Ethan is obsessed with mattie but married to zeena. Two women sit there, though the narrator cannot tell which had been speaking. He was a sensitive man who dearly wanted to leave his small. Set in the bleak, barren winter landscape of new england, it is the tragic tale of a simple man, bound to the demands of his farm and his tyrannical, sickly wife, zeena, and driven by his starcrossed love for zeenas young cousin, mattie silver. Set in the highly symbolic wintry landscape of starkfield, massachusetts, the narrative centers on the title characters fraught relationships with his sickly, cantankerous wife zeena and his young, beautiful cousin mattie silver. Set in the bleak, barren winter landscape of new england, it is the tragic tale of a simple man, bound to the demands of his farm and his tyrannical, sickly wife, zeena, and driven by his starcrossed love for. Edith whartons ethan frome is a classic of american literature, with compelling characters trapped in circumstances from which they seem unable to escape. The novel was adapted into a film, ethan frome, in 1993. When the narrator first glimpses ethans face in an unguarded moment, he sees ethan as a man who. Through the course of the story, we learn how title character ethan frome transformed from a healthy young man with dreams and aspirations into a man with severe spinal injury, a suspicious red gash on. Jealous, ethan eavesdrops as mattie refuses deniss offer of a ride home and begins the twomile walk back to the farm alone. Although frome seems ambitious and intelligent, zeena holds him back. Ethan frome, published in 1911 by edith wharton, is the story of a man who is trapped by duty.
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. The novel was published in 1911, set in the fictitious town of starkfield, massachusetts, whose naming is a subtle overture to the books mood. As a novel, ethan frome can grow on you, because of whartons quiet passion. Book summary edith wharton wrote ethan frome as a frame story meaning that the prologue and epilogue constitute a frame around the main story. First published in 1911, ethan frome is widely regarded as edith whartons most revealing novel and her finest achievement in fiction. Ethan frome cliffsnotes study guides book summaries.
The prologue, which is neither named as such nor numbered, opens with an. Read a plot overview of the entire book or a chapter by chapter summary and analysis. The main characters are ethan frome, his wife zenobia, called zeena, and her young cousin mattie silver. Ethan frome is a novel by edith wharton in which the title character, ethan, struggles in his marriage to his wife, zeena, and falls in love. Zeena and ethans marriage is a massive obstacle in ethans life. Ethan frome cliffsnotes study guides book summaries, test. The narrator s vision of ethan fromes story, told in the third person, begins. Zeena did not move or look up when he entered, and after a moment he asked.
Ethan frome by edith wharton meet your next favorite book. The beautiful description of nature in the novella creates hope for an ultimate freedom for the characters in ethan frome, though maybe only in death. Get all the key plot points of edith whartons ethan frome on one page. Ethan frome is a novel where the very limits of humanity is forced, tested and tresspassed on. Edith wharton wrote ethan frome as a frame story meaning that the prologue and epilogue constitute a frame around the main story. Ethan s jealousy of denis eadys wealth shows his sense of inferiority as well as his tendency to blame external forces, like his poverty, for his situation in life. As ethan watches, mattie dances with the arrogant denis eady, son of the towns wealthy grocer. Summary plot overview summary plot overview finding himself laid up in the small new england town of starkfield for the winter, the narrator sets out to learn about the life of a mysterious local named ethan frome, who had a tragic accident some twenty years earlier. The story of ethan frome is placed in the middle of the book in the form of an extended flashback. A new pastor arrives in a stark vermont village and is intrigued by crippled, misshapen ethan frome living on an isolated, hardscrabble farm with his sickly wife zeena. Free study guideethan frome by edith whartonfree book summary notes monkeynotes free online study guide book notes summary for. Set against the frozen waste of a harsh new england winter, edith whartons ethan frome is a tale of despair, forbidden emotions, and sexual tensions, published with an introduction and notes by elizabeth ammons in penguin classics. Mattie works at the frome farm, where she provides domestic help to zeena, ethan s ailing wife, in return for room and board. The narrator meets ethan when the man who drives him to the local train station is unable to take him and another townsman suggests that the narrator ask ethan to drive.
It is set in the fictitious town of starkfield, massachusetts. This novella is different from the kind of books wharton usually wrote involving the upper classes from which she came. Because edith wharton came from a level of society so far removed from the poor country people who populate ethan frome, critics have regarded her socalled new england folk tale with considerable skepticism. Edith wharton packs a lot of heartbreak into her 1911 short, and arguably darkest, novel, ethan frome. The frame is the narrators vision of the tragedy that befalls ethan frome. Critics have called ethan frome the most carefully constructed of edith whartons novels, and have praised the economy of its language and its intensity. Ethan frome is bursting with examples of how unmanageable components of life shape ones choice. Ethan frome summary book reports short book summaries. Ethan frome is a 1911 book by american author edith wharton. The key decision of the novel is made when ethan frome and mattie silver fall in love, and choose to be together eternally. He appears to be tall, though his strong shoulders are bent out of shape. The novels namesake is a poor farmer married to a domineering and sickly wife. In a sky of iron the points of the dipper hung like icicles and orion flashed his cold fires. Ethan frome title uncontrollable elements, affect ones decisions.
Ethan frome study guide contains a biography of edith wharton, literature essays, a complete etext, quiz questions, major themes, characters, and a full summary and analysis. The man becomes fascinated with ethan and wants to know his story. Ethan went into the kitchen and found his wife by the stove. When ethans wife hires her young cousin as a housekeeper, ethan falls hopelessly in love with her. Ethan frome struggles to make a living as a farmer near the bleak.
The narrator, an engineer assigned to a job at a power plant near the town of starkfield, ma, is intrigued by a tall crippled man he sees at the local post office. The village lay under two feet of snow, with drifts at the windy corners. Ethan frome thug notes summary and analysis youtube. The characters in ethan frome have different values and options than modern characters or most of the members of a typical movie audience but that isnt a problem if the filmmakers give those values weight and importance.
Young ethan frome walked at a quick pace along the deserted street, past the bank and michael eadys new brick store and lawyer varnums house with the two black norway spruces at the gate. Even when mattie comes out and looks around for him, he does not come forward, although in general, her expressiveness and freedom spreads to him. The classic novel of despair, forbidden emotions, and sexual undercu. Zeena frome is like the world, placed on atlass shoulders. Ethan frome summary from litcharts the creators of sparknotes. Ethan frome begins when the narrator, an engineer who is living temporarily in starkfield, massachusetts while working on a project in a nearby town, becomes curious about ethan frome. The classic novel of despair, forbidden emotions, and sexual undercurrents set against the austere new england countryside ethan frome works his unproductive farm and struggles to maintain a bearable. Ned hale, and harmon gow, a longtime resident and former stagecoach driver, about ethan. In her 1922 introduction to ethan frome, edith wharton refers to the novel as a. Ethan frome is a novel by edith wharton about a man, ethan, his wife, zeena, and her cousin, mattie silver. A few good quotes you can take from this one with page numbers, my book is the dover thrift edition, i.
In fact, sometimes, it is hard to call it even a tragedy as we dont see purification through pain in the story. In summer we have the story of the sexual awakening of a young woman, charity royall. Because of a carpenters strike the narrator, an engineer, spends his summer in a small massachusetts town called starkfield. This onepage guide includes a plot summary and brief analysis of ethan frome by edith wharton. Ethans life has been quite miserable for over twenty years. The frame story takes place nearly twenty years after the events of the main story and is written in first person, revealing the thoughts and feelings of the narrator. Supersummary, a modern alternative to sparknotes and cliffsnotes, offers highquality study guides that feature detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, quotes, and essay topics. Circumstances lead the narrator to hire ethan to drive him to and from his work. Frome and zeena marry after she nurses his mother in her last illness. One of the women, of tall and bony appearance and slatternly in dress, rises when the men come in not to welcome the guest, but to get the meal ready. Ethan s desire to escape starkfield is repressed by his overdeveloped sense of responsibility for the happiness of others. Ethan frome is a novel by edith wharton in which the title character, ethan, struggles in his marriage to his wife, zeena, and falls in love with her cousin mattie soon. Ethan and the narrator enter the frome kitchen, whereupon the querulous drone of a womans voice ceases. With liam neeson, patricia arquette, gil rood, tate donovan.
Sep 16, 2018 ethan frome chapter summaries chapters 6,7,8,9,10. Edith whartons 1911 novel ethan frome tells the story of a tragic love triangle. The red scarf sets mattie apart from the crowd, and is the first of several images that associate her with warmth and light. Summary as the dancers pour out of the hall, ethan shyly draws back out of their sight. Somehow ethan frome seems more acted against than acting, more of a passive victim of his own mopery than a tragic hero. But when zeenies vivacious cousin enters their household as a hired girl, ethan finds himself obsessed with her and with the possibilities for happiness she comes to represent. But her 1911 novel, ethan frome, featured workingclass characters who couldnt have been more different from her usual subjects. When her young cousin mattie comes to stay on their new england farm, frome falls in love with her.
Ethan standing out in the snow while the dance goes on inside shows his isolation from society. Naturalists believe human behavior is controlled by social and economic conditions, environmental forces, and internal stresses surrounded amongst ones self. Her head was wrapped in her shawl, and she was reading a book called kidney troubles and their cure on which he had had to pay extra postage only a few days before. See a complete list of the characters in ethan frome and indepth analyses of ethan frome, zenobia zeena frome, and mattie silver. The novel is framed by the literary device of an extended flashback. Charity, the daughter of mountain moonshiners, is adopted by a poor new england family and falls for lucius harney, an educated young man from the city. What we witness in that book is a human tragedy, not a sacrifice.
For your reference, we provided these ethan frome quotes with page numbers using the following version of the book. Read a plot overview of the entire book or a chapter by chapter summary. She was the youngest of three children born to george frederic and lucretia jones, descendants of english and dutch colonists who had made. Ethan frome is a novel by edith wharton that was first published in 1911.
Ethan is a man in his early fifties who is obviously strong, and obviously crippled. As he walks, ethan is reminded of a physics course he took four or five years earlier at a technological college in worcester, before his fathers accidental death forced him to drop out of. He learns that the man, ethan frome, was injured in a sledding accident 24 years earlier, but can get little more from the secretive locals. Young ethan frome walks through the deep snow to the church where a dance is being held. Ethan frome edith wharton was born edith newbold jones into a wealthy family on 24 january, 1862 in new york city. Ethan frome begins with the curiosity of the narrator. As a young man, ethan began college, hoping to become an engineer. Ethan frome works his unproductive farm and struggles to maintain a bearable existence with his difficult, suspicious, and hypochondriac wife, zeenie.
Free study guide ethan frome by edith whartonfree book summary notes. A nameless engineer is in starkfield, massachusetts on business and he first sees ethan frome at the post office. The novel was published in 1911, set in the fictitious town of starkfield, massachusetts, whose naming is a subtle overture to the book s mood. And then, in a famous scene that had great popularity at the time of the book s first publication, ethan and mattie are punished for daring to be happy, and their brief moment of paradise turns into a lifetime of penance. Opposite the varnum gate, where the road fell away toward the corbury valley, the church reared its slim white steeple and narrow peristyle. The characters in ethan frome are affected by the isolation of life in a rural area during the winter. Using a psychology book, a health textbook, or another resource, have students research the importance of having social relationships and the emotional, physical, and social effects of isolation on an individual. The narrator sees ethan frome and begins to ask the local gossips about him. Ethan frome summary from litcharts the creators of. Books similar to ethan frome meet your next favorite book. Ethan frome by edith wharton plot summary litcharts. The characters in ethan frome are particularly marked by the physical transformations they undergo. Because edith wharton came from a level of society so far removed from the poor country people who populate ethan frome, critics have regarded her socalled.
It is the story of starcrossed lovers, ethan frome, and mattie silver, the. Zeena is the greatest hindrance to ethan frome and his ability to be free and live a joyful life, bringing negativity to ethans life. Nov 07, 2007 i dont know of any summaries of only two paragraphs on ethan frome, but you could probably use the gradesaver classicnote short summary and just condense it even more. These physical changes give us hints of depths of the inner transformations taking place. Ethan is a poor man who is simple, straightforward, and responsible. Ethan frome begins with an engineer who is temporarily staying in a small town in massachusetts. The narrator of the novel notices a crippled, frail, sadlooking man in town, whose name is ethan frome.