Ethan Frome Theme Essay

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The short novel Ethan Frome is set in a small town called Starkville; if you were to blink, you’d miss it. The author, Edith Wharton, was raised in New York, born in 1862 into a distinguished family (Edith Wharton, 1). She writes about a poor man named Ethan and his struggles with his passion for his wife Zeena’s cousin, Mattie Silver, who lives with them and helps around the house. His constant battle between his passion for Mittie Silver and his responsibility of taking care of his feeble and sickly wife is the central theme around which this book is written. The nature of the classic war between responsibility and passion is truly evident in Ethan Frome, it affects Ethan’s character, and it is extremely significant to the work. The war …show more content…
Every day he struggles with the fact that he loves Mattie Silver but is bound by his circumstances to Zeena, whom he does not love. This conflict puts him in a state of constant longing and depression, as evidenced in the following passage: “But hitherto the emotion had remained in him as a silent ache, veiling with sadness the beauty that evoked it” (Wharton Chapter 1). His emotions also lead to him not being able to stand up for himself when he faces adversity, such as when Zeena forces him to get rid of Mattie, and he doesn’t do anything to stop it. This unfair situation effects a rather melancholy tone about Ethan that is only suppressed when he is alone with …show more content…
His responsibility to Zeena restricts him from his true love, Mattie Silver. Ethan is greatly affected by this struggle, and it is of extreme significance to the novel in several ways. This story captures the very nature of the war between responsibility and passion perfectly using Mattie as Ethan’s passion and Zeena as his responsibility, eliciting very well the feeling of entrapment due to
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