Overview of Ethan Frome by Edith Wharton

            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). This exemplifies Ethan's solitary and dull life from residing in the same small inescapable town for such a long period of time. The use of winter in multiple settings of the novel represents a cold isolated existence. It also suggests that others depend on Ethan and forestall him from doing what is necessary. Given the life that Ethan is subjected to, he becomes a man isolated from society, without friends, money, or prospects. When spoken to "he would listen quietly and answer in so low a tone that his words never reached me" (181).
             The dreary winters full of snow bury Ethan's soul, suffocating his self-expression and close at hand self-improvement. Ethan is a farmer, which is a task that he has never enjoyed. It has always been Ethan's dream to be an avid engineer. He sees it as an unappeasable chore that he has no choice but to do in order to make money, but yet the snow that seems to be never ending makes it impossible for him to farm. When Ethan and Mattie attempt to commit suicide, the winter presents once more as an additional obstacle. Mattie suggests to make the decision to take control of their problems, and Ethan follows. When this fails, they survive the accident and become, Mattie, a paraplegic, and as for Ethan, a crippled man. On the day of the accident their intentions are made clear when Wharton writes "they descended the darkness with them, dropping down like a black veil from the heavy hemlock boughs" (223). .
             The author uses this to foreshadow that something bad is about to happen. Again, winter only makes situations worse for Ethan. Seeming as it was impossible for him to put this impediment aside and make the best he can out of it.