At multiple points throughout Ethan Frome, Wharton uses the motif of living death to emphasize the gloomy atmosphere of Starkfield and foreshadow the novel's tragic conclusion.
The motif is first introduced during the Prologue, when the Narrator describes Ethan as a "ruin of a man" who "looks as if he was dead and in hell," implying that although Ethan is physically alive, he is metaphorically dead. The motif recurs later in the Prologue, when the Narrator sees the Frome farmhouse and notices the "black wraith of a deciduous creeper" hanging above the porch. The deciduous vine, which sheds its leaves in the winter, represents the barrenness of the Frome farm and is an ideal symbol for living death—although still alive, the plant appears dead, a concept reinforced by the phrase "black wraith.
The juxtaposition of life and death continues in Chapter 2 when Ethan and Mattie pass by the Frome family graveyard on their way back to the farmhouse, and Ethan is reminded of his mortality:
[W]henever he went in or out of his gate he thought with a shiver: "I shall just go on living here till I join them."
Ethan must pass by the graveyard every time he enters or leaves his house, which means that day of his life carries with it a reminder of his eventual death. This preoccupation with death is amplified by the recurring image of the vine:
A dead cucumber-vine dangled from the porch like the crape streamer tied to the door for a death, and the thought flashed through Ethan's brain: "If it were there for Zeena—"
In this passage, a once-living piece of organic material (the vine) is compared to a man-made symbol of death, and astute readers will deduce that this is the same vine that the Narrator sees more than 20 years later, implying that farmhouse has remained unchanged during that time and reminding them that Ethan's story is destined to end in tragedy.
As the novel continues, Wharton continues to use simile and metaphor and expand the motif of living death. Later in Chapter 2, she likens the interior of Frome farmhouse to tomb by describing the kitchen as having "the deadly chill of a vault." In Chapter 6, the broken pickle-dish is compared to a "dead body," foreshadowing how Ethan and Mattie's bodies will become broken after the accident, dooming them to a state of living death. And in Chapter 9, the darkness and silence of the spruces make it so that Ethan and Mattie seem to be "in their coffins underground." Even though the characters are alive, their surroundings make it seem as though they are already dead and buried, foreshadowing how their fate will be shaped by external circumstances.
In the Epilogue, Mrs. Hale explicitly states that Ethan, Mattie, and Zeena appear to exist in a state of living death:
"[T]he way they are now, I don't see's there's much difference between the Fromes up at the farm and the Fromes down in the graveyard"
Wharton seems to imply that the only thing that separated Ethan from his dead relatives was his ability to actively change his own fate. Since he never exercised this ability, which is only reserved for the living, he has doomed himself to a facsimile of death.
Ethan Frome is filled with foreshadowing. Although Wharton never explicitly states that Ethan and Mattie will be involved in a sledding accident, numerous passages in the novel hint at what is to occur.
Wharton's use of a frame story, which takes place more than 20 years after the accident, creates a lingering sense of foreboding and dramatic irony. The reader knows that Ethan will be involved in a "smash-up" and become permanently disabled, but they don't know when or how. Ethan, by contrast, is totally oblivious of the fate that will eventually befall him.
In addition, at several points throughout the novel, the reader's attention is drawn to the large elm at the bottom of the sledding hill. In Chapter 2, Mattie tells Ethan that Ned Hale and Ruth Varnum narrowly avoided running into the elm, an accident that could have killed them:
Her shiver ran down his arm. "Wouldn't it have been so awful? They're so happy."
Ethan assures Mattie that were the two of them to go sledding, they would encounter no such problem, since Ethan is a more capable driver than Ned. Mattie remains skeptical, but Ethan wins her over:
"That elm is dangerous, though. It ought to be cut down," she insisted.
"Would you be afraid of it, with me?"
"I told you I ain't the kind to be afraid," she tossed back
In Ethan Frome, the relationship between Ned and Ruth is frequently used as a foil for Ethan and Mattie's relationship. While both couples are similarly young and in love, Ned and Ruth are free to marry, and their relationship is socially acceptable. Ethan and Mattie, meanwhile, must hide their desire for one another because Ethan is already married to Zeena. Since it has been established that Ned and Ruth are similar to but overall more fortunate than Ethan and Mattie, the fact that they were able to escape unscathed implies that Ethan and Mattie may not be so lucky. Ethan's overconfidence in his steering abilities, which he boasts about in order to impress Mattie, also signals to the reader that his skills will ultimately fail him.
Ethan and Mattie discuss the elm again in Chapter 5, and Ethan feels confident in his ability to protect Mattie:
"Would you be scared to go down the Corbury road with me on a night like this?" he asked.
Her cheeks burned redder. "I ain't any more scared than you are!"
"Well, I'd be scared, then; I wouldn't do it. That's an ugly corner down by the elm. If a fellow didn't keep his eyes open he'd go plumb into it." He luxuriated in the sense of protection and authority which his words conveyed.
While the earlier mention of the elm and its danger could be dismissed as a mere coincidence, the fact that Wharton continues to draw attention signals to the reader that the sledding hill will become important later on in the narrative. Since the reader knows that Ethan's future disability is the result of a "smash-up," they can likely deduce that he will be injured in a sledding accident.
At several points throughout Ethan Frome, Wharton uses the characters of Ned Hale and Ruth Varnum as foils for Ethan and Mattie.
In Chapter 2, Mattie tells Ethan that the couple was nearly killed in a sledding accident on the Corbury Road, and her tone seems to subtly express her affection for Ethan:
[T]he inflection with which she had said of the engaged couple "They're so happy!" made the words sound as if she had been thinking of herself and him.
Mattie views the relationship between Ned and Ruth as an idealized version of the relationship she has with Ethan, a view that Ethan appears to share. In Chapter 4, when he catches Ruth and Ned kissing each other, his thoughts immediately stray to Mattie, and he recognizes the fundamental difference between the two couples:
What did it matter to Ned Hale and Ruth Varnum is they were caught kissing each other? Everybody in Starkfield knew they were engaged. It pleased Ethan to have surprised a pair of lovers on the spot where he and Mattie had stood with such a thirst for each other in their hearts; but he felt a pang at the thought that these two need not hide their happiness.
Despite the strict cultural rules that govern interactions between men and women when the novel takes place, Ned and Ruth are willing to put these obligations aside in order to express their love. Ethan, meanwhile, is too bound by duty and moral obligation to openly express his affection for Mattie. Ned and Ruth's relationship is also public knowledge and accepted by everyone in the community, so they have no need to hide their desire for one another and are free to marry. Ethan and Mattie's relationship, by contrast, must remain a secret because of Ethan's marriage to Zeena. If it were ever to become public knowledge, both participants would suffer, though the consequences would likely be worse for Mattie, since it would destroy her chance of finding a husband in the future. This passage reminds the reader that Ethan could technically break the rules of society to follow his heart, as Ned and Ruth do, but he chooses not to.
Due to these similarities and differences, Ned and Ruth's near-accident foreshadows Ethan and Mattie's accident at the end of the climax of the novel. Ned and Ruth did not intend to hit the tree at the bottom of the hill, and they both emerge unscathed from their experience. Ethan and Mattie, by contrast, purposefully steer their sled into the tree in an attempt to commit suicide, and both are left permanently disabled. Once again, external forces appear to protect Ned and Ruth while also punishing Ethan and Mattie.
At multiple points throughout Ethan Frome, Wharton uses the motif of living death to emphasize the gloomy atmosphere of Starkfield and foreshadow the novel's tragic conclusion.
The motif is first introduced during the Prologue, when the Narrator describes Ethan as a "ruin of a man" who "looks as if he was dead and in hell," implying that although Ethan is physically alive, he is metaphorically dead. The motif recurs later in the Prologue, when the Narrator sees the Frome farmhouse and notices the "black wraith of a deciduous creeper" hanging above the porch. The deciduous vine, which sheds its leaves in the winter, represents the barrenness of the Frome farm and is an ideal symbol for living death—although still alive, the plant appears dead, a concept reinforced by the phrase "black wraith.
The juxtaposition of life and death continues in Chapter 2 when Ethan and Mattie pass by the Frome family graveyard on their way back to the farmhouse, and Ethan is reminded of his mortality:
[W]henever he went in or out of his gate he thought with a shiver: "I shall just go on living here till I join them."
Ethan must pass by the graveyard every time he enters or leaves his house, which means that day of his life carries with it a reminder of his eventual death. This preoccupation with death is amplified by the recurring image of the vine:
A dead cucumber-vine dangled from the porch like the crape streamer tied to the door for a death, and the thought flashed through Ethan's brain: "If it were there for Zeena—"
In this passage, a once-living piece of organic material (the vine) is compared to a man-made symbol of death, and astute readers will deduce that this is the same vine that the Narrator sees more than 20 years later, implying that farmhouse has remained unchanged during that time and reminding them that Ethan's story is destined to end in tragedy.
As the novel continues, Wharton continues to use simile and metaphor and expand the motif of living death. Later in Chapter 2, she likens the interior of Frome farmhouse to tomb by describing the kitchen as having "the deadly chill of a vault." In Chapter 6, the broken pickle-dish is compared to a "dead body," foreshadowing how Ethan and Mattie's bodies will become broken after the accident, dooming them to a state of living death. And in Chapter 9, the darkness and silence of the spruces make it so that Ethan and Mattie seem to be "in their coffins underground." Even though the characters are alive, their surroundings make it seem as though they are already dead and buried, foreshadowing how their fate will be shaped by external circumstances.
In the Epilogue, Mrs. Hale explicitly states that Ethan, Mattie, and Zeena appear to exist in a state of living death:
"[T]he way they are now, I don't see's there's much difference between the Fromes up at the farm and the Fromes down in the graveyard"
Wharton seems to imply that the only thing that separated Ethan from his dead relatives was his ability to actively change his own fate. Since he never exercised this ability, which is only reserved for the living, he has doomed himself to a facsimile of death.
Over the course of Ethan Frome, Mattie and Zeena are consistently set up as foils of each other. In terms of looks and personality, the two women couldn't be more different. While Zeena is old, pale, sickly, and angular in appearance, Mattie is depicted as young, tanned, healthy, and curvaceous. While Zeena leads a sedentary and housebound lifestyle, Mattie goes into town for dances and picnics. And while Zeena is highly critical of Ethan and holds power over him, Mattie is more traditionally feminine and fills a more appreciative and subservient role.
As a result of these differences, the reader can easily understand why Ethan prefers Mattie to Zeena. But over the course of the novel, Wharton draws attention to several eerie similarities between the two women. For example, both Zeena and Mattie play similar roles in Ethan's life. Zeena arrived at the Frome farmhouse when Ethan was nursing his sick mother, and he latched onto her presence because he desperately wanted companionship. Mattie, meanwhile, comes to Starkfield at a time when Ethan is chafing under the responsibility of caring for his sickly wife, and she too provides him with the companionship he craves.
Despite their obvious physical differences, Zeena and Mattie are also blood relatives, and they so share a few characteristics, which become more striking when Ethan sees them in similar positions and locations. In Chapter 4, for example, Mattie stands in the doorway of the farmhouse holding a lantern, just as Zeena had done the night before, and Ethan is overwhelmed with a sense of déjà vu:
So strange was the precision with which the incidents of the previous evening were repeating themselves that he half expected, when he heard the key turn, to see his wife before him on the threshold; but the door opened, and Mattie faced him.
She stood just as Zeena had stood, a lifted lamp in her hand, against the black background of the kitchen. She held the light at the same level, and it drew out with the same distinctness her slim young throat and the brown wrist no bigger than a child's.
And in Chapter 5, when Mattie sits in Zeena's chair, Ethan momentarily sees Zeena's face on Mattie's body:
As her young brown head detached itself against the patch-work cushion that habitually framed his wife's gaunt countenance, Ethan had a momentary shock. It was almost as if the other face, the face of the superseded woman, had obliterated that of the intruder.
These moments of similarity foreshadow the ending of the novel, when Mattie's accident leads her to become almost identical to Zeena in terms of physical appearance and personality. In the Epilogue, the Narrator describes the two women as looking and sounding the same, and Mrs. Hale confirms that Mattie's disposition has changed to match Zeena's. When the Narrator first hears a woman's voice in the Frome house, he initially cannot tell whether it is Zeena or Mattie who has spoken. He even uses the word "querulous" to describe the tone of Mattie's voice, a word that was used earlier in the novel to describe Zeena.
By first contrasting and then comparing Mattie and Zeena, Wharton implies that, despite their differences, they both suffer as a result of the social expectations that were imposed on women of their time period.
At several points throughout Ethan Frome, Wharton uses the characters of Ned Hale and Ruth Varnum as foils for Ethan and Mattie.
In Chapter 2, Mattie tells Ethan that the couple was nearly killed in a sledding accident on the Corbury Road, and her tone seems to subtly express her affection for Ethan:
[T]he inflection with which she had said of the engaged couple "They're so happy!" made the words sound as if she had been thinking of herself and him.
Mattie views the relationship between Ned and Ruth as an idealized version of the relationship she has with Ethan, a view that Ethan appears to share. In Chapter 4, when he catches Ruth and Ned kissing each other, his thoughts immediately stray to Mattie, and he recognizes the fundamental difference between the two couples:
What did it matter to Ned Hale and Ruth Varnum is they were caught kissing each other? Everybody in Starkfield knew they were engaged. It pleased Ethan to have surprised a pair of lovers on the spot where he and Mattie had stood with such a thirst for each other in their hearts; but he felt a pang at the thought that these two need not hide their happiness.
Despite the strict cultural rules that govern interactions between men and women when the novel takes place, Ned and Ruth are willing to put these obligations aside in order to express their love. Ethan, meanwhile, is too bound by duty and moral obligation to openly express his affection for Mattie. Ned and Ruth's relationship is also public knowledge and accepted by everyone in the community, so they have no need to hide their desire for one another and are free to marry. Ethan and Mattie's relationship, by contrast, must remain a secret because of Ethan's marriage to Zeena. If it were ever to become public knowledge, both participants would suffer, though the consequences would likely be worse for Mattie, since it would destroy her chance of finding a husband in the future. This passage reminds the reader that Ethan could technically break the rules of society to follow his heart, as Ned and Ruth do, but he chooses not to.
Due to these similarities and differences, Ned and Ruth's near-accident foreshadows Ethan and Mattie's accident at the end of the climax of the novel. Ned and Ruth did not intend to hit the tree at the bottom of the hill, and they both emerge unscathed from their experience. Ethan and Mattie, by contrast, purposefully steer their sled into the tree in an attempt to commit suicide, and both are left permanently disabled. Once again, external forces appear to protect Ned and Ruth while also punishing Ethan and Mattie.
Ethan Frome is filled with foreshadowing. Although Wharton never explicitly states that Ethan and Mattie will be involved in a sledding accident, numerous passages in the novel hint at what is to occur.
Wharton's use of a frame story, which takes place more than 20 years after the accident, creates a lingering sense of foreboding and dramatic irony. The reader knows that Ethan will be involved in a "smash-up" and become permanently disabled, but they don't know when or how. Ethan, by contrast, is totally oblivious of the fate that will eventually befall him.
In addition, at several points throughout the novel, the reader's attention is drawn to the large elm at the bottom of the sledding hill. In Chapter 2, Mattie tells Ethan that Ned Hale and Ruth Varnum narrowly avoided running into the elm, an accident that could have killed them:
Her shiver ran down his arm. "Wouldn't it have been so awful? They're so happy."
Ethan assures Mattie that were the two of them to go sledding, they would encounter no such problem, since Ethan is a more capable driver than Ned. Mattie remains skeptical, but Ethan wins her over:
"That elm is dangerous, though. It ought to be cut down," she insisted.
"Would you be afraid of it, with me?"
"I told you I ain't the kind to be afraid," she tossed back
In Ethan Frome, the relationship between Ned and Ruth is frequently used as a foil for Ethan and Mattie's relationship. While both couples are similarly young and in love, Ned and Ruth are free to marry, and their relationship is socially acceptable. Ethan and Mattie, meanwhile, must hide their desire for one another because Ethan is already married to Zeena. Since it has been established that Ned and Ruth are similar to but overall more fortunate than Ethan and Mattie, the fact that they were able to escape unscathed implies that Ethan and Mattie may not be so lucky. Ethan's overconfidence in his steering abilities, which he boasts about in order to impress Mattie, also signals to the reader that his skills will ultimately fail him.
Ethan and Mattie discuss the elm again in Chapter 5, and Ethan feels confident in his ability to protect Mattie:
"Would you be scared to go down the Corbury road with me on a night like this?" he asked.
Her cheeks burned redder. "I ain't any more scared than you are!"
"Well, I'd be scared, then; I wouldn't do it. That's an ugly corner down by the elm. If a fellow didn't keep his eyes open he'd go plumb into it." He luxuriated in the sense of protection and authority which his words conveyed.
While the earlier mention of the elm and its danger could be dismissed as a mere coincidence, the fact that Wharton continues to draw attention signals to the reader that the sledding hill will become important later on in the narrative. Since the reader knows that Ethan's future disability is the result of a "smash-up," they can likely deduce that he will be injured in a sledding accident.
Over the course of Ethan Frome, Mattie and Zeena are consistently set up as foils of each other. In terms of looks and personality, the two women couldn't be more different. While Zeena is old, pale, sickly, and angular in appearance, Mattie is depicted as young, tanned, healthy, and curvaceous. While Zeena leads a sedentary and housebound lifestyle, Mattie goes into town for dances and picnics. And while Zeena is highly critical of Ethan and holds power over him, Mattie is more traditionally feminine and fills a more appreciative and subservient role.
As a result of these differences, the reader can easily understand why Ethan prefers Mattie to Zeena. But over the course of the novel, Wharton draws attention to several eerie similarities between the two women. For example, both Zeena and Mattie play similar roles in Ethan's life. Zeena arrived at the Frome farmhouse when Ethan was nursing his sick mother, and he latched onto her presence because he desperately wanted companionship. Mattie, meanwhile, comes to Starkfield at a time when Ethan is chafing under the responsibility of caring for his sickly wife, and she too provides him with the companionship he craves.
Despite their obvious physical differences, Zeena and Mattie are also blood relatives, and they so share a few characteristics, which become more striking when Ethan sees them in similar positions and locations. In Chapter 4, for example, Mattie stands in the doorway of the farmhouse holding a lantern, just as Zeena had done the night before, and Ethan is overwhelmed with a sense of déjà vu:
So strange was the precision with which the incidents of the previous evening were repeating themselves that he half expected, when he heard the key turn, to see his wife before him on the threshold; but the door opened, and Mattie faced him.
She stood just as Zeena had stood, a lifted lamp in her hand, against the black background of the kitchen. She held the light at the same level, and it drew out with the same distinctness her slim young throat and the brown wrist no bigger than a child's.
And in Chapter 5, when Mattie sits in Zeena's chair, Ethan momentarily sees Zeena's face on Mattie's body:
As her young brown head detached itself against the patch-work cushion that habitually framed his wife's gaunt countenance, Ethan had a momentary shock. It was almost as if the other face, the face of the superseded woman, had obliterated that of the intruder.
These moments of similarity foreshadow the ending of the novel, when Mattie's accident leads her to become almost identical to Zeena in terms of physical appearance and personality. In the Epilogue, the Narrator describes the two women as looking and sounding the same, and Mrs. Hale confirms that Mattie's disposition has changed to match Zeena's. When the Narrator first hears a woman's voice in the Frome house, he initially cannot tell whether it is Zeena or Mattie who has spoken. He even uses the word "querulous" to describe the tone of Mattie's voice, a word that was used earlier in the novel to describe Zeena.
By first contrasting and then comparing Mattie and Zeena, Wharton implies that, despite their differences, they both suffer as a result of the social expectations that were imposed on women of their time period.
At multiple points throughout Ethan Frome, Wharton uses the motif of living death to emphasize the gloomy atmosphere of Starkfield and foreshadow the novel's tragic conclusion.
The motif is first introduced during the Prologue, when the Narrator describes Ethan as a "ruin of a man" who "looks as if he was dead and in hell," implying that although Ethan is physically alive, he is metaphorically dead. The motif recurs later in the Prologue, when the Narrator sees the Frome farmhouse and notices the "black wraith of a deciduous creeper" hanging above the porch. The deciduous vine, which sheds its leaves in the winter, represents the barrenness of the Frome farm and is an ideal symbol for living death—although still alive, the plant appears dead, a concept reinforced by the phrase "black wraith.
The juxtaposition of life and death continues in Chapter 2 when Ethan and Mattie pass by the Frome family graveyard on their way back to the farmhouse, and Ethan is reminded of his mortality:
[W]henever he went in or out of his gate he thought with a shiver: "I shall just go on living here till I join them."
Ethan must pass by the graveyard every time he enters or leaves his house, which means that day of his life carries with it a reminder of his eventual death. This preoccupation with death is amplified by the recurring image of the vine:
A dead cucumber-vine dangled from the porch like the crape streamer tied to the door for a death, and the thought flashed through Ethan's brain: "If it were there for Zeena—"
In this passage, a once-living piece of organic material (the vine) is compared to a man-made symbol of death, and astute readers will deduce that this is the same vine that the Narrator sees more than 20 years later, implying that farmhouse has remained unchanged during that time and reminding them that Ethan's story is destined to end in tragedy.
As the novel continues, Wharton continues to use simile and metaphor and expand the motif of living death. Later in Chapter 2, she likens the interior of Frome farmhouse to tomb by describing the kitchen as having "the deadly chill of a vault." In Chapter 6, the broken pickle-dish is compared to a "dead body," foreshadowing how Ethan and Mattie's bodies will become broken after the accident, dooming them to a state of living death. And in Chapter 9, the darkness and silence of the spruces make it so that Ethan and Mattie seem to be "in their coffins underground." Even though the characters are alive, their surroundings make it seem as though they are already dead and buried, foreshadowing how their fate will be shaped by external circumstances.
In the Epilogue, Mrs. Hale explicitly states that Ethan, Mattie, and Zeena appear to exist in a state of living death:
"[T]he way they are now, I don't see's there's much difference between the Fromes up at the farm and the Fromes down in the graveyard"
Wharton seems to imply that the only thing that separated Ethan from his dead relatives was his ability to actively change his own fate. Since he never exercised this ability, which is only reserved for the living, he has doomed himself to a facsimile of death.
