Ethan Frome
They say that if you give a man the necessary tools and supplies, he will build himself a trap. This trap is made unconsciously; therefore, it cannot be escaped; the solution cannot be found. The only solution that suffices is to live with this trap, sadly, for life. But is it the only solution? In Edith Wharton's romantic, yet tragic novel , the need for affection causes to gradually shed his taciturnity and bring his emotions to life. Early in the novel, Ethan's passiveness and lack of self-confidence, allow his wife Zeena to emasculate him, as well as make him emotionally inarticulate toward Mattie. Once Mattie Silvers enters Ethan's life, she awakens in Ethan the bitterness of his ...
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his passion to Mattie and also acquiesces to his wife's demands, while shunning out his own needs. After suffering so long with the sickly Zeena, Ethan fears unveiling his passionate feelings to Mattie, for he is bound as a husband and tradition to Zeena. Years earlier as a younger and more hale man, Ethan felt trapped in his hometown Starkfield. Mistakenly, he marries Zeena, a gaunt, sallow nagging hag, as compensation for her nursing Ethan's sick mother. Ethan and his morose, invalid wife Zeena live in a trapped, unspoken resentment on Ethan's isolated and failing farm. Driven by a perverted need for attention, Zeena claims to have numerous ailments and employs her destitute cousin to help with the chores. Over the course of the years, Ethan, lonely and miserable, finds himself falling in love with Mattie, drawn to her youthful, animated energy. As he walks through town one night, he stops by the church to watch Mattie dance. As he marvels at the young girl's beauty he thinks, "But ...
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morning after Ethan escorted Mattie home, Ethan's thoughts turn back to last night. As the memory of Mattie's warm shoulder comes back to him, he regrets his failure to kiss her when he had the chance. Ethan, frustrated, asks himself, "Why had he not kissed her when he held her there? . . . a few minutes earlier, when they had stood alone outside the house, he would not have dared to think of kissing her" (29). As a cold, isolated, and grim figure, Zeena embodies her surrounding. She creates a loveless, desolate home for Ethan where he never learns to express his love and affection. When the moment to manifest his passion to Mattie in the form of the kiss arrives, he becomes nervous, ...
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"Ethan Frome." Essayworld.com. Essayworld.com, 29 Nov. 2005. Web. 25 Apr. 2024. <http://www.essayworld.com/essays/Ethan-Frome/37224>
"Ethan Frome." Essayworld.com. November 29, 2005. Accessed April 25, 2024. http://www.essayworld.com/essays/Ethan-Frome/37224.
"Ethan Frome." Essayworld.com. November 29, 2005. Accessed April 25, 2024. http://www.essayworld.com/essays/Ethan-Frome/37224.
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