Ethan Frome: Fantasy Is An Escape From Winter
Ethan Frome, the title character of Edith Wharton's tragic novel, lives
in his own world of silence, where he replaces his scarcity of words with
images and fantasies. There is striking symbolism in the imagery,
predominantly that of winter which connotes frigidity, detachment, bleakness
and seclusion.
Twenty-eight year old Ethan feels trapped in his hometown of Starkfield,
Massachusetts. He marries thirty-four year old Zeena after the death of his
mother, "in an unsuccessful attempt to escape the silence, isolation, and
loneliness of life" (Lawson 71).
Several years after their marriage, cousin Mattie Silver is asked to relieve
Zeena, a gaunt and sallow hypochondriac, of her ...
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feminine, effervescent youth makes Ethan feel like a "real man."
Contrary to his characteristic passiveness, he defies Zeena in Mattie's defence,
"You can't go, Matt! I won't let you! She's [Zeena's] always had her way, but
I mean to have mine now -" (Wharton 123). To Ethan, Mattie is radiant and
energetic. He sees possibilities in her beyond his trite life in Starkfield,
something truly worth standing up for. Her energy and warmth excite him and
allow him to escape from his lonely, monotonous life.
While Zeena is visiting an out of town doctor, Ethan and Mattie, alone
in the house, intensely feel her eerie presence. The warmth of their evening
together is brought to an abrupt end by the accidental breaking of Zeena's
prized dish. Zeena's fury at the breaking of an impractical pickle dish
exemplifies the rage she must feel about her useless life. "That the pickle
dish has never been used makes it a strong symbol of Zeena herself, who prefers
not to take part in life" ...
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to
consciousness after taking an anaesthetic. His body and brain
ached with indescribable weariness, and he could not think of
nothing to say or do that should arrest the mad flight of the
moments (Wharton 95).
"Zeena herself, from an oppressive reality, had faded into an
insubstantial shade" (Wharton 39). Her hypochondria is her outlet, just as
Ethan's world of fantasy is his. "It [her obsession with her health] is
adventurous in contrast to her monotonous marriage" (McDowell 66). Sickly
Zeena is able to manipulate her husband using her frail health to justify her
bitter personality. "When she [Zeena] spoke it was only to complain" (Wharton
72).
Ethan and Mattie attempt ...
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Ethan Frome: Fantasy Is An Escape From Winter. (2005, March 29). Retrieved December 23, 2024, from http://www.essayworld.com/essays/Ethan-Frome-Fantasy-Is-Escape-Winter/24474
"Ethan Frome: Fantasy Is An Escape From Winter." Essayworld.com. Essayworld.com, 29 Mar. 2005. Web. 23 Dec. 2024. <http://www.essayworld.com/essays/Ethan-Frome-Fantasy-Is-Escape-Winter/24474>
"Ethan Frome: Fantasy Is An Escape From Winter." Essayworld.com. March 29, 2005. Accessed December 23, 2024. http://www.essayworld.com/essays/Ethan-Frome-Fantasy-Is-Escape-Winter/24474.
"Ethan Frome: Fantasy Is An Escape From Winter." Essayworld.com. March 29, 2005. Accessed December 23, 2024. http://www.essayworld.com/essays/Ethan-Frome-Fantasy-Is-Escape-Winter/24474.
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