In the book, "Ethan Frome," by Edith Wharton there are many different symbols that are all very important to the plot. But the most crucial and influential to the story is the cat. The cat first appears when the two main characters spend the night together alone. During their time together the cat tries to get in between them and their relationship representing Zeena, the wife of the main character, and her efforts to separate them. The cat is the most significant symbol in the book because of what it represents, the feelings it evokes in the characters, and it's direct involvement in one of the most significant and climactic chapters of the book.
The cat in the book is a very obvious symbol of Zeena. Zeena is the wife of Ethan Frome, the main character, and is a hypochondriac. The cat first appears when Ethan Frome and Mattie Silver, the girl he will end up having an affair with, spend the night together in Zeena's absence. During this night the cat does everything it can to separate Ethan and Mattie and to remind them of Zeena's existence. 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). This action by the cat represents Zeena trying to come between Ethan and Mattie's relationship. Then later when they're eating dinner the cat knocks the pickle dish off the table, shattering it in the process. The mention of the pickle dish brings both of their thoughts to Zeena rather than to each other.
All these feeling and thoughts might not have been brought up if it weren't for the cat. The cat is the one who brings to mind the thought of Zeena while Ethan and Mattie are at the dinner table and invokes the feeling of guilt within Ethan. It is during this evening that Ethan imagines Mattie as his wife and how different life would be if he were married to Mattie instead of Zeena He is torn between having a new relationship with a young and healthy girl and a relationship with an old and sickly woman.
