Review of Ethan Frome

Review of Ethan Frome

Ethan Frome,a fiction written by Edith Wharton, causes highly controversial

effect after its publication in 1911. There are three main roles in this book .Ethan is a mute man who doesn’t like to talk very much and isn’t good at expressing himself. His wife Zeena which Ethan doesn't love is like a shrew with bad temper.Mattie is a beautiful,energetic and tender woman.The story tells a poor man's marrige affairs and fate.He never loves his wife but fell in love with his wife's cousin,which was not admitted by the society.So finally he chose to suicide with Mattie together but failed.What left him was a lifetime of disability endurance under the attendance with Zeena and the painful heart on his life.

But what caused his bleak life?I would like to say that his personality,his family and the society doomed with his fate.

First,The marriage between Ethan and Zeena is a mistake from the beginning. “He had often thought since that it would not have happened if his mother had died in spring instead of winter.” This is Ethan’s thought on her marriage with Zeena.He married Zeena, a woman seven years older than him, just for out of loneliness after his mother died.The age and experience gap between them means that Zeena has more authority in deciding family affair,which Ethan didn't like so.

Second factor is the society.Ethan’s emotional dependence on Zeena was temporal and when he came across a woman he loves, that is Mattie,who came to the Ethan's home to aid Zeena when she grew sick.He wanted to escape from the existing marriage and stay with Mattie.But the patriarchy ideology built by the society was deep in Ethan’s heart and the divorce affairs were very rare.So leaving his wife made Ethan feel shame.The happy days didn't last long,when Zeena found the dubious relationship between her husband and her cousin,she chose to get Mattie out of the house.Ethan had no solution to leave Mattie also no courage to left his wife,which made him so suffering.The only option was die for love.

Third reason is his character,which i think the most important contribution to Ethan's failure.There were a lot of people in Starkfield,but why did he own the

extramely painful life?I would love to say that he had unwillingness to fight, he always immersed in his fantasy for a long time and seemed lake of action ability.Then,he had no strong heart to endure the difficulties of his family.As the result ,he married the person he didn't love just because he felt lonely and need a person to accompany him to let him firm.This is not only unfair to himself but to his wife.

What else is he was that weak to against the society,he even can not protect the one he fell in love with just because he felt shame and was afraid of not giving Mattie a weathy life.Some people might say that due to his responsibility for his family,he didn't divorce in the end.What I want to say is,If he was so like people think,why would he suicide?Could it be said that this is the responsible action?So the end of story is they did the most negative thing-suicide to end their life but failed.The irony is that they would live in life with the help of Zeena.

Sometimes I consider that if Ethan pick to be strong,will everything be different?

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