The novel "Ethan Frome", written by Edith Wharton in 1911 depicts the life of the living dead; the life of Ethan Frome. ... Through the use of various themes, such as love, freedom, and morality, Wharton presents a character who lives a life of quiet desperation. ... Wharton illuminates the idea of Zeena faking her sickness in order to better control Ethan, knowing that if they ever did find a buyer and move, she would lose control of Him. ... Wharton personifies the house cat as Zeena when her body is unavailable. ... Wharton juxtaposes the trains freedom alongside its feeling of...

• Word Count: 1140
• Approx Pages: 5
• Grade Level: High School

Edith Wharton wrote Ethan Frome to juxtapose what people thought about rural northeastern life. ... But, Edith Wharton twists their fate one more time so that both live, but are crippled both physically and mentally. ... In Conclusion, Edith Wharton used colors many times to shadow the essence and feelings of the characters. ... In the end, Edith Wharton creates a scenario that is truly worse than death and makes the reader want to live their life a little harder....

• Word Count: 721
• Approx Pages: 3
• Grade Level: High School

"Ethan Frome," by Edith Wharton, is a short, but beautiful, novel about a poor farmer who lives in New England with his sad and angry wife Zeena, and her cousin Mattie. Ethan married Zeena out of a sense of obligation because she had cared for his ailing mother. The marriage isn't a happy one, wit...

• Word Count: 671
• Approx Pages: 3
• Grade Level: High School

In the novel, Ethan Frome, Edith Wharton uses setting as a symbol. A symbol is something, which represents or suggests a relationship or association. Throughout the novel, the setting represents both the character's moods, and the characters themselves. Setting is constantly used to describe Matti...

• Word Count: 275
• Approx Pages: 1
• Grade Level: High School

Ethan's Three Important Women In the novelette of Ethan Frome by Edith Wharton three characters seem to grope onto Ethan. ... ""(Wharton- ) Mattie Silver has a huge effect on Ethan's life. ... Ethan was left with a limp and Mattie became bound to a chair and most of the time ill. "" (Wharton-) Zeena is the most influential person in Ethan's life. ... She brings a strong will and a caring heart. "" (Wharton-) Each of the three women helps not only to bring about a change in Ethan but also to bring about a change in themselves. ...

• Word Count: 693
• Approx Pages: 3
• Grade Level: High School

In her beautifully crafted novel, "Ethan Frome," Wharton presents the winters of Starkfield, Massachusetts as one of the major deterrents in the success of Ethan Frome's dreams. Our narrator specifies that Ethan has lived in Starkfield "too many winters" (Wharton 181). ... In comparison, Wharton uses the seasons of summer and spring to mirror Mattie's personality and moments of happiness she shared with Ethan. Wharton refers to Mattie by saying that she "always looked like a window that has caught the sunset" (188). ... Wharton uses this characterization to show h...

• Word Count: 1092
• Approx Pages: 4
• Grade Level: High School

Ethan Frome, the main character in the Edith Wharton novel Ethan Frome, is a man who lives in a world of silence. ... This essay will show how Edith Wharton uses seasonal symbolism to heighten the tragedy in the novel. ... The novel beings with a description of Starkfield, "the village lay under two feet of snow, with drifts at the windy corners" (Wharton 15) this is a basic picture of Starkfield throughout the novel. ... Edith Wharton , the author, chose winter because it symbolizes the emotional, physical isolation, cold, darkness and death that surround Ethan. ... Wharton emphasizes the rig...

• Word Count: 1520
• Approx Pages: 6
• Grade Level: High School

In the book, "Ethan Frome," by Edith Wharton there are many different symbols that are all very important to the plot. ... The first mention of the cat is as they're sitting down for dinner and "the cat, unbidden, jumped between them into Zeena's empty chair" (Wharton 73). ... It saw Ethan's hand resting on Mattie's and "The cat, profiting by this unusual demonstration, tried to effect an unnoticed retreat, and in doing so backed into the pickle dish, which fell to the floor with a crash" (Wharton 74). ...

• Word Count: 675
• Approx Pages: 3
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

Ethan, the chief player in Edith Wharton's tragic novel, Ethan Frome, shows feelings he cannot control, and eventually becomes damaged by those emotions. ... In Edith Wharton's novel, Ethan Frome, Ethan becomes the casualty of his own feelings through the honesty, fears, and affection that make up his character. ... As seen in Edith Wharton's Ethan Frome, when an individual possesses the essential tools and supplies, he or she will build him or herself a trap. ...

• Word Count: 1483
• Approx Pages: 6
• Grade Level: High School

The novel Ethan Frome by Edith Wharton can be considered a tragedy because the main character, Ethan, has one tragic flaw. ... In the novel Wharton states, "After the mortal silence of his long imprisonment, Zeena's volubility was music in his ears" (29). ...

• Word Count: 879
• Approx Pages: 4
• Grade Level: High School

The novel Ethan Frome by Edith Wharton can be considered a tragedy because the main character, Ethan, has one tragic flaw. ... In the novel Wharton states, "After the mortal silence of his long imprisonment, Zeena's volubility was music in his ears" (29). ...

• Word Count: 832
• Approx Pages: 3
• Grade Level: High School

Critics have claimed that Starkfield is an important character in the novel, while it is not a person character. Starkfield is another side of Ethan. This book does a good job of comparing and contrasting Ethan to Starkfield. Ethan and Starkfield share many similarities. At the same time, Ethan and ...

• Word Count: 550
• Approx Pages: 2
• Grade Level: High School

In the novel, Ethan Frome, there are two women named Zeena and Mattie. They are cousins and have very different personalities, but in some ways are alike. Edith Wharton (author of the novel) represents the character of Zeena as a cold-hearted, manipulative, self-absorbed woman who manipulates Etha...

• Word Count: 565
• Approx Pages: 2
• Grade Level: High School

Nature's Puppet- "Ethan Frome" Its arguable, Edith Wharton, in Ethan Frome, uses the environment of Starkfield to act as a reflection of the characters souls, most notably Ethan's, but even more so, she uses it to reflect the perpetual failure that comes to be Ethan's life. ... But to take this initial reflection a bit farther I postulate that it is this reflection of the characters and the consistency used by Wharton throughout the novel that makes it apparent that it is in fact the environment which shapes a persons destiny and thus the failure's of Ethan are due to his...

• Word Count: 1383
• Approx Pages: 6
• Grade Level: High School

Title of book: Ethan Frome Author: Edith Wharton The book Ethan Frome starts set in Starkfield Massachusetts with the narrator of the book wondering about Ethan Frome (the man) and asking people in the town what they know Ethan. ...

• Word Count: 711
• Approx Pages: 3
• Grade Level: High School

The Effects of Ethan Frome's Dishonor to Responsibilities Ethan Frome by, Edith Wharton is a story of an ill-fated love, set during the winter of a rural New England town called Starkfield. Ethan is a farmer who is married to a sickly woman named Zeena, whom he had previously taken the responsibi...

• Word Count: 813
• Approx Pages: 3
• Grade Level: High School

The Color Red in Ethan Frome Throughout Ethan Frome, author Edith Wharton uses red as a symbol of the passion Ethan longs for but never receives. Red is the color of blood, ruddiness, good health, and liveliness. Zeena, Ethan's wife, has none of these qualities, yet Mattie Silver, Zeena's co...

• Word Count: 939
• Approx Pages: 4
• Grade Level: High School

The perception of symbolism can affect the outcome of the entire novel whether you interpret a particular subject one way or the other. Symbols often times can be interpreted into many different thoughts, whereas themes affect the entire novel as a whole, which causes the theme to be stagnant. In th...

• Word Count: 1398
• Approx Pages: 6
• Grade Level: High School