness or a disability in some point in his life. Before the beginning of the novel< Ethan is caring for his sick mother. This keeps him in Starkfield because he and his wife, Zeena feel the responsibility to care for his ailing mother. After the …show more content…
Characters in the novel complain about the cold a lot and the main climax of the story, when Ethan and Mattie try to commit suicide, is based around a winter activity. The result of this action and, indirectly, the result of the winter is a reason that Ethan is held back in Starkfield. Throughout the novel the description of the cold and the winter in general becomes more and more miserable. Ethan Frome’s house is describe in a very depressing way at the beginning of the novel. “Beyond the orchard lay a field or two, their boundaries lost under drifts; and above the fields, huddled against the white immensities of land and sky one of those lonely New England farm-houses that make the landscape lonelier…The snow had ceased, and a flash of watery sunlight exposed the house on the slope above us in all its plaintive ugliness.” The description of the house in the winter time adds to the already depressing description because it adds an element of lifelessness. The reason that Ethan doesn’t leave Starkfield is an endless cycle of misfortunate events much like the endless cycle of the seasons throughout the
AP Literature
Adams
16 December 2016
2nd 9 Weeks Essay Harmon Gow said of Ethan in Ethan Frome, “how could any combination of obstacles have hindered the flight of a man like Ethan?” In Ethan Frome, the main character Ethan is stuck in the town of Starkfield. The question of why he hasn’t left is a main theme in the novel. The combination of this theme and the motif of illness and disability hinder Ethan’s flight from the town of Starkfield. Everyone in Ethan’s life suffers from an illness or a disability in some point in his life. Before the beginning of the novel< Ethan is caring for his sick mother. This keeps him in Starkfield because he and his wife, Zeena feel the responsibility to care for his ailing mother. After the …show more content…
Characters in the novel complain about the cold a lot and the main climax of the story, when Ethan and Mattie try to commit suicide, is based around a winter activity. The result of this action and, indirectly, the result of the winter is a reason that Ethan is held back in Starkfield. Throughout the novel the description of the cold and the winter in general becomes more and more miserable. Ethan Frome’s house is describe in a very depressing way at the beginning of the novel. “Beyond the orchard lay a field or two, their boundaries lost under drifts; and above the fields, huddled against the white immensities of land and sky one of those lonely New England farm-houses that make the landscape lonelier…The snow had ceased, and a flash of watery sunlight exposed the house on the slope above us in all its plaintive ugliness.” The description of the house in the winter time adds to the already depressing description because it adds an element of lifelessness. The reason that Ethan doesn’t leave Starkfield is an endless cycle of misfortunate events much like the endless cycle of the seasons throughout the