Edith Wharton

Grace had was the one letter that Delphin did not even write himself. However, Grace responds by saying, “I had Barbara” (Wharton 836). This is a very abrupt and shocking final statement. In the article “’I Had Barbara’: Women’s Ties and Wharton’s Roman Fever”, Rachel Bowlby writes, “The scandalous information then appears to sort out several doubts and suspicions that Wharton has carefully planted during the course of the narrative” (38). Alida had always envied Grace’s daughter Barbara and…

Introduction: Set in the 1890's in New York City, Edith Wharton's novel, The House of Mirth demonstrates the characters', specifically the women's' desire to gain freedom, safety and independence in New York city where "the rich got much richer, and the poor got much poorer". As Wharton herself said "Decidedly, I’m a better landscape gardener than novelist," therefore using the imagery of houses to not only illustrate the themes of freedom, safety and independence, but also to give the reader a…

Ethan Frome by Edith Wharton is a love story that shows the development of a love triangle in the early 1900's. The story shows the development of deep feelings that Ethan begins to have for a woman that isn't his wife. Edith Wharton chose one of her main themes in the novel to be about alienation and isolation. One of the factors that contributes to the theme of isolation is the setting. Ethan Frome takes place in the rural town Starkfield, Massachusetts. Starkfield has always been a very…

As the story opens Grace begins knitting something from red crimson silk. Grace is described as “small and pale,” which contrasts with the color and quality of her knitting, placing importance upon it (Wharton 1). The crimson silk represents Grace’s internal passion and the knitting represents the tangled, interwoven lives of the two women. When Alida reveals that she knows that Grace went to meet Delphin Grace’s knitting “slid in a panic-stricken heap…

officials and are treated belligerently for their actions. Similar things occurred during the ages of Romanticism and American Transcendentalism during the times the novels The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorn and The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton were set to take place. The female protagonists, Hester Prynne and Countess Ellen Olenska, face degradation from their societies. These women and their battles with their communities are what tells their stories as Hester Prynne and Ellen…

widespread suspicion, and most often murder.Though the short story “The Eyes” and the novel And Then There Were None were written by very different people they share a similar gothic theme. Agatha Christie, author of And Then There Were None, and Edith Wharton, author of “The Eyes,” use the element of mystery in their writing. Both stories have a heavy amount of foreshadowing, yet these stories deeply contrast against one another as well. In Christie’s novel she uses the present tense to paint…

lasted until 1910. While it is said to be the byproduct of Realism, the Naturalism movement overlapped the Realism movement, thus creating an unique type of “realistic” fiction. Naturalism brought a wave of new writers such as: Jack London, Edith Wharton, John Steinbeck, and perhaps the most influential Stephen Crane. Stephen Crane is credited with “establishing the foundations of the American Naturalism Movement.” Crane born in Newark, New Jersey in 1871, was the youngest of fourteen…

Roman Fever: Gender Criticism and Deconstructionist Criticism “Roman Fever” written by Edith Wharton is a very realistic story that takes place in Rome, the main characters in the story are women. This story is able to incorporate relationships between women, mothers and daughters, and women’s sexuality. Wharton is able to identify and develop the characters’ connections not only as American women, but what dangers they may have faced as young women in Rome. While most critics would write…

In this scene of Edith Wharton’s novella Ethan Frome, he recalls his conversation with Mrs. Hale. Initially, this conversation provides Ethan some clarity about his ongoing internal conflict with his passions and obligations. In Ethan’s perspective, Zeena is becoming more of an unbearable burden, as she had become an “evil energy” that “had mastered him” (Wharton 50). Isolating him, Ethan looks to find comfort in Mattie, who has an emotional relationship. Hence, Ethan feels the need to run away…

Alone in the living room, Ethan Frome thought, “the return to reality was as painful as the return to consciousness after taking an anesthetic” (Wharton 52). This thought was born while Zeena was away, leaving Ethan and Mattie alone to decipher the future of their desired relationship. In Edith Wharton’s Ethan Frome, the character of Ethan Frome has deliberately sacrificed his love for Mattie in an attempt to preserve his shattered marriage with Zeena, illuminating the prevalence of social…