The ending of the story ends in an unpredicted way; Ethan and Mattie try to commit suicide by running themselves into an elm tree while coasting. The attempt was a failure and Zeena was stuck caring for the two instead of her being the sick one. Wharton portrays the disastrous fate of the characters fairly in Ethan Frome because Ethan regrets marrying his wife after meeting
Ethan has always been one that put the needs of others before his own. He took care of his father, even though he wanted to leave Starkfield. Then, he took care of his mother with help from a woman named, Zeena, and because she helped him he decided that he owed her, so he married her. The setting of the novel is in Starkfield, during a cold winter. The climate foreshadows
The narrator is saying that he thought Ethan’s loneliness was caused from his personal problems and or difficulties. He was wrong. Ethan’s loneliness originates from the Starkfield winters. “He had often thought since that it would not have happened if his mother had died in spring instead of winter…” (29). Ethan married Zeena because he did not want to be lonely in the winter.
Like many individuals in today 's society, Ethan Frome merely wished to achieve his aspirations and pursue lifelong contentment. However, Frome 's over ambition created more complication than achievement. Frome processed many extraordinary qualities, such as his intelligence and benevolent nature. Though his moral character possessed merit and his actions were of good intent, this is what ultimately drove him to a tragic end. From early adulthood, Frome’s nature took precedence over him.
“Frome marries Zenobia Pierce, seven years his senior, who had nursed Mrs. Frome in her dying days (Davis 1).” He feels obligated to marry her because she devoted so much of her time to care for his mother. Once his mother dies, he would be left alone if not for Zeena. “It is this very sense of isolation that causes Ethan to marry Zeena-- he fears being left alone, with silence… (Morton-Mollo 3)”
In the novel, As I Lay Dying, William Faulkner shapes the plot based on the looming presence of the absentee protagonist, Addie Bundren. The reader’s knowledge of Addie accumulates through the monologues of other characters, so the reader gains only bits and pieces of Addie’s character. However, after her death, the reader obtains a better understanding of Addie’s voice through her own monologue and as a result, is characterized as cold and selfish. Through the use of similes and interior monologue, Faulkner shows Addie’s tendency to detach herself from the people in her life, which relates to the novel’s overall theme of solitude as Addie adheres to her father’s philosophy that the reason for living is no more than “to get ready to stay dead a long time” (169).
The Nobel prize speech by William Faulkner and novel, As I Lay Dying , both enhance how the author intends to fulfill his own vision of the writer’s duty. Faulkner’s duty is to encourage writers to focus on problems that deserve attention which are not introduced in other texts. The tone of the Nobel prize speech is assertive yet grasping around the idea of the future for literature. Through both sources, Faulkner speaks not only to the writers, but the individuals that can be empowered by his words and actions. In the Nobel prize speech, Faulkner is directly speaking to writers who have a desire to follow his footsteps, which is writing.
In this quotation, Wharton highlights the fact that Ethan is unhappy with his original decision to marry Zeena. When Ethan asks Zeena to marry him, his desire for her is out of loneliness due to his mother’s death. Later on in the novel, however, Ethan realizes that he does not love Zeena and that he wants to begin a relationship with Mattie. Ethan has the choice to discard his true feelings, stay married to Zeena, and forget about Mattie. Despite this opportunity to avoid divorce and hardships, Ethan agrees to commit suicide together with Mattie in order for them to live happily in their afterlife together.
Ethan received his manly stature and dominant reputation by taking care of Zeena and he did not want to give that up; therefore, he chose to not kill himself and Mattie, which ended in his sorrow. He was in the same position before and after meeting Mattie. He chose Zeena, but only for his image, not because of her love. The decision of stability of being sad but respected tells the reader that Ethan could not bear for people to look down on him and that the male expectation had a greater influence on him than
Edith Wharton’s Ethan Frome, and Kate Chopin’s The Awakening are novels that represent the traps that society has set forth for them. In both novels, suicide is seen as the only way to escape from their constricted circumstances in which these people are expected to live in. The Frome’s and The Pontellier’s have very similar circumstances, such as blaming each other for their problems, and having marriage’s which they are not happy in. “Her marriage to Leonce Pontellier was purely an accident, in this respect resembling many other marriages which masquerade as the decrees of Fate.”
Everything from how her interactions with her family to her perception of her environment and how it evolves throughout the story allow the reader to almost feel what the narrator is feeling as the moves through the story. In the beginning, the only reason the reader knows there may be something wrong with the narrator is because she comes right out and says she may be ill, even though her husband didn’t believe she was (216). As the story moves on, it becomes clear that her illness is not one of a physical nature, but of an emotional or mental one. By telling the story in the narrator’s point of view, the reader can really dive into her mind and almost feel what she’s feeling.
In Edith Wharton’s novel, Ethan Frome, setting plays an important role. The novel takes place in the fictional town of Starkfield, Massachusetts, in the winter and most likely during the early 1900s, a time better known as the Progressive Era. The Progressive Era brought about change and innovation in many areas, such as education and transportation. This change doesn’t really occur in Starkfield, however. Due to poor transportation, the residents of Starkfield become stuck during the harsh winter, and the majority of the rest of the year in this isolated town.
The alluring benefactor of Ethan Frome is that not only does Wharton express her meaning through text, but overall structure of the story. Her unique structure supplemented in enhancing the message and feelings invoked while reading. The potentness of Edith Wharton’s structure of Ethan Frome consists of interchanging point of views, setting,and flashback, rather than chronological order; Wharton establishes suspense as well as curiosity within the reader. Ethan Frome begins with first person. An unnamed individual, later disclosed as being an engineering is investigating around Starkfield.
In William Faulkner’s “A Rose for Emily”, the accumulation of dust in Miss Emily’s house reinforces her static and perverse character. The townspeople describe Emily’s house as full of “dust and shadows” (105), “lifting its stubborn and coquettish decay above the cotton wagons and the gasoline pumps – an eyesore among eyesores” (98) for generations after generations. The house’s poor, dust-filled condition symbolizes its owner’s unflinching denial to new changes. Furthermore, the loss of her father drives Emily to act on her tenacious impulse to forestall time. Emily stubbornly holds onto her father’s body for three days, repeatedly claiming that “[he] was not dead” (101).
Ethan finds himself falling in love with Mattie, but in order to have a successful relationship with her, he must learn to stand up against any obstacles that may interfere with their future. The first challenge that he needs to face is his current marriage to Zeena. Mattie and Ethan are not able to be publicly affectionate, because Zeena and Ethan are currently in a relationship. Ethan knows that he needs to stand up to his wife and end their current relationship, but he is incapable of facing Zeena. “His wife’s retort was like a knife-cut across the sinews and he felt suddenly weak and powerless.
