Edith Wharton Rhetorical Devices

Edith Wharton makes the argument that traditional gender roles are detrimental to the people in the marriage and uses negative, ironic tone with metaphors to convey the message. The first sentence already sets up the dark mood for the rest of the passage: Ethan looked at “her”, Zeena, with “loathing”. This action shows that Ethan does not like Zeena in a strong way but also that he does not care about Zeena anymore; he uses “her” throughout the passage to show that she is not anyone to him anymore, but just “her”. In addition, he uses metaphors to describe Zeena as a “listless creature” and a “mysterious alien presence”, furthermore showing that she does not seem human to Ethan anymore. Wharton shows that Ethan feels this cynical way towards Zeena because she told him that Mattie, the girl he loves, has to go, which

She “had mastered him” and as a result, Ethan “abhorred her”. Ethan also tries to assert power in his actions, but in the last sentence, it shows that he “took a wild step forward”, but then stopped to go back to Zeena. This shows that Wharton does not agree with traditional gender stereotypes as they cause discontent and prevent happiness in the marriage, though ironically Ethan acts like the woman and Zeena acts like the man in the relationship. In addition, metaphors are used to further develop the discontent; they dramatize and exaggerate how Ethan feels. In the passage, Ethan’s “long misery… rose up in his soul” and “a flame of hate rose in him”. The long misery is from being with Zeena and the flame of hate is also because of Zeena and directed at Zeena. Lastly, irony is used by Wharton to show that there is little or no hope in these type of detrimental marriages. Zeena had taken “everything else from him”, and now she is planning on taking Mattie away from Ethan as