What does Mattie Silver look like?
The narrator describes her, Her hair was as gray as her companion’s, her face as bloodless and shriveled, but amber-tinted, with swarthy shadows sharpening the nose and hollowing her temples.
What plans has Ethan and Zeena?
Zeena had agreed to move away from Starkfield with Ethan. The initial plan was to sell the farm and mill and move to a city. Ethan loved nature, but not farming. Engineering was what he planned to study.
Is Ethan Frome a tragic hero?
Ethan is our tragic hero, a man of many faces. He lives with two women, his wife and his wife’s cousin, with whom he was (and maybe still is) in love. But tragic hero isn’t the only way to look at Ethan. …
Why does Mattie live with Ethan?
Why has Mattie come to live with Ethan and his wife Zeena? Mattie has come to live with Ethan and Zeena because she has come to help out with house work. At this point, Mattie has been living with them for one year.
What favor does Ethan ask of Andrew Hale?
Frantically searching for a solution, Ethan decides again to ask Andrew Hale for the advance on the lumber, feeling that Hale would relent if he thought that the money would make a difference in Zeena’s health. With the money, Ethan decides, he will be able to run away with Mattie and start a new life elsewhere.
What is there about Ethan Frome that interests the narrator in the prologue?
Why does Ethan Frome interest the narrator? He is a tall, thin man with a noticable limp and a scar on his forehead.. No one in Starkfield seems to be able or willing to give the narrator ethan’s full story.
What happens at the end of Ethan Frome?
Instead of finding escape in suicide, he and Mattie have ended up in a state of living death, in which all Mattie’s vitality has been leeched away, and she has transformed into a carbon copy of her former opposite, Zeena.
Is Ethan Frome based on a true story?
Wharton likely based the story of Ethan and Mattie’s sledding experience on an accident that she had heard about in 1904 in Lenox, Massachusetts. Five people total were involved in the real-life accident, four girls and one boy. It is among the few works by Wharton with a rural setting.
Is Zeena really sick?
Zeena is constantly going to different towns in search of more remedies. She is not actually sick, but every time she goes she discovers new symptoms. She hears of other peoples problems and begins to accept them as her own. Furthermore, she makes Ethan financially stressed through her purchases.
Who is the antagonist in Ethan Frome?
Zeena Frome
What is the climax of Ethan Frome?
climax Ethan and Mattie confess their love for each other and decide to commit suicide by sledding into a large tree. falling action Ethan and Mattie regain consciousness after crashing into the elm; Zeena takes both of them in and cares for them into old age.
What characteristics of Ethan Frome attract the narrator’s attention what does the narrator learn about Ethan Frome that surprises him?
the narrator learns that Frome likes books and knows how to read a little, also that Frome is mad at himself for his own ignorance. He also learned that Frome is punctual, quiet, and lonely.
Are Ethan and Zeena cousins?
Yes, Ethan and Zeena are cousins. They first met when Zeena came to Starkfield to help look after Ethan’s sickly mother.
How does the narrator learn about Ethan Frome?
The narrator of Edith Wharton’s Ethan Frome comes to visit Starkfield and hears about the story of the Ethan Frome from numerous people. The narrator claims to have heard the story, “bit by bit, from various people.” Through the gossip and truths of the town, the narrator is able to construct a picture of Ethan Frome.
What is wrong with Zeena in Ethan Frome?
She has false teeth and her hair is kept in place with crimping pins. She is asthmatic and “sickly.” She speaks in a plaintive, whiny drawl. Zeena is seven years older than Ethan.