The plot of Edith Wharton's Ethan Frome appears to be characteristic of a typical love story, with the young lively girl, and the man who wants to give her the world. However, as the story progresses, Wharton begins to derail from the conventional plot of a romance novel. ... Wharton's novel includes many archetypes indicative of a classic fairytale. ... The description of Mattie's "light figure swinging " and her "laughing panting lips"" (Wharton 30), drastically contrast with the depiction of Zeena's "sickly"" (Wharton 33) condition. ... This drains away Mattie's spi...

• Word Count: 1393
• Approx Pages: 6
• Has Bibliography

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