Ethan Frome is set in New England in the bleak town of Starkfield. This wintry weather is very common for the region, as witnessed in the video below. (Notice the "FREEZING" over New England)
Edith Wharton includes this recurring idea of dreary, harsh winter weather through vivid imagery and the characters' words throughout the work to reiterate man's struggles and hardships. The psychologically and physically brutal nature of the winter weather also proves to be a seemingly unbearable force on everyday life. Use textual evidence and find examples of this tumultuous relationship between man and nature in the novella, then discuss the ultimate effect left on the human mind and body by nature.
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Weather affects how we live our lives drastically because it determines how we dress, how we adapt to the weather, and how we run our jobs and construct our lives. For people who live in drastically cold and snowy weather conditions, like Ethan Frome and his relations, it really impacts how he manages his agricultural business and his household. For example he has to take time out of his morning to get up early just to stoke the fires to keep the house warm, which would not be a problem for someone who lives in Arizona. The snow and ferociously cold wind often times prevent or make travel very difficult, especially in a horse and sleigh. When Ethan picked up the narrator they ran into a storm which " the wint night itself" was "decending on us [Ethan and the narrator] layer by layer." The snow was so heavy that "Frome's latern was soon lost in the smothering medium" and eventually the ride became so long and difficult that the narrator had to "walk along through the snow at the bay's side" to reach Ethan's house in one piece(Wharton 24-25). After days and years of a person enduring the extreme cold temperatures for long periods of time and the bitterness of a strong cold wind a person prevails but with a rough apperance to prove it. It takes extra time to prepare for such drastic weather and then to go outside and work in it all day takes a toll on the body but also on a person's mind. It affects Ethan's mind especially because every time the wind blows against his frozen face he is reminded of his duty to remain with his sickly bitter wife and how he cannot ever have for himself the one thing that makes the chill melt from his face: Mattie. With this sort of depressed and hopeless mentality and the coldness of the New England's winter wind Ethan develops a "striking figure" even though by the time the narrator meets him he is a "ruin of a man". After 30 years he has developed a "lameness checking each step" he took and "something bleak and unapproachable in his face" that was "stiffened and grizzled" (1).
ReplyDeleteLindsay, great post! I really like how you used lots of textual evidence and show that even the simplest tasks like poking at the fire can make a person as bitter as the cold weather. I also want to thank you for not waiting until the last minute to post!
ReplyDeleteIn the rural Berkshires where Ethan Frome is set, the characters are at the mercy of nature. The short New England growing season and thin mountain soils discourage large-scale agriculture, ensuring that most farms, like the Frome farm, could not overcome poverty. In addition, as Harmon Gow’s comment that Ethan has “been in Starkfield too many winters” suggests, the prolonged and brutal winters of the region had a profound effect on the personalities of the inhabitants, resulting in reserved social behavior and a sense of disconnectedness from the world. Ethan's home is "one of those lonely New England farm-houses that make the landscape lonelier." It is Ethan's dread of being left alone on the farm after his mother's death that drives him to marry Zeena. When Mattie first comes to stay with the Fromes, Zeena encourages her to find diversion because "it was thought best... not to let her feel too sharp a contrast between the life she had left and the isolation of a Starkfield farm." I feel the weather parrallels the ongoing struggles in Ethan’s life. When the weather is at its worst Zeena returns with the dismaying news that she needs an operation, which Ethan sees only as drain of their resources to hire another hand, an example of his keen self-awareness. Then she discovers the broken pickle-dish, and uses it as an excuse to fire Mattie. While a blizard is raging outside, the fight between Ethan and Zeena has come to a boil. Later in the novel Mattie suggests that they go for one more ride and intentionally crash the sled into a tree so that they can die together. Ethan does not want to live without Mattie. He tells her that he wants to be in front so that he can feel her arms around him. They kiss as they begin the descent. They go faster, and at the last moment, Ethan looks up at the stars. When he looks a the sky, clear of the tretourous clouds that have been present for the majority of the story, it is as if for this one moment his mind is finally clear of troubles, his life has no more worries.
ReplyDeletePeople's pschye is just like the weather. When people are removed and antisocial we are described as being harsh and cold, yet when people are effervesant and talkative they are said to have a sunny disposition and a warm smile. The parallels that society draws from the world are exibited in "Ethan Frome" by Edith Wharton. When the narrator of the story waits for Ethan to arrive so that he may arrive at his train, he thinks to himself that Ethan "is not the kind of main to be turned from his business by any commotion of the elements." This mention of the weather at this point of the story alludes to the fact that no matter what went on in the house with Mattie and Zeena and how much they made him suffer emotionally, Ethan would always provide for them. In this way the weather is used to show that Ethan is a reliable man and he will carry on through it all. Another account in the novella of the use of weather to enhance the mood or character of the story is when the weather is overcast and icy. Ethan sends Jotham Powell to drive Zeena to the Flats while the clouds represent the tension in the relationship between Zenna and Ethan, the brutal cold and mention of ice is the most ehancing attribute. The icy conditions mirror the lack of warmth in the parting of Zeena and Ethan. Instead of a typical marriage where the husband and wife say cheerful things about the return,yet there was nothing said as Zeena left. This shows how the weather is used to mirror emotion in real life as well as literature.
ReplyDeleteWeather plays a major role in the of society in regions all over the world. Edith Wharton makes it a major point in Ethan Frome to bring forth the harshness of the cold, dreary weather in the New England town of Starkfield. Throughout the story, Wharton uses the weather not only as a physical setting of the town, but also as a symbol of the struggles that Ethan faces throughout. Wharton uses the harshness of the weather in the town to magnify Ethan’s struggles throughout his life, and the harsh setting adds yet another obstacle that Ethan is forced to overcome. In fact, Wharton exposes the fact that Ethan knows the climate and weather of Starkfield offers a “hard life” for anyone who is not used to it. Ethan worried that Mattie would hate “the cold and loneliness” of the place (Wharton 50). This explanation means that Ethan recognizes that the weather is an obstacle that must be overcome, and it also shows that the weather is something that wears on Ethan’s mind. The fact that he took special notice to how Mattie “shivered with cold when the northerly gales shook the thin clapboards” the first winter she was in Starkfield, shows not only that Ethan is very concerned about Mattie, but also that the weather is a constant reminder of the struggles he faces throughout the story. The fact that he must live in the very cold temperatures while dealing with his other problems certainly wears down Ethan over time.
ReplyDeleteI think that everybody is definitely on the right track!
ReplyDeleteI don't doubt for a minute that boredom and depression were part of Ethan's mental standing at the time of the events. Furthermore, in reference to the question, I definitely think that the weather played a role in Ethan's depression. Mattie represents more than just the other woman; she's like a symbol of spring time. She's fresh-faced and healthy, two things that Zeena was not and Ethan was looking for. I think that his boredom with Zeena and depression brought on by a failing marriage and bleak weather served as catalysts for his affair.
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Weather plays an important role when talking about emotions and feelings. The cold dreary weather of Starkfield, the typically chill climate of New England, presents an opportunity to see the effects and portrayal of emotions between the characters of Edith Wharton's Ethan Frome. Just imagine how we feel during cold spells in Hampton Road which is a small freezing compared to the fridged cold in New England, during cold days one want to be inside (isolated) and warm by a soothing fire. When Ethan takes Mattie out for their sled ride he had promised her before her train left, Edith describes the snow as, "so pure that the tiny tracks of wood-animals had left on it intricate lace-like patterns, (121)" Snow, very common in the climate, shows just how complex Ethan has made his life, the snow, by the patterns of the animals, his affair with Mattie and his choices soon to follow ending with the accident. This complex pattern in the snow shows how Ethan has complicated his lifestyle and from then on would never be the same. His cold dreary lifestyle led him to stray and succumb to the pressure of his whims for Mattie, to go so far as too attempt to kill himself because of his ever present unhappiness. However, his plan to fix everything, failed leaving him stuck far worse than he had been in the past. He enters the house with the narrator to find both Zeena and Mattie sitting in the kitchen and says, 'My, it's cold here! (135)' His relationships with both the women have turned sour and cold, representing the chill he feels as he enters the house, knowing he will live the rest of his life with his failure and unhappiness.
ReplyDeleteNature has always had a profound affect on the human mind, body, and soul. We come from the earth, we are tied to the earth, and we go back to the earth when we die. Edith Wharton's "Ethan Frome" illustrates this concept of human interaction with our environment, and the physical and psychological influence it has on us. Ethan, is a direct reflection of the harsh and relentless cold that has seeped into his every pore, to the very core of his being. "Something bleak and unapproachable in his face" reflects the constant battery of obstacles that he has faced in his life.(11) The bleak and cold life that Starkfield has provided him, is yet another obstacle that he has to face, and adds to the physical manifestation of the weather within him. "He seemed part of the mute melancholy landscape, an incarnation of its frozen woe"(19) Ethan is the physical embodiment of the land and the harsh climate from which he was born. He is trapped by his circumstance like he seems to be trapped in the endless snow and ice. The weather has also had an incredibly detrimental affect on his ability to survive and provide for his wife. The winter has taken everything out of the land and left it barren, leaving a struggling Ethan. Overall the barren landscape has taken everything from Ethan and he has failed in his struggle to conquer it. It has manifested itself physically and psychologically and he is unable to overcome his circumstances. Maybe "he's been in Starkfield too many winters".(14).
ReplyDeleteUsually when one wakes up to a dreary, gray morning, he or she does not want to do anything but see the inside of his or her eyelids. The winter weather of Starkfield's New England climate serves as a driving force of Ethan Frome's stagnant life. At first glimpse, the snow seems to be peaceful and beautiful as the narrator makes his way. As young Ethan Frome enters the story, the view of the wintery weather changes, swinging more towards gloom, remorse, and depression. As he walks, "an effect produced on Frome was rather of a complete absence fo atmosphere, as though nothing less tenuous than ether intervened" between him and the snowy ground (28). Because his father died, Ethan was not able to continue his education, losing all sights of becoming anything greater than a farm boy. Frome and the fellow inhabitants of Starkfield lose themselves in the snow after sixth months of suffering and boredom. Wharton's use of New England's harsh winter climate truly epitimizes how we as human beings are affected by nature and its drastic changes,whether through our emotions or actions.
ReplyDeleteEdith Wharton sets her novel in the bleak and dreary town of Starkfield during the wintertime. This setting is reflected throughout her novel not only through the physical setting but also the characters words, thoughts, and even emotions. The wintertime sets the tone for Ethan’s conflicted and isolated mood. Ethan is constantly battling between what he wishes and what is right or socially acceptable; he is wishes to be with Mattie and be adventurous like springtime but he is with Zeena and feels the gloom of winter. In fact, Ethan admits that he wouldn’t have probably married Zeena “if his mother had died in spring instead of winter” (59). When his mother passed he felt lonely and need Zeena to fill the “hole”. “After the funeral, when he saw her preparing to go away, he was seized with an unreasonable dread of being alone on the farm; and before he knew what he was doing he asked her to stay there with him” (59). This connection of emotion to the season and their connotations is an idea Wharton effectively incorporated throughout the novella.
ReplyDeleteEthan is continuously beaten down by the weather both figuratively and literally. From the beginning of the novel the tone of the winter is set in stone. Ethan has “been in Starkfield [for] to many winters”(6). The winter automatically acquires a bad connotation as it sounds as if Ethan hates the winter. This is later reemphasized the narrator describes, “when winter shut down on Starkfield, and the village lay under sheet of snow...I begin to see what life there-or rather its negation-must have been in Ethan Frome’s young manhood” (7). The reader sees for a second how Ethan first appreciated winter’s loveliness, but this appreciation quickly turns to hatred. Ethan understands how people have been constantly beaten by the weather. The winter ultimately proves to be Ethan’s downfall. His tragic sled “accident” is caused by the very wintry weather. Winter slowly degrades the human mind into a depressing mood. Mattie’s request to run the sled into the elm tree shows signs of this. The winter weather clearly has a strong impact on the human mind and body, and plays an important role in Edith Wharton, Ethan Frome.
ReplyDeleteHumans are tied to the earth in many ways. The earth provides and takes away things essential for human survival, so if the earth is warm and bright and nourishing humans, humans will be happy. In the bitter cold winters when nature retreats into itself, humans are left on the earth, unable to hibernate and sleep away the cruel winter weather with no nourishment from the earth. Times are harder for humans because winter is a time of death, loss, and pain. Our physical reactions to the weather have mixed with our emotional symbolism and connotations of it. In literature, weather and seasons have connoted not just death and rebirth of things in nature, but of anything like relationships, feelings, lifestyles, habits, etc. In Ethan Frome the bleak, desolate climate Ethan lives in is symbolic to his character and his current circumstances in life. He is trapped with Zeena (cold and bitter winter) whom he does not love in the slightest, and all he wants is Mattie (warmth, happiness, and springtime). Ethan sees Zeena and a never ending blizzard of unfulfilled and shattered hopes raining down on his back, and Mattie as a pinprick of light shining into his life giving him hope for a future life of warmth and sunshine. Ethan describes Zeena as being “tall”, “angular (46)” and “sickly (60)”, with a “puckered throat” and a “high boned (46)” and “shut (61)” face, none very complimentary or vibrant like the springtime he needs. His description of Mattie, however, is very youthful and merry with words like “light figure”, “laughing painted lips (30)”, “dreamy (34)”, and “a hopeful young life (32)” showing the vitality and new life still remaining in Mattie, that had long been driven out of the icy, bitter Zeena.
ReplyDeleteEmily- great parallels between the clear night sky and Ethan's clear head and the other affects of the weather on his relationships.
ReplyDeleteJessie- great connection that shows how icy and terrible Ethan and Zeena's relationship is like the cold outside.
Brooks- yes, the burden of the weather is a constant reminder of Ethan's personal burdens.
Jessica- the cold does make one want to be isolated by a fire which explains Ethan's character.
Margaret- great connection between man and nature
Christiana- yes, the snow had captured Ethan in Starkfield.
Allison- you are exactly right, the seasons do affect decisions.
Ray- great observation that winter affects you mentally more than physically.
Virginia- great parallel using Zeena as the cold winter holding Ethan back and Mattie as the spring Ethan longs for.
In Edith Wharton's work "Ethan Frome", the harsh winter draws a parallel to the tough, relentless struggles that Ethan Frome is faced with in his life. As "a wet snow, melting into the sleet, had fallen in the night and turned the roads to glass," Ethan seemed to feel that there was "more wet in the air." During this description Ethan is working. It can be gathered that a wet snow, which is soft and giving, turning into sleet, which is much harder and harsher draws a parallel to the surrounds that Ethan is beginning to endure as his love for Maddie grows and his wife becomes more ill. The night can be interpreted as the darkness and confusion with what Ethan feels that he should do, in terms of love, and what his duty is. The glass road shows that Ethan walks along a fragile path, if he commits to closely to one woman, he will lose the other and he will be cut as he makes his way through a fragmented, shattered, beaten path that ultimately leaves him miserable, like the wet air that blows on him making the working conditions more difficult to endure.
ReplyDeleteIn Ethan Frome, by Edith Wharton, Ethan's life is almost as dull as the environment in which he lives in. The bleak surroundings of the winter atmosphere, are not as joyful as the wonters we may expoerience. In the story, Edith purposely uses this setting to further show the unbearable force of everyday life. To begin with, the name of the town, "Starkfield" is very dull. The Frome farm was even described as "always 'bout as bare's a milkpan when the cats been round"(8). BY the setting being so dull, the inner struggles of the characters were magnified significantly. Along with dealing with the cold weather, Ethan is faced with dealing with the consequences of a love affair. Like the darkness and coldness of the weather, this affair turns him dark on the inside, pushing him further to his attempt to fix things, and further complicating life for himself. In conclusion, the psychologically and physically brutal nature of the winter weather proves to be a seemingly unbearable force on everyday life.
ReplyDeleteWinter: a time where the land can be covered by an angelic blanket, making the earth look pure and as if without troubles, but, if one looks deep enough, signs of death and depression rather than rebirth and rejoice are seen, like "a dead cucumber-vine dangled from the porch like the crape streamer tied to the door for a death" (44). For humans,winter is a time where not even a “morning as clear as crystal”(48) can warm the souls of those buried under the snow. In the novel, Ethan Frome by Edith Wharton, the protagonist understands how humans are beaten by the wrath of harsh winds and freezing temperatures and are worn to points of exhaustion with no hope of warming themselves physically as well as to society. For Ethan, winter is the weight that pushes him down just as his icy wife, Zeena has throughout his life. He longs for spring and the warm embrace that it brings, just as Mattie brings to him. She helps to warm the ice that Zeena has caused to collect over his heart. Winter is a major symbol of depression, defeat, and death in this novel.
ReplyDeleteI also found this quote that i thought was really interesting. It is talking about Ethan asking Zeena to marry him, not out of love, but to ease his lonliness and I thought the final sentence this went really well with this blog: "After the funeral,when he saw her preparing to go away, he was seized with an unreasoning dread of being left alone on the farm; and before he knew what he was doing he had asked her to stay with him. He had often thought since that it would not have happened if his mother had died in spring instead of winter..."
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