From the beginning of Edith Wharton’s Ethan Frome, we are introduced to the main character, Ethan Frome, from an outsider’s perspective. This description is real, it does not hold anything back, and showing Ethan as who he is from that outside perspective. Two characters who do not get this type of description until the ending of the novel are the two other main characters, Zeena Frome and Mattie Silver. Zeena is seen in a negative light, and we are lead to believe she is cruel and cold hearted. Mattie, on the other hand, serves as a foil for Zeena, and is seen to be bright, young, and almost perfect in a way; but are these descriptions entirely truthful? Mattie, for one, is described from the eyes of Ethan, a man who is desperately
