Edith Frank-Holländer

In the case of Ethan Frome, the fictional protagonist highlighted in the novel Ethan Frome by Edith Wharton, life had never been able to live up to his expectations. Frome aspired to escape his dreary hometown of Starkfield, Massachusetts and distinguish himself in a big city as an engineer, but these dreams were put on hold when his mother fell ill and Frome was left to care for her. When Frome met Zeena, a fellow caregiver of his mother and his future wife, he saw that she could be the perfect…

An Analysis of Ethan Frome 's Predisposition to Defeat In Edith Wharton 's novel Ethan Frome, a crippling "smash up" coasting "accident" traps Ethan Frome and his wife Zenobia as well as his housemaid Mattie Silver in their bleak farmhouse for 24 years. Starkfield, a small city that has devastating winters, is where the story takes place. A city where anybody who lives there, does not have many opportunities. This can be seen in the book when Harmon Gow, an onlooker, says, "Guess he 's been in…

This paper will present how things change in Ethan Frome. I will mention about how the book jumps back and forth from future to the past and back to future. Then I will mention about the relationship between the characters in Ethan Frome. Next I will talk about the ending of the book. Lastly I will give my opinion about the book and if I would recommend this book to anyone. When you first star to read the book Ethan Frome it is in the future. The book starts off when a ‘visitor to Starkfield,…

Though they lived centuries apart from one another, Christopher McCandless and Henry David Thoreau both uncovered the importance of living simplistically by retreating to the woods. When Thoreau first arrived at the house that he was to be staying at by Walden Pond, the first thing he noted was that the house was quite dilapidated. The walls were stained by the weather and had quite a few holes in them, causing the nights to be cold. The house also had no plastering nor a chimney, and the entire…

occur early on or later in their journey. An author may elongate or stress the “journey” in order to create a climax where the tension between two characters reach a peak. An example of such a technique used by an author is the novel Ethan Frome by Edith Wharton. Although it does not state it explicitly in the text, one could infer that through Mattie’s actions and words, she at first is hesitant to love Ethan. It is only until the very end until Mattie sees that he is her true love and becomes…

Edith Wharton, author of “Ethan Frome,” wrote a twisted love story that ends tragically. Mattie Silver moves to Starkfield MA with her cousin, Zeena Frome and her husband Ethan Frome. She moves in with them in after her father dies. After a while, Mattie and Ethan fall in love. They try to commit suicide together and are unsuccessful and are permanently disabled. From the events that have taken place, Mattie Silver changes from taking care of others, to having to be taken care of. Mattie Silver…

from the House of Mirth, wants to have a happy life with “wealthy and true love” . However, she never gets what she needs even until the last day of her life. The main reason that leads to her tragedy is the society perspective. Written in 1905 by Edith Wharton, the House of Mirth depicts a full character of Lily - a twenty-nine years old lady. Lily is well conscious…

Ethan Frome takes place during the winter in the town of Starkfield and surrounding rural areas. The harsh winter is crucial to the development of characters in the novel and also to overall theme. The winter causes the characters to become isolated and make decisions that they would not normally make. For example, Ethan and Mattie make a rash decision when they decide to commit suicide by sledding into a tree rather than choosing to face their problems. The narrator describes winter in the…

Ethan’s desire to become an engineer ceases when he abandons his studies at Worcester in order to take care of his family. In Ethan’s younger years he takes a year’s course at a technological college at Worcester. While there, he experiments in the laboratory with friendly professors of physics. After his father’s death, Ethan has to “put a premature end to [his] studies,” to care for his sickly mother and manage the farm and saw-mill (24). Ethan’s mother falls ill of isolation of the house…

Independent Reading Quarter One Ethan Frome is a man with personal issues that come from his past experiences. The past experiences that he has faced have let a mark on him mentally that cannot be erased. From this stems his inner conflicts when it comes to desire and society. These inner personal conflicts can be connected as well with the main characters in the books “The Awakening” and “1984”. The internal conflicts that he faces in this novel are the direct result of society as it is in the…