Ethan Frome

Set against the bleak winter landscape of New England, Ethan Frome is the story of a poor farmer, lonely and downtrodden, his wife Zeena, and her cousin, the enchanting Mattie Silver. In the playing out of this short novel's powerful and engrossing drama, Edith Wharton constructed her least characteristic and most celebrated book.

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Ethan Frome's Tone and Theme,etc...?

I have a paper to do, and one requirement is to identify the tone and theme of this book... i really do not understand how to get tone and theme? Also, i need to see diction if possible...if some one could help me, i'd really appreciate it. thanks =]

Posted By chileanbob at Thu 23 Nov 2006, 10:24 PM in Ethan Frome || 1 Reply

Help Please

I need some type of help with this damn book cause i have a project that I have to do and I dnt know how in the world I am going to answer these questions.....PLEASE HELP ME PEOPLE.

Posted By crazylover at Thu 28 Jul 2005, 11:14 PM in Ethan Frome || 1 Reply

No Subject

Having read Ethan Frome in class, and having gone through a very strange test, and a futile discussion that followed, I still have some questions in mind.

1) Did anyone get the idea that Ethan Frome wanted to teach college before his father's illness? I thought he wanted to be an engineer...that was our dispute over the True or False question "Ethan planned to be a college teacher after he graduated." or something along that line.

2) Does anyone think that Ethan is the antagonist as well as the protagonist? I thought that Zeena was the protagonist. Yes, Ethan hindered himself. But doesn't almost every protagonist in the history of literature?

3) About symbols...did the spruce symbolize anything? Is there an argument that they didn't? And as for the sawmill, is it possible that it was a symbol?

4) If someone asks you "True or False, Ruth Varnum continued to visit Ethan and Mattie Silver regularly and often after the accident", would you think that they're asking you about right after the accident or the time lapse between the accident and the time when the narrator tells the story?

Posted By Monseigneur at Tue 24 May 2005, 5:07 PM in Ethan Frome || 1 Reply

Ethan Frome, duh.

Reading this in my junior year, between The Great Gatsby (terrific) and Into The Dust (horrible), it was fairly disappointing. The Romeo and Juliet-esque love theme made me want to vomit-yet more people that are simply stupid and have horrible things happen to them (ei, driving into the tree). The story went far too slow, what there was of it. And Edith Wharton obviously knew nothing of the simple life in wintry little Massachussetts. While coasting (sledding, in Americanese) and going to church dances seem fairly boring and trivial to most, these activities meant something to the people who live such lives. Ethan was a bad character to begin with, but in my opinion, he would never had tried to kill himself.

Yes, Wharton obviously knows her literary devices and themes (some of the more metaphorical thoughts are borderline masterful), but those themselves don't make a decent novel.

Fairly boring, and a waste of time, unless you enjoy those Shakeaspeareian(sp?) tragedies.

Posted By Rob Hnatko at Tue 24 May 2005, 5:07 PM in Ethan Frome || 0 Replies

Paper

I'm writing a theme on this book and how authors use tragic love to add realism. I loved this book, how it was so optimistic- and yet it ended with my own feelings, that love isn't necessarily attainable...or it doesn't exist...or it doesn't always work out. Whatever. But I did adore the writing style and the general plot, the end just made me rip it in half. Literally.

Posted By Higurashi Kagome at Tue 24 May 2005, 5:07 PM in Ethan Frome || 0 Replies

What's the point?

So, there's this guy Ethan Frome and he has a terrible life with miserable circumstances. He falls in love with Mattie Silver; however, he's already married to Zeena, the evil witch, unfortunately. Poor Man. And then Mattie and Ethan try to commit suicide but fail. Woe is Ethan. I feel bad for the man, but what's the point of the book? I don't think it enhanced my life in any way. The only thing it did make me happy about was that I'm not Ethan Frome.

Posted By Karen at Tue 24 May 2005, 5:07 PM in Ethan Frome || 0 Replies

No Subject

I don't understand why anybody would think that this book is a waste of time. The reader does indeed feel sort of sorry for Ethan Frome, but for good reason. Even though he is cheating on his wife, look at her! She's a hypochondriac who pretends to be sick for attention! Ethan obviously sees through this and as a result goes after love from a different direction. In modern society this story would be easily resolved, and that makes it ironic. However, the ending keeps the reader aware that nothing really works out, especially in instances like this.

Posted By J. Criswell at Tue 24 May 2005, 5:07 PM in Ethan Frome || 0 Replies

NOTHING!

hey guys, I had to read this book for my english class. I thought it was gonna be the most boring thing I had ever read, well....It's not! I LOVED IT!

Posted By PAYJAY~ at Tue 24 May 2005, 5:07 PM in Ethan Frome || 2 Replies

quetion

I like the book but I am having problems on how did Ethan fell about scorning Mattie. I can't find a answer. I know that he love her, but how did he sron her?
I would love and answer.

sincerely

Posted By dragon at Sat 23 Nov 2002, 12:00 AM in Ethan Frome || 1 Reply

Ethan Frome

OK, I don't like reading very much, but when I find a good book I usually can't put it down. Ethan Frome by Edith Wharton was not a good book to me. I was able to put it down, and I was able to fall asleep mid-sentence. The book has great literary merit, I know. Wharton was able to incorporate a lot of meaning and symbolism into this short novel. But thank God it was short or else I might not have finished it. Some people argue that this book has a depressing ending, I disagree, I hated the characters and feel they each got what they deserved.

Posted By Meggen at Tue 24 May 2005, 5:07 PM in Ethan Frome || 0 Replies

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