Edith Wharton

Biography Edith Wharton was born in to a society of aristocrats who accurately represented “old” New York; her family was wealthy, intellectual, and rigidly conventional (Bruce). She was educated by tutors and governesses about proper manners, dress, and lifestyle. She was expected to excel in her aristocratic society and was not allowed to read literature—a rule that she broke frequently by obtaining classics from her father’s bookshelves. Her childhood ended with her father’s death in March of 1892. Attempting to adhere to her customary expectations, she married a social elite at the age of twenty-three. Her husband was a wealthy Boston banker, who led an affluent social life in America that was uninterrupted by children or financial concerns.…

Changing society in any way takes intellectual curiosity and immense bravery. Sadly, these characteristics were not all too admired during the Gilded Age. The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton features characters that contrast with the constricting ideas of this period and embrace the boldness of the heart and the head (up to a point). Although it was a time in American history where a lucky few flourished, this era lacked depth especially where its values were concerned and Wharton’s prose…

Edith Wharton led one of the most privileged lives of any major American novelists. She lived free of money worries because of inherited income. She had houses in rich areas, passions for gardens and interior decoration, toured Europe in cars and yachts, and despised second-class hotels (Franzen). Wharton lived a high profile life unlike any other authors, a comfortable life that most people today want to live. She came from a long line of important names in the American, specifically the New…

In her task of characterizing Zeena as selfish and shrewd wharton recounts Zeena and Ethan's marriage and how their plans for the future are ultimately forgotten. After his mother's death and subsequent marriage to Zeena they both agree to try and sell the farm and move to a big city. It sounds like a good plan except, not only has no one bought the farm, but Zeena will be impossible to move. “She chose to look down on starkfield, but she could not have lived in a place which looked down on…

The book titled ‘Age of Innocence’, by Edith Wharton, is set during the late 1800s in New York after the First World War. This era was one of rapid change, which was a good catalyst in shaping the direction of the novel. It was a time of social distinction, emerging rich industrialist, new money and fashion excess. Wharton uses Newland as the limited-omniscient third person as he is the very expression of what the society of the day represents. He is well bred, understands and respects his role…

Their purpose: entertain the men. The novel, The House of Mirth, by Edith Wharton, contains several characters which represent the women of this time period well; one being Miss Lily Bart. Lily clearly understands her role of a woman. “Who wants a dingy woman? We are expected to be pretty and well-dressed till we drop- and if we can’t keep it up alone, we have to go into partnership” (Wharton 8). Lily feels that she is trapped in the position she is in. Young women were under much pressure to…

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 tool to allow him to begin a new and exciting life. However, Zeena soon fell…

Research Paper Ethan Frome Often times in literature, characters are depicted being lonely. Edith Wharton compelling novel, “Ethan Frome” is one such piece. Wharton’s portrayal of Ethan suggests that loneliness cause people to be heartbroken and isolated. Such illness can lead to physical and mental health issues. Throughout the novel, Wharton focuses on loneliness as a major theme. Ethan Frome is a very complex man. Ethan was aggravating to make a living for himself through farming, while…

The novel “Ethan Frome” by Edith Wharton is set in the fictional town of Starkfield, Massachusetts in the early 1900s. The story is told from a third person view of an engineer working a job at Corbury Junction and tells the story with a rather gloomy mood. Hard-working and young twenty-one-year-old Ethan Frome marries a slightly older twenty-eight-year-old Zeena Frome who watched over and cared for Ethan’s mother before she died. Following the death of his mother, Ethan desperately wanted to…

Ethan Frome, a fiction novel written by Edith Wharton relies on the setting of Starkfield, Massachusets to shape its inhabitants’ lives, their behaviors, and decisions. Starkfield provides a cold, lonely, and dark, isolated atmosphere, allowing Wharton to portray the characters in the novel as miserable and feeling trapped. The characters’ lives become unwanted, broken records similar to the continuous and never changing setting and climate of Starkfield. The use of imagery illustrated in the…