Ethan Frome Research Paper

“I know why the caged bird beats his wing till its blood red on the cruel bars; For he must fly back to his perch and cling when he fain would be on the bough a-swing,” (Dunbar 8-10). The following quote is written by Paul Laurence Dunbar to describe the troubles of African-Americans in the 19th century, along with many other people of that time. Realism and Naturalism are very closely related movements that started in the 19th century. According to Twinkl USA, realism portrays settings and characters as they exist, while naturalism focuses on the biological, economic, and social aspects. For example, Ethan Frome by Edith Wharton is about falling in love with someone you shouldn’t, and doing anything to achieve happiness. Likewise, “Miniver …show more content…
As he contemplates his life with Mattie, he wonders, “what he and Mattie were to live on when they reached the West. Now he sees that he did not even have the money to take her there.” (Wharton Chapter 8). After Ethan comes to the realization that he has no money to start a life with Mattie, he knows that she must go since Zeena began to suspect their love. As a result of their economic difficulties, Ethan once again became held back from his chance of a real life. The last conflict of the story, Ethan Frome, happens in the environment. In the town of Starkfield, Massachusetts, they had very difficult winters. Wharton explains, “..a sleety rain was coming down once more, and the tree trunks were so slippery that it took twice as long as usual to lift them and get them in place on the sledge.” (Wharton Chapter 6). Since Ethan’s job took much longer than expected because of the weather conditions, when he expected to come home to just Mattie, Zeena was home too. Given that, Zeena told Ethan that Mattie must leave because they need a great …show more content…
The annoyance of Miniver thinking he can’t make a change caused him to act lazy. Just like many people, if something seems too hard, they ignore the problem and instead drown in their pity. Ministers did just this by drinking as an alternative to working and getting more wealth and power. Naturalistic conflicts are seen in this poem as Miniver seems disillusioned with the modern world and he longs for the glory days of the past. The story reflects a realism focus on psychology and dissatisfaction of modern day life. Finally, the work, “Story of an Hour” by Kate Chopin, exhibits a story with many realistic conflicts. The story unveils a woman, Mrs. Mallard, who has heart problems, and she just found out her husband had died. However, she embellished rather excitement about the death of her husband because she wanted to become a free woman without his control. Moreover, she finds out he did not actually die, and instead she dies of the grief of her own freedom. The first conflict in the story seems to be her physical limitations. Her heart problems made her everyday life much harder than

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