Edith Wharton was born Edith Newbold Jones into a wealthy family on 24 January, 1862 in New York City. She was the youngest of three children born to George Frederic and Lucretia Jones, descendants of English and Dutch colonists who had made their fortunes in banking, shipping, and real estate. She was a member of the …
“Guess hes been in Starkfield too many winters.” (Authors Introductory Note) Harmon Gow speculates on the cause of Ethan Fromes ruined and prematurely aged appearance. His remark expresses the theme of the landscapes shaping of character and fate. “.the coming to his house of a bit of hopeful young life was like the lighting of …
Personal fulfilment versus marital, familial and social dutyBy making Mattie and Zeena so different, in that all the life, beauty and energy are given to Mattie, and all the deathly and sickly qualities are given to Zeena, Wharton makes Ethans choice clear-cut. When it comes to Ethans feelings, he does not waver. He loves Mattie …
Winter and cold Throughout Ethan Frome, the characters and setting mirror each other. Starkfield is besieged by long winters in which everything lies buried under a deep, frozen layer of snow. Similarly, Ethan “seemed a part of the mute melancholy landscape, an incarnation of its frozen woe, with all that was warm and sentient in …
Character Profiles Denis Eady : The son of the rich Irish grocer, Michael Eady. Before Ethan begins his affair with Mattie Silver, she is courted by Denis, though she does not seem interested in him. Ethan Frome : The protagonist of the novel. We see the events of the story and the other characters through …
Summary Ethan and the narrator enter the Frome kitchen, whereupon the “querulous drone” of a womans voice ceases. Two women sit there, though the narrator cannot tell which had been speaking. One of the women, of tall and bony appearance and “slatternly” in dress, rises when the men come in – not to welcome the …
Summary Ethan returns to the house to find that the sleigh has come to take Matties trunk to the station and that Zeena is in the kitchen reading a medical book. He asks where Mattie is, and Zeena replies that she is probably bringing down her trunk. Ethan goes up to Matties room and finds …
Summary Ethan calls Zeenas name up the stairs but receives no answer. He enters the bedroom and sees her sitting by the window, in the dark, still in her traveling dress. Ethan tells her that supper is ready, but she says she is not hungry. Then she informs Ethan, “Im a great deal sicker than …
Summary After Zeena retires upstairs, Mattie clears up the kitchen and Ethan makes his usual rounds outside. The kitchen is empty when he gets back, but Mattie has left a note for him, saying, “Dont trouble, Ethan.” Ethan feels he cannot give up the “life” and “warmth” that Mattie gives him. A storm of rebellion …
Summary Next morning, Ethan feels “irrationally happy,” in spite of the fact that nothing happened between him and Mattie – or possibly, because of this: “.their evening together had given him a vision of what life at her side might be, and he was glad now that he had done nothing to trouble the sweetness …
