“…crystal clearness followed by long stretches of sunless cold.”
The ‘crystal clearness’ describes the landscape as beautiful and filled with energy; whereas the ‘long stretches of sunless cold’ is totally the opposite, melancholy and dead. Therefore; when the above sentence is read, it shows the unreliability of the weather and the negation of life. This is because the community, having to live in harsh conditions for a long period of time, seems to act like a kind of symbol of despair. Therefore; the purpose of life seems useless for them- especially for Ethan. This type of condition makes them do their duties with full responsibilities in away which make them feel as if these are a part of their life.
“...hypnotising effect of routine…”
This suggests that they became lifeless in performing their duties because of the sheer cold and humbling atmosphere. The use of the word ’hypnotising’ is a good word to prove the above. Overall, the weather and the landscape describe Starkfield, which create great affects on the community. The mental effect on the people occurs due to the period of time spent time amongst the weather and landscape, and not the people.
Secondly, the gothic descriptions and Ethan’s house are also used to describe the harshness of Starkfield.
The general life of the community is described as mechanic, as we have learnt before. The house of Ethan reflects the cold society which the people of Starkfield are attached to and is a representation of the unsentimental life of the residents. We learn that Ethan’s house is quite poor and of a low class.
“…The thin wooden walls, under their worn coat of paint, seemed to shiver.”
The use of ‘thin’ and ‘wooden’ shows that the house was inexpensive and that wood was the most Ethan could afford for his house- therefore, we can classify him as ‘poor’. In addition to this, we learn what kind of atmosphere the house offered through the words ‘seemed to shiver’. Wharton’s idea of making it sound as if even a non-living thing could sense the cold makes the sentence more effective. Referring to the same quote, we can also conclude that Ethan’s house is quite ancient through ‘worn coat of paint’. The use of ‘worn’ establishes that the house is shabby and is quite dilapidated.
“…in all its plaintive ugliness…”
The above tells us that Ethan’s house is also very repulsive. The use of ‘all’ deepens the impact of the text. So, we learn that Ethan’s house is ugly, cold, cheap and dilapidated. Consequently, we can also state that as Ethan’s house resembles the dwellings of the rest of the community, Starkfield was a poor village where most people could not afford much for their houses.
Wharton also uses gothic elements to illustrate Ethan’s house. We realise that a majority is based on death and decay.
“A dead cucumber vine dangled from the porch like the crape streamer tied to the door for a death.”
From the above, we find that the cucumber-vine was as hanging over the door at such a
position that it seemed like a crape streamers; we know that these were hung in people’s houses when there was a death. The above represents the death like atmosphere within the house. The word ‘tied’ shows the way the death sort of clings to the door.
“…deadly chill of a volt after the dry cold of the night.
The vault reminds a person of a grave. This is a good technique used by Wharton to establish the atmosphere fist felt on entering the kitchen and to compare it to grave increase the atmosphere. This sort of language makes the reader almost see the action in front of them and therefore is highly effective. The atmosphere produced by this phrase indicates to the reader of what may occur. In this instance something to be dreaded is awaited.
The book also has gothic elements which show a hint of the supernatural. Nevertheless, supernatural acts don’t actually take place but the circumstance makes them seem so.
“The cat had jumped off…the sudden movement … the chair had set up a spectral rocking.
This is when Mattie and Ethan are having dinner together, alone. The rocking happens only because of the cat but this does add a great supernatural impact. To add to this, there is secretively going on between Mattie and Ethan, therefore, the movement caused by Zeena’s rocking chair makes them feel as if she is watching them. This quote causes a ghastly affect and is also very affective for the reader.
“He passed by the graves on the knoll”
The fact that the graves are around the house creates an imagery of death surrounding Ethan’s life and habitat. This gives the farm an eerie atmosphere which therefore makes the farm quite dilapidated and haunted. Wharton has described the farm in this way because a haunted place is a common gothic element.
We acknowledge that the graves around Ethan’s house, the sign of death on the door and the deadly cold within the house all reflect Ethan’s house as an isolated, melancholy morbid place.
Wharton refers to Zeena, the hypochondriac, by presenting her as a ghastly silhouette and the place she inhabits is also described in the same way. Therefore, all of the above are described in a gothic way and filled with despair. Nevertheless, there is a strong contradiction when Mattie is the subject. She and her surroundings are described with great energy and warmth and the house is also described in this way.
“…warm and bright in the kitchen…cat dozing on the chair…geranium pots…”
As we can see, there is a great comparison in the house with Mattie and the house with Zeena. The ‘warm and bright’ shows the warmth in the room. This is quite the opposite of the ‘deadly vault’ described before. The ‘geranium pots’ explain the life within the house, however, the graves symbolized death before and are the total opposite of life.
Overall, we can see that Wharton’s aim to show the great contradictions between the atmosphere brought by Mattie and Zeena tells us why the people had harshness within their lives. Ethan’s personal life is a symbol for the lives of the rest of the community. We find that Zeena’s presence creates a lot of isolation, nevertheless; Mattie melts this isolation and adds warmth in to Ethan’s life. Therefore, this tells us that the hardships in the community’s life were because they lacked the presence of someone like Mattie.
The representation of women is a strong theme which Wharton displays throughout her book. Through this, she conveys the harshness of life in the 19th century, and the force of the church on morality and women’s rights. Consequently, we can compare the life of the 19th century with that of today. From having read the book, we can consider the duties of the women, which were thought to be necessary. For self-respect and respect in the eyes of the society
The female-inhabitants of Starkfield had duties and jobs within their lives; which lacked choice and opportunity. If disregarded, the society would look down upon the one stepping out of the boundaries, set by the community.
These strong opinions were due to the power of the church; therefore as every resident was church obeying, religion played a key role in their lives.
From the following quote, we find that the duties of the women and what they had to do to be recognized as decent women in the community.
“…women did what they could do preserve a decent dignity…”
The word ‘preserve’ explains the importance they held on their respect. We realize that this was n important part of their life and they held their respect in high regard. In comparison to this, we find that in today’s time respect is disregarded and free will is observed as authentic. My reason for this statement is that there had become a great increase of crimes affairs within marriage as well as many other situations.
Secondly, housekeeping and staying within the four walls of her home recommended for a married in the early 1900’s disregard of this would have been looked down upon by the communing. Her duty was to stay at home serve her husband and bring up the family. Today, the situation is such that both genders have equal responsibilities within the house.
“Why on earth should Mattie go?...well, when she gets married…”
It was also necessary for women to marry once she reached a specific age. The use of the word ‘well’ is used as if it was the most obvious thing that could be. Therefore, from this we can gather that marriage was regarded as compulsory and especially when women reached a certain age. In today’s time, a woman can live her whole life without being married.
“…he had asked her.”
Zeena had accepted Ethan’s proposal like as if she had said yes to a dinner or something! By this I mean that she gave her answer without much thought.
“Mattie had no natural turn for housekeeping…”
Wharton’s use of the word ‘natural’ explains the expectations that were to be met by a woman. It describes that it was natural for a woman to maintain her house, which makes it seem as if that is what women were created for!
The harshness of this small community life is also affected in the women’s mental health, mainly through isolation. The mental health of a woman was highly affected and so was the physical self when the work had been extreme.
One example is Ethan’s deceased mother, who had died due to her mental health. As women remained mainly within their homes- especially the old, there was a lack of community. Nevertheless, if a woman had for some reason lost her husband (like Ethan’s mother) and lived mainly on her own, or the people who lived with her were not those whom she would choose to talk to, then the risk of damaging the mental health was high. Ethan’s mother had a habit of standing outside and talking to passersby. However, once the train tracks were built across their home, people seldom came. This was the reason why she lost her mind and was too isolated to recover.
“...Zeena, she’s always been the longest hand in doctoring”
“…she had started a lunchroom…”
The above two tell us about the options women had in life. And the alternative would obviously have been marriage. The above shows us the lack of ambition a women had. Today, women have equal jobs to that of a man; nearly every woman is working.
Wharton also explains the strong views on love relationships. These also increase the severity of the small community.
If a woman was seen alone with a man, the society would frown upon the two’s know this because when Ned and Ruth were embracing and kissing each other, they split on hearing Ethan approach.
“…he heard a kiss…the outline hastily disunited…”
This shows the discomfiture caused for breaking the rules. Nevertheless, as they are engaged this rule doesn’t fully involve them. But the impact of staying away from such acts makes them embarrassed.
There are also gothic elements within a woman, Zeena.
“…tall and angular…flat breast…puckered throat…high boned…”
The above explains Zeena in an ugly manner. This is mainly because Zeena has become worn-out over the time from having lived trough the hardships that a woman faced. These make her seem ghastly and horrifying. In contradiction to this, we find that Mattie, who is still young and has a whole life infront of her, is quite the opposite.
“…fresh lips…cherry cheeks…”
She is described as full of life and fresh. Wharton uses the two women to tell us the how the features of a girl who has a life waiting infront of her can turn into the features of a woman who has experienced the obstacles in life. This tells the readers the hard impact on women from the society.
Divorce was also looked down upon by the community. We know that Ethan had the idea of divorce through:
“Maybe both of us will do better separate. I’ll try my luck west…”
The above occurs when Ethan is writing a letter to Zeena, which is about him running away. These dreams are demolished as the community looked down upon divorce, no matter what the circumstance. Therefore, running away with Mattie would have bought him great shame .We can see the impact of the public on divorce. Ethan, being the husband of a hypochondriac when he never loved, still finds it difficult to leave. Through this we understand the force of the society on an individual.
As we are aware, Starkfield was filled with harshness and difficulty which its inhabitants faced. Edith Wharton used Ethan Frome, the protagonist to establish such hardships through his life. Wharton also makes him the tragic hero who faces many situations. The mistakes he makes are triggered mainly by his own individual faults. However, the mistakes occur out of his control, basically fate works against, shaping his life against his will.
Firstly, being a tragic hero, Ethan’s personality is quite unique. He is a man who regards his respect a lot and does he can to keep everyone happy, \As every tragic hero has weakness, like Macbeth whose thirst for power was his destruction and Othello’s gullibility- Ethan’s weakness is his too kind personality. This is his fatal flaw which stops him from running away with Mattie. When he wants to leave, his concern for Zeena stops him from doing so.
Instead of forgetting about Zeena he hesitates and fails to run away.
“And what of Zeena’s fate?”
This shows the extreme of Ethan’s generosity. He isn’t like ordinary men who would just leave Zeena and never give a second thought of her fate. In addition to this, we find that society respects him a great deal.
“He was planning to take advantage of the Hale’s sympathy to obtain money from them in false pretences.”
He considers what people will think of him too much and through this the force of the society’s views is portrayed by Wharton.
Secondly, we realize that at many times within this book, Ethan’s own steps put him in the wrong and make life even difficult for him to live through. Marriage with Zeena is the major depression within his life. Lucking back at the book, we acknowledge that it was Ethan who had willingly proposed to Zeena, without anyone forcing him.
“Before he knew what was doing he had asked her to stay there with him.”
There are two mistakes here; one, he offered to marry her and two, he doesn’t think about what he is doing. At the time when Mattie decided to commit suicide, he again agreed with her and not thinking it over. This is shown with:
“I don’t want to come back up again…”
“What do you mean?”
“…oh Mat!”
The first suggestion is made by Mattie and the rest by Ethan. From this we realize that there are many places in which Ethan’s sudden decisions place him in hard situations.
Fate shapes Ethan’s destiny throughout the book. Again, this is common within a tragic hero, like Macbeth who became caught by it. In the book we are to Ethan married Zeena with his own free will and stupidity. Nevertheless, the book further tells us:
“…it would not have happened if his mother had died in the spring instead of winter.”
This proves that fate shaped his destiny as time was not in Ethan’s control. He could not in any way alter winter to spring. When he is aiming for the Elm Tree, trying to commit suicide, Zeena’s picture flashes infront of him, which causes him to swerve and the sledge to alter direction. It should have been this reason which left Mattie and Ethan horribly injured instead of dead. Again, Ethan had no way to prevent the picture from appearing infront of him…Was it fate?
“But suddenly his wife’s face…thrust itself between him and his goal, and he made intensive movement…the sled severed in response.
In analysis to this, I think that Ethan Frome is a man who makes many mistakes in his life and some due to the force of the society. At the end of the day, fate only shapes it deeper for him. Ethan is a symbol of the people of Starkfield and the harshness he faces, the mistakes he makes and the problems he gets into, sums up the life of the rest of the community.
In conclusion to this essay, we learn that the harshness of Starkfield occurs due to the weather and landscape, the strict church and the regard of self respect that people cherished. Wharton, in many ways, tries to explain not only the issues for the people in the book, but also the life in the 19th Century (the time at which this book is based in).
We also know that this book is based on the middle class people, a realist novel. It is definitely not a society novel, one of Wharton’s common types; but a regional novel that explains the lives of the ‘common’ people. Compared to our lives, the middle class people in the early 1900s were much poorer than the middle class of today.
We also know that this novel is combined of romance and gothic elements and therefore is a bit of both. The romance being Ethan’s affair with Mattie and the hatred he had with Zeena. Furthermore, the gothic elements are the descriptions of Ethan’s house, his wife (who shows madness and exhibits extreme behavior) and his farm (which is a remote and haunted-like place) and also the dark secret about the affair.
These different styles that Wharton uses are to increase the impact of her views of the life in the 19th Century, conveyed in her book ‘Ethan Frome’.
