Symbolism In Ethan Frome By Edith Wharton

Often in literature, authors employ the use of a symbol to artistically reveal a message. In her novel Ethan Frome, Edith Wharton utilizes numerous symbols to subtly illuminate to her readers the complex relationship between Ethan and the world around him and to attach a deeper meaning to the work as a whole. Perhaps the most enlightening symbol found in Wharton’s tale of a love that could never be is that of winter. In many works of literature, a wintertime setting evokes a sense of perpetual coldness (both in temperature and in reference to a lack of affection or warmth of feeling) and it inherently provokes associations of death, misery, and isolation. These ideas are most certainly applicable to the melancholy atmosphere that the wintertime

After the narrator appeared shocked at Harmon’s assertion that Ethan Frome could live to be a hundred years old due to his already aged appearance, Harmon suggested that this is so because “...he’s been in Starkfield too many winters” (Wharton on 5). There is a harsh, cold in the world outside for six months each year and Ethan had been subjected to its brutality for his entire life. But relief from the elements cannot be found in the Frome household for the cold within their home is just as brutal. Wharton makes it quite clear to her readers that Ethan does not love his wife, for he harbors a secret affection for Zeena’s cousin, Mattie. However, it seems likely that Zeena did not possess any type of affection toward her husband, either. When she communicated with Ethan, it was frequently with an aura of superiority. Too often, she spoke merely to express a want or to criticize Ethan and his actions. Though there may have once been an amicable bond between the two, at the time in which the novel took place, there was no love between these spouses. The winter setting so accurately represents the lack of feeling in their