A novel I know well, which I have selected an episode that is crucial to my exploration of the ideas within the novel is Ethan Frome by Edith Wharton. The episode I have chosen is the end half of chapter four and chapter five, which is when Ethan and Mattie are left alone together, while Zeena (Ethan's wife) has gone to see a doctor. I will pay close attention to this episode and will refer to setting; themes; characterisation and symbols.
This novel is set in Starkfield, America, in the late 19th century, it is written in old-fashioned language - Victorian. There is a winter, which is symbolic of the cold, bleak tone of the novel.
The episode within the novel when Ethan and Mattie are alone together is set in the kitchen and living room of Ethan's house. .
The author uses light as a technique to show the effect each of the main female characters have on their environment. Although in the novel Zeena is described as a cold and cold hearted women which is reflected on her environment, as when she is in the home it is described as a cold, dark place. Although to some extent this sense that Ethan's home is in fact cold and dark, due to poverty. The author turns this sense around when Mattie is described in the same environment as the author tells of she is connected with light, warm surroundings, "Mattie had pushed his chair to the stove and seated herself next to the lamp". Wharton uses this to reflect the warm and light feelings Ethan has for Mattie. The reader knows Ethan notices this by him saying, "it was surprising what a homelike look the mere fact of Zeena's absence gave it.".
The books most obvious theme is society and morality as obstacles to the fulfilment of desire, since Ethan Frome's plot is concerned with Ethan's desire for a women who is not his wife. By denying Zeena a single positive attribute while presenting Mattie as the epitome of glowing, youthful attractiveness, Wharton renders Ethan's desire to cheat on his wife perfectly understandable.
