Liza Nguyen Mrs. Zoratti AP Literature/Per.

0 7 June 2013

Edith Wharton & Ethan Frome The line between fantasy and reality is not explicit, and there are times when one's fantasy is nothing more than a complex entanglement of his or her perception of reality. When fantasy and reality collide, ones world becomes both terrifying and exulting. Such was the case when Edith Whartons romantic lifestyle conflicted deeply with her pessimism on role of women in society. As time progressed, Whartons own life was incorporated into her novel Ethan Frome, a story about a man caught between his own desires and the entrapping standards of society. Wharton weaves a story uncannily similar to her own real life, including the teachings of her mentor Henry James combined with the author's pessimistic view on life, she uses irony to develop not just a novel, but an encounter that pierces the hearts of readers and will leave ripples of melancholy and nostalgia in the world.

Q #1: How has Wharton's life influenced the novel Ethan Frome? The novel Ethan Frome contains several components that reflect Whartons personality. Her character Ethan Frome becomes an outlet for her inner turmoil, and the agonizing pain he feels in the story reflects her own harrowing sense of misery. Born in New York in 1862, Wharton lived a sheltered life where she was regarded as higher-born and superior to others, but soon found that the world in which she lived was not as romantic and ideal as she had hoped; as a result, she began writing immensely, and fell into the acquaintance of a fellow writer, Henry

Nguyen 2 James. In the years to come James would influence Wharton like no other, to the point where she is renowned today as a disciple of his (Stuckey). Whereas James isolated his character to allow analysis of a fundamental problem, Wharton enjoyed placing her characters into social situations dictated by an unreasonable society (Stuckey). Such is the case in Ethan Frome, where the protagonist falls in love with someone other than his wife, and fears the repercussions of society. With this writing style, she places her mirror image, Ethan Frome, into the crux of his problems what he wants, he cannot ever hope to obtain due to societys impression that his desires are wrong and sinful, and the fear of being judged and ridiculed by the members of society for his yearning parallels Whartons own life, transcending into readers themselves, and tapping into the fundamental fear of being mocked and scorned. Almost an exact parallel, Wharton encountered a single experience in her life in which she undoubtedly based her novel, Ethan Frome. In 1911, Wharton fell in love with an American journalist living in Paris, [but at the same time] felt terribly for breaking her marriage vows, which she took seriously (Stuckey). This single event became the entire transit of the protagonist in her novel, Ethan Frome, for he too is unhappily wed and falls in love with another. The remarkable likeness in which these two figures find themselves begs the question: Which of the two are in fact, the true Edith Wharton? As similarities accumulate, Ethan Fromes pain and suffering in the novel can assuredly be seen as Whartons own. The novel encompasses the story as a flashback, a nostalgic reminiscence of the encounter, where Ethan Frome knows, just as much as Wharton, that he has 'been in a dream, and this is the only [time with my love] we'll ever have together'...[where] the return to reality was [painful]... and his body and brain ached... (Wharton 83) much in the same way that Whartons affair with her journalist was intense and brief, but one of the happiest times of her life (Stuckey). With their lives running parallel,

Nguyen 3 Wharton composes a hauntingly aching story of her greatest moments of happiness, catching readers ablaze on the climax of her joy and leaving them crushed as the dream-like story comes to an end.

Q #2: How does the author use irony and style to enhance the story? Within the story itself, Wharton incorporates irony to portray how the world is against Ethan Frome, and the regretful fate that awaits him as he pursues his own desires. In the beginning of the novel, the three main characters, Mattie, Zeena, and Ethan Frome all play their respective roles; Zeena is Ethan Frome's wife, who had always been what [the town] called 'sickly' (Wharton 31), while Mattie, who arrives to take care of Zeena, is the object of his affection, for she is everything he never knew, a girl with an eye to see and an ear to hear: He could show her things and tell her things, and taste the feeling that all he imparted left long reverberations and echoes he could wake at will (Wharton 29). With the two contrasting so heavily, Wharton writes the two females as symbols of the different roles that women may play in society throughout their lives young and optimistic, eager to learn and absorb the wonders of the world, and somber and pragmatic, more rational than fanciful, and unyielding to the spiritual aspect of the world. By enunciating their characteristics, Wharton emphasizes the ironic situation in which they are placed at the end of the novel where Mattie is crippled and taken care of by Zeena, who bears with Mattie [wonderfully] (Wharton 156) whereas before she had shown jealousy [over] Mattie... grumbling with her inefficiency (Wharton 31). Mattie herself has soured and assumes the role that Zeena once held, and the irony in the reversal of their roles reveals the duality of women, and the ease in which their nature may change. Frome loses the chance to be happy with either woman, for the change has ruined their relationship with him, and

Nguyen 4 he too has been crippled, literally and mentally, by the chance he took to fulfill his longings. By isolating her characters into a microcosm of society, Wharton is also able to capture the plight in which Ethan Frome finds himself, and preserve the condescending nature of society, so that the social dilemma in which the protagonist finds himself may connect to readers of all generations. Societal pressures push the characters into action, much in the way Wharton herself was forced to cave to social norms; Ethan Frome, for all his longing, is reminded of the fear that Mattie is expected to marry by his own wife, and that apprehension forces a throng of disregarded hints and menaces [to weave] their cloud about his brain (Wharton 35), and eventually causes him to take action and pull Mattie closer to him. The closer the two gravitate towards one another, however, the more they are reminded of society's domineering intrusion upon their lives. When the two are allowed one night together, Frome cannot help but look upon his wife's belongings and realize that she'll [be here] herself this time tomorrow... I've been in a dream... (Wharton 83), and they end the night with his realization that he had not even touched [Mattie's] hand (Wharton 85) even though his love for her threatens to tear him apart in its longing and desire. With society leering over their actions, the two cannot bear to live with the fear of being humiliated and scorned by those around them, and the drastic measures that they take to be together reflect what Wharton herself must have been conflicted about as she, too, felt the swamping fear of being ridiculed and devalued by the society in which she lived. In both cases, the burden that society places on the individual in respect to their own pursuit of happiness is debilitating, and Frome's case, ends with more misery and woe than one should expect in life.

Q #3: How has the novel impacted the world? Not only was the novel an autobiographical representation of Wharton's own life, it was

Nguyen 5 also a compelling story of a ruined man's pursuit of love that was both inspiring and haunting in its nature. After publication of the novel in 1911, the story of Ethan Frome gained national attention, and was revered as a classic, a story [with] a skillfully drawn triangle in a capsule (Poore), and the Ghost of Ethan Frome was forever seen as a book that would endure the test of time. The unforgettable circumstances in which the protagonist found himself was compelling, and the book was adapted into a theatre production, and the elements of misery and heartache imbedded within the story eventually came to represent the skill and art of the American Theatre (Atkinson). In its entirety, the story of Ethan Frome was a tragedy, yet one that spoke of hope and the possibility of dreams, and that yearning woven in the novel was what pulled so many people into the story. With the waves of publicity the novel was receiving, it was without a doubt that the torturous descent into ruination that Ethan Frome underwent would forever be epitomized and remembered by the world. Not only would the world remember Ethan Frome, but Edith Wharton as well, especially her cynical view on women and the helplessness that encompassed her very nature as she struggled to find her own cornerstone of happiness in the world. From her work, it was obvious that Wharton was a realist, not a romantic; she found that sexism ran rampant in the world, and dedicated her life to exploit it, savagely condemn[ing] the annihilating effects of social conditions...[denouncing] a sexual caste system that debilitates both sexes, especially women (Robbins). With her foreboding outlook on life, Wharton was still able to weave a story that ultimately spoke of hope, though Ethan Fromes hopes were ultimately dashed in the end. Even with this, Wharton created a place for readers to momentarily find solace, and to feel, if only for a brief moment, the utter grandeur of happiness, and it is this comfort offered in her novel that insures the world will always recall her work and her frame of mind in which she wrote it.

Nguyen 6 Though Wharton has written several works, she will forever be remembered for the exceptional skill in which she wrote Ethan Frome. Her novel encompasses skill and dexterity to compose a story based off her own life that would forever echo into the abyss of the world, and the words she writes will forever fly to the hearts of her readers, to sing to them of the frailty of life and the courage that one can have in the pursuit of happiness. Word Count: 1737

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Works Cited Atkinson, Brooks. "UNDER WINTER SKIES; 'Ethan Frome' Represents the Skill and Art of the American Theatre." New York Times 02 02 1936, Page 11. Web. 2 Jun. 2013. <http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.htmlres=F20C1EFE3E5F167B93C0A91 789D85F428385F9>. Poore, Charles. "Books of the Times; The Ghost of Ethan Frome." New York Times 27 09 1937, Page 19. Web. 2 Jun. 2013. Robbins, Betty. "EDITH WHARTON; 'A Realist, Not a Romantic'." New York Times 08 22 1993, n. pag. Web. 6 Jun. 2013. <http://www.nytimes.com/1993/08/22/theater/l-edith-whartona-realist-not-a-romantic-852593.html>.

Stuckey, W. J. "Edith Wharton." DISCovering Authors. Detroit: Gale, 2003. Student Resources In Context. Web. 6 June 2013.
Wharton, Edith. Ethan Frome. New York: Signet Classic, 1987. Print.