Ethan Frome Essay

Michael Villanueva                                                                                                         April 7, 2015

Work hard. Be nice.                                                                                                           Period 4A

        In literature, there are various techniques used by authors to develop a thought-provoking story. Among these authors is Edith Wharton who had relied on her heavy use of symbolism, irony and metaphors to successfully tell her story in her novel Ethan Frome.

        Edith Wharton’s excessive use of irony in her novel helps establish the theme that Starkfield, the fictional Massachusetts town where the story takes place, is the land of broken dreams and lost hopes that refuses to let go of its inhabitants. An example of one of Edith Wharton’s various uses of irony is the fact that, while in pursuit of the liveliness, free and joyful Mattie, Ethan led to Mattie’s paralyzed state. Ethan fell in love with Mattie because she had a lot of freedom and life -proven by the fact that she was relatively new to Starkfield and still had positive dreams and that she would go out late to dance- but his marriage with Zeena did not allow him to run away from his life in Starkfield. Because of this inability to escape the suppressive Starkfield, Ethan and Mattie try to take their lives away which ultimately leads to Mattie’s loss of life. In other words, Ethan accidentally destroyed what he desired thus proving that Starkfield is the land that broke Ethan’s dream luxuriated life that he could have gotten with Mattie. Another ironic example that is tied in with the “smash -up” is that Ethan and Mattie’s suicide attempt to escape the lives in Starkfield led to their further entrapment in Starkfield. Mattie became partially paralyzed and Ethan was handicapped. Their disabilities made the possibility of escaping Starkfield for a life together impossible since they became dependent on others to survive. Additionally, it is ironic that Zeena ends up taking care of Mattie at the end of the novel since Zeena was the ill struck character and Ethan and Mattie had to tend to her needs throughout the novel. This ironic point, although it doesn’t enforce the theme, establishes and proves the motif of illness in the story.