Ethan Frome
Summary
Ethan Frome is a substantial novella published in 1911, written by Edith Wharton. It takes place just outside of a New England village named Starkfield, nestled into the wintry mountains in a time where horse-drawn sleighs are still commonplace, but electricity and batteries are not unheard of. The first and last chapters of the story are written in first person, as though a visitor to the village sought out the story of Ethan Frome, after having seen him in his visibly aged and aching state. The unnamed visitor begins to pay Frome to take him to and from his work on an electric power plant and they are once left in a blizzard that leaves Frome willing to invite the unnamed visitor into his house for the night.
After this exposition, the authors jumps into the story with no further explanation. It begins with Ethan waiting for Mattie in Starkfield. Ethan is married Zenobia or Zeena, and has been since the passing of his mother when they met. Zeena had cared for his mother before her death, but after marrying had also become very sickly. Therefore, there was no major romantic interaction between Zeena and Ethan, which directs the story into his unspoken relationship with Mattie. Mattie is Zeena's cousin's daughter, who was invited to stay with them after her father had passed away. She was to help Zeena, who had deemed it necessary to have an extra hand. After several months of her stay, Ethan and Mattie formed an unexpressed and unspoken admiration of each other. This does leads to nothing until Zeena, having a contempt for Mattie, informs Ethan that she has hired a new hand around the house and will be letting Mattie go. This sends Ethan into near madness. He imagines eloping to the west and leaving his sickly wife, he nearly takes advantage of one his neighbors for money, but is the end he realizes the reality of the matter. He decides that he himself will drive the sleigh for Mattie to the train station and on the way takes several stops as, for the first time, they express their adoration to one another. After stopping at a lake, they find themselves back in Starkfield, where a previously foreshadowed sledding or "coasting" hill is found. They go down once, avoiding a dangerous turn and indulge in hysterical laughter. Mattie convinces Ethan that it would be better that they should die going down the hill than to be separate for ever. And so they, letting go of control, slam into a large elm at the bottom of the hill. Nevertheless, instead of killing them-- the accident paralyzes Mattie and leaves her in a wheel chair and causes infinite grief for Ethan as Zeena accepts them both into her home and, instead, cares for them.
After this exposition, the authors jumps into the story with no further explanation. It begins with Ethan waiting for Mattie in Starkfield. Ethan is married Zenobia or Zeena, and has been since the passing of his mother when they met. Zeena had cared for his mother before her death, but after marrying had also become very sickly. Therefore, there was no major romantic interaction between Zeena and Ethan, which directs the story into his unspoken relationship with Mattie. Mattie is Zeena's cousin's daughter, who was invited to stay with them after her father had passed away. She was to help Zeena, who had deemed it necessary to have an extra hand. After several months of her stay, Ethan and Mattie formed an unexpressed and unspoken admiration of each other. This does leads to nothing until Zeena, having a contempt for Mattie, informs Ethan that she has hired a new hand around the house and will be letting Mattie go. This sends Ethan into near madness. He imagines eloping to the west and leaving his sickly wife, he nearly takes advantage of one his neighbors for money, but is the end he realizes the reality of the matter. He decides that he himself will drive the sleigh for Mattie to the train station and on the way takes several stops as, for the first time, they express their adoration to one another. After stopping at a lake, they find themselves back in Starkfield, where a previously foreshadowed sledding or "coasting" hill is found. They go down once, avoiding a dangerous turn and indulge in hysterical laughter. Mattie convinces Ethan that it would be better that they should die going down the hill than to be separate for ever. And so they, letting go of control, slam into a large elm at the bottom of the hill. Nevertheless, instead of killing them-- the accident paralyzes Mattie and leaves her in a wheel chair and causes infinite grief for Ethan as Zeena accepts them both into her home and, instead, cares for them.