The Analysis Of Ethan Frome
Edith Wharton is known for making heroes in her novels often seem ineffective meaning they never produce any kind of significance or effect by any means. In her novel Ethan Frome, however, a character known as Ethan Frome displays himself through various points as effective. As the novel mainly centers on his actions and where they lead him, Ethan has certain goals that shape out his moral crisis and what the novel folds him out to be. His certain goals were to become an engineer, to pursue in true love with Mattie who happens to be a housekeeper of his household and abandon Zeena and end his existence to be with Mattie “forever”.
As all these play critical points in the novel and show how he develops as a major character, due to his desirous state of mind, all of this ultimately leads to his catastrophic life making him unsuccessful all around. Ethan Frome is one who cannot seem to succeed due to the potentially calamitous journey he steps foot in when making impulsive decisions.
With the disastrous route that Ethan partakes, it all begins when he decides to marry Zeena, although, it doesn’t stop there, he continues this path which seems to reveal his weaknesses along the way. Ethan did not choose to stand up to Zeena, divorce her, or run away with Mattie. He stood by his marriage vows, right or wrong, and as a result, this made him realize he will be living out his life in silence and isolation which then exposes a part of his weaknesses and how this eventually leads to his tragedy. With one of Ethans weaknesses being fear, the funeral of Ethan’s mother was held in the winter, he then came upon a lively and vivacious someone known as Zeena who took care of his ill mother. The narrator says, 'After the mortal silence of his long imprisonment Zeena's volubility was music in his ears” (Wharton, 37).
The only reason behind Ethan wanting to marry Zeena was because of the loneliness that was living within him. Ethan began to feel more attached to her and needed someone to subside his dread, this only makes him progress causing him make continuous impulsive decisions. Ethan could have sold the farm, and pursued his engineering dreams, instead, things began to shift for the worse. Ethan could have moved out of Starkfield into a new town that would possibly or more likely bring him affluence and success. But, leaving Zeena made him rethink his decision, the narrator says, 'desertion would leave her alone and destitute;” (78). Ethan’s weakness relating to his fear of isolation ties back to this point in the novel where it seems as if the marriage he wanted, came back to haunt him. With Ethan being trapped in a society that would down-look upon him for his abandonment, this only causes him to alter and develop on his poor decision-making. Overall, this is only the opening of his journey towards failure instead of success which connects back to his tragic result to the “smash-up”.
