Ethan Frome - Fantasy is an Escape from Winter

Ethan Frome, the title character of Edith Wharton's tragic novel, lives in his own humanness of silence, where he replaces his scarcity of words with images and fantasies. There is striking symbolisation in the imagery, predominantly that of winter which connotes frigidity, detachment, bleakness and seclusion. Twenty-eight category old Ethan feels trapped in his hometown of Starkfield, Massachusetts. He marries thirty-four course of study old Zeena aft(prenominal) the death of his mother, "in an unsuccessful essay to escape the silence, isolation, and loneliness of life-time" (Lawson 71). Several years after their marriage, cousin Mattie Silver is asked to relieve Zeena, a gaunt and seedy hypochondriac, of her household duties. Ethan finds himself falling in love with Mattie, drawn to her new-fashioned dexterity, as, "The pure air, and the long summer hours in the open, gave life and crack to Mattie" (Wharton 60). Ethan is attracted to Mattie because she is the antithesis of Zeena. " period Mattie is young, happy, healthy, and beautiful comparable the summer, Zeena is seven years cured than Ethan, bitter, ugly and sickly cold like the winter" (Lewis 310). Zeena's strong, dominating personality emasculates Ethan, while Mattie's 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] e'er had her way, but I mean to have mine straight -" (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 coarse end by the accidental breaking of Zeena's prized dish. Zeena's fury at the breaking of an impractical pickle... If you want to get a sufficient essay, order it on our website: Orderessay



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