Edith Wharton

In the novels, The Age of Innocence written by Edith Wharton and The Call of the Wild written by Jack London, there are two main characters that change entirely as the novels progress. These characters are reshaped by outside events that bring out their true inner selves that were hidden away because of their specific societies. The impact of external events and actions are what make these characters in the end. Newland Archer from The Age of Innocence, began as a man made from society norms. He…

Naturalist have a problem with realism as they (naturalist) want to shift the focus on natural forces and how it shapes human life beyond human control. Going back to The Norton Anthology of American Literature, Edith Wharton was one to “push towards” naturalism in her writings; “Edith Wharton’s view of high society pushed toward naturalism in its sense that the rich could sometimes seem as much victims of natural forces as the poor. We see both realism and naturalism in her works, such as, in…

writers have illustrated the harsh and inhumane nature that reality has to offer to the world. Authors such as Jack London, Edith Wharton, and Elizabeth Bishop have expressed this topic through their works of literature, demonstrating what reality has to offer. Jack London conveys naturalism and realism to illustrate that nature does not care about the plight of man. Edith Wharton uses irony to show that you can not run away from your struggles and Elizabeth Bishop uses symbolism to convey that…

Molly Howard 12/3/15 American Lit. H Period H Ethan Frome by Edith Wharton Study Guide Questions Beginning of Chapter 2: 1. The narrator learns from the other characters that Ethan Frome is about 52 years old, he is stuck in Starkfield, Massachusetts to take care of his sick wife Zeena, and he has been in an accident about 24 years ago and has a scar on the right side of his face. Knowing this information makes the narrator want to know more about Ethan. 2. Ethan’s house is…

character. or even the reader that has a different view. People interpret stories in different ways and this gives us an understanding about perspective reading because it is important to think about both sides of an argument. In “Roman Fever” by Edith Wharton both Mrs. Slade and Mrs. Ansley have separate opinions about each other which allows the reader to make observations about those characters, but still see them differently. An example of how someone could see a text in an interesting way…

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…

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…

Humans are easily influenced by what they feel and see. In “Roman Fever” by Edith Wharton, two of the most intense emotions explored are jealousy and love. Through two distinct characters and through descriptive setting, the idea that jealousy and love are polar emotions is evident throughout the story. The tale depicts an image in which, where love perseveres, jealousy fails. Roman Fever begins by introducing the two women from which the story revolves around. The first is Alida…