Ethan Frome

1. Ethan Frome Eyanna Gruver

2. About Ethan Frome Title- Ethan Frome Author- Edith Wharton Genre- Tragic romance Date of Publication- 1911 Point of View- First person/Third person limited Setting- Late nineteenth to early twentieth century Starkfield, Massachusetts

3. About the Author Born Edith Newbold Jones Born (supposedly) January 24, 1862 in New York, New York Came from an upper-class New York family Had a distant relationship with parents Married Edward Wharton at the age of twenty-three in 1885 It was an unhappy and loveless marriage, which led to a divorce in 1913 Kept Edward’s surname Frequently wrote about unhappy marriages due to her own unsuccessful marriage

4. Major Characters • Ethan Frome • Role- Main protagonist • Background Info- • pursued studies in science after high school, but his father's death and his mother's illness forced him back to Starkfield • married Zeena after his mother died out of loneliness • stirred back to life by the arrival of Mattie Silver, Zeena's cousin. • sledding accident with Mattie, which was an attempted suicide, resulted in his physical disability • Description- “the ruin of a man”, thoughtful, sensitive, and extremely unhappy with his life

5. Major Characters • Zenobia “Zeena” Frome • Role- Main antagonist • Background Info- • came to take care of Ethan’s mother while she was ill • married Ethan shortly after his mother’s death • became sickly and bitter after her marriage to Ethan • seven years older than Ethan • Description- hypochondriac, already looks like an old woman, bitter, unattractive, cold, unhappy, whines and complains constantly

6. Major Characters • Mattie Silver • Role- Main antagonist • Background Info- • Zeena’s cousin • an orphan with nowhere to go • came to Starkfield to be Zeena's help • after the sledding accident with Ethan, she becomes completely handicapped and as ill-tempered as Zeena. • Description- beautiful, has a sweet disposition, cheerful, and understanding

7. Minor Characters • The Narrator • Basic Info- • Remains nameless • An engineer working on a job at the power-house at Corbury Junction • a stranger to Starkfield; doesn’t actually witness the events, only retells them from eye witnesses • rents a room in Starkfield from Mrs. Ned Hale • hires Ethan Frome to transport him to and from the train station • Harmon Gow • Basic Info- • retired stagecoach driver and resident of Starkfield • provides The Narrator with information about Ethan Frome's life

8. Minor Characters • Mrs. Ned Hale (Ruth Varnum) • Basic Info- • a middle-aged widow • became a close friend of Mattie’s before the sledding accident • hesitant to talk to The Narrator about Ethan, Zeena, and Mattie • Dennis Eady • Basic Info- • once was a womanizing and smug young man who tried to pursue Mattie • is now a wealthy grocer • Jotham Powell • Basic Info- • a hired man at the Frome farm

9. Novel Structure • Frame story • A “frame story” is a story within a story. • Introduction and conclusion take place twenty years later than then the rest of the story. • Both the introduction and conclusion are told from the point of view of The Narrator, first person. The other chapters are told from Ethan’s point of view, third person limited.

10. Plot Summary • The novel begins when the narrator of the novel notices a crippled, frail, sad-looking man in town, whose name is Ethan Frome. The narrator meets Ethan when the man who drives him to the local train station is unable to take him and another townsman suggests that the narrator ask Ethan to drive. • Ethan has been driving the narrator back and forth for a while until one winter day, huge amounts of snow block their path. Ethan invites the narrator to his home on his farm to stay the night. • At the Frome farm, the narrator then sees what makes him so miserable: the two women who live with him. One of the women, a tall, pale woman, is Zeena Frome, Ethan's wife. The other woman, who is severely crippled and paralyzed, is Mattie Silver, Zeena's cousin and Ethan's former lover. The narrator then begins to suspect the turn of events that led to the tragic fate of Ethan and Mattie.

11. Plot Summary • The novel then switches to – years in the past. • Young Ethan Frome goes to the town dance to walk his wife's cousin, Mattie Silver, home. • Ethan, Zeena, and Mattie are the only ones who occupy the Frome farm; Ethan's parents died four or five years ago. Mattie has come to Starkfield to help care for the ailing Zeena. Ethan has fallen for the sweet Mattie, so unlike the complaining and ungrateful Zeena, and is attracted to her vibrancy and emotion. • Ethan is jealous of Denis Eady's attraction to Mattie, and Zeena knows it. As Ethan walks Mattie home from the dance, they pass by the hill that people sled down and they both express their desire to sled down the hill. Mattie tells him that she does not want to leave town even if Zeena wants her to go.

12. Plot Summary • Zeena leaves Starkfield to see a doctor in a nearby town. Ethan makes an excuse - getting cash for the lumber they have - not to drive Zeena to the train station. After Zeena leaves, Ethan imagines what it would feel like to be married to Mattie, with just the two of them alone. This will be the first night Mattie and Ethan can be alone, without any interruptions from Zeena. • Ethan recalls his mother's final illness that led to her death - Zeena had come to the Frome farm to help care for Ethan's mother, and he married her out of loneliness. Their marriage had been rocky from the beginning - mostly due to Zeena's silent and cold manner. • Ethan goes to see Andrew Hale to see if Hale can give him money for the lumber, but Hale refuses.

13. Plot Summary • Ethan is even more attracted to Mattie, whose appearance is heightened by the red ribbon in her hair. • Mattie has prepared a warm supper for Ethan. They have a nice time until they mention Zeena's name and then the cat accidentally breaks Zeena's cherished pickle-dish, which they were not supposed to use without Zeena's permission. Mattie is inconsolable at the prospect of Zeena finding out about the broken dish. Ethan comes up with the idea to glue the pieces back together before Zeena can discover the broken dish. • Before Ethan can glue the broken dish back together, Zeena returns home. Zeena informs him that her doctor has told her to hire a new girl to do all the housework, for Mattie is not as efficient as Zeena wants her to be.

14. Plot Summary • Ethan is angered and dismayed at the thought of losing Mattie and at the thought of more unnecessary expenses for Zeena's care. Zeena, also enraged, tells him that she became sick from nursing his ill mother. • Ethan protests that he has no money to give the new girl, but Zeena asks him shrewdly about the money he supposedly received from the lumber. Ethan looks at Zeena in a new light, as she dismissively sends Mattie, her own relation, away without a care for the poor girl. Ethan tells Mattie that she must go. • When Zeena discovers the broken pieces of the pickle-dish, she yells at Mattie calling her a disgrace like her father. • Ethan thinks of running away to the West with Mattie, but his obligation to Zeena prevents him from leaving her in such a terrible position. The farm does not make much money, and he would not be able to support Mattie on such a small income even if they were to leave.

15. Plot Summary • He feels as if he is destined to stay in Starkfield forever; escape is impossible. The next day, the day Mattie is supposed to leave, Ethan tries to ask the Hales for money, but he is unable to lie to people who are truly sympathetic to his fate. • Ethan tells Zeena that he will take Mattie to the station himself. They are very much devastated at the thought of leaving each other. • They decide to take the sled ride that they used to talk about. Mattie suggests that they throw themselves in the path of the elm tree. They both agree that their lives are not worth living if they are separated. • They hit the elm tree with an unexpected result: they are both severely injured, but survive the crash. • Zeena takes the invalid Mattie in and cares for her; Ethan is crippled from the crash. Ethan's fate is tragic: he must live with the woman he hates, and the woman with whom he had a chance to live a happy life.

16. Plot Summary • The novel then switches back to the events of the introduction. The narrator has entered the Frome’s kitchen to see two women, one sitting in a chair and one preparing the meal. He realizes that the droning sound was coming from the woman sitting in the chair. Ethan introduces them to the narrator as Zeena and Mattie. • When the narrator returns to the Hales', Mrs. Hale is surprised to learn that he had spent the night at the Frome farm. She surmises that the narrator must have been the first stranger to stay in the Frome house for over twenty years, but confesses that it is always Ethan's face that gets to her the most, not the sight of the women. • Recalling when she saw the injured Mattie and Ethan right after their sled ride, she breaks down into tears for poor Mattie and Ethan. Zeena had both sent to the house so that she could care for them.

17. Themes • Society and morality as obstacles to one’s true desires: • Wharton doesn’t use a single positive adjective to describe Zeena while presenting Mattie as the epitome of glowing, youthful attractiveness. This is her way of making Ethan’s desire to cheat perfectly understandable. • The conflict occurs between his passions and the constraints placed on him by society. • Although he has one night alone with Mattie, he cannot help but be reminded of his domestic duties as he sits in his kitchen. • In the end, Ethan deals with the battle between his desires and his duty and obeys his societal duties as Zeena’shusaband. He abandons his dreams, life’s burdens, and life itself by giving up on being with Mattie.

18. Themes • Winter as a stifling force: • Ethan is first presented in the novel as having “been in Starkfield too many winters.” This suggests that souls like Ethan’s become emotionally affected by the six-month-long cold season that plagues Starkfield every year. • The narrator, who at first appreciates the winter’s lovliness at first, finds that the people of Starkfield spend much of the year in a state of seige by the elements. • The weather acts as a force of destiny. The inhabitants of Starkfield and Ethan himself all see the wintery climate as the force that grips them and keeps them there.

19. Motifs/Symbols • Illness and disability: • Ethan and those closest to him all suffer from some sort of sickness or disability. • He spends years before the novel’s events began tending to his sick mother with the help of Zeena. • After he and Mattie’s attempted sucide, he is forced to live life disfigured with a sick wife and the handicapped Mattie. • The character’s outer appearance reflects their inner state of destitution. • Snow and cold: • Snow and cold emphasize the novel’s major theme of winter as a stifling force.

20. Motifs/Symbols • Mattie’s red scarf and red ribbon: • Red is a color of vitality, life, and good health. All of these are things that Zeena lacks. • It also contrasts with the white, barren landscape of Starkfield that stifles and holds Ethan in its grasp. • It also represents the devil. Mattie’s scarlet adornments represent her role as Ethan’s temptress. • The cat and the pickle dish: • After the pickle dish is broken, the cat then seats itself in Zeena’s rocking chair. The cat serves as a reminder to Ethan and Mattie that no matter what, Zeena will always find out what happens between them. • The breaking of the pickle dish, a wedding present for Ethan and Zeena, represents the disintegration of their marriage. Zeena’s anguish over the broken dish shows her deeper anguish for her broken marriage.

21. Motifs/Symbols • The final sled run: • During the final sled run at the end of the novel, Ethan forfeits his ability to control and steer the sled. • His decision to coast during the sled run represents his inability to escape his dilemma through any kind of action. • This also parallels Ethan’s attitude toward his life: unable to face the consequences of any decision, he lets external circumstances—other individuals, society, landscapes—make his decisions for him. • Mattie’s proposal of suicide is particularly appealing to him because it eliminates all consequences for both of them forever.

22. Important Quotes • “Guess he's been in Starkfield too many winters.” –introduction, p.9 • The novella makes a strong argument that something in the very land is holding Ethan back. That's why we think that Starkfield is, among other things, a symbol of anything that can hold a person back from self expression and enjoyment of life. • “Somebody had to stay and care for the folks. There warn't ever anybody but Ethan. Fust his father-then his mother-then his wife.” –introduction, p.11 • This is a big part of what makes Ethan a tragic hero. He couldn't abandon anyone in pain, and as a result he hurts himself and everyone else around him. This kind of loyalty interferes with all his dreams. • “Deep silence had fallen with the starless dusk, and they leaned on each other without speaking; but at every step of their climb Ethan said to himself: ‘It's the last time we'll ever walk together.‘” –chapter 9, p.127 • Ethan's thought takes on bitter irony when we see that after that night Mattie will never walk again. This is a classic example of foreshadowing.