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Ethan Frome - Jstor CHAPTER 1 - Coggle Diagram
Ethan Frome - Jstor CHAPTER 1
1.1 THE UNTOLD STORY OF ZEENA FROME
Edith Wharton - literary realism reshaped decades following the Civil war Adapted features of
naturalistic features
in Ethan Frome
Attentive to pressure of circumstance on character
Whartons world: the environment - natural, cultural or situational - decides people fate creates a sense of 'helplessness' and 'powelessness'
Book set in fictional New England town of Starkfield, Massachussetts
Story of a taciturn farmer (unnamed) whose dreams end in a tragic way
Is a frame story ( prologue + epilogue) is a 'frame' around the main story
Frame: narrators vision of the tragedy - takes place 20 years after the events + written in 1srt person
Story: Describes 3 + 1/2 days before and including Ethan+ mattiies sledding accident - written in 3rd person (omniscient narration)
Intro + conc - told from narrator POV - reader follows how Ethan thought + imagined things happeneed
Zeena Frome
Mean
Grumpy
Sickly figure
Stops husband from accomplishing hopes and dreams
Stops him from loving the women he most loves (her cousin)
She trapped most of his adult life in silence and loneiness
Not a center of interest in novel
Framed as the villan by the male narrator
Abuses an deserts her cousin 'Mattie Silver'
Harman gow described: professional nurse + greatest hand at doctoring in the country
Framed
to be held resoposible of Ethans failure in life
Ethan Frome
Central protagonist
Mattie Silver
Zeena Frome cousin
Came to Frome farm to take car of Zeena and the house
Later becomes paralyzed
Chapter 1 - switches from 1st to 3rd narrator through the eyes of Ethan Frome
Narrator makes his masculine partiality clear
Harman Gow (retired stagecoach driver) + Mrs. Ned Hale (landlady of the narrator) narrators main source of info
After what narrator is told he fills the gaps with his own judgement
Narrator intrigued about Ethan wants to penetrate hidden past
Forced to shelter at Ethans home during a storm
1.2 ZEENA, YOU ARE ALREADY AN OLD WOMAN!
Zeena described with an apalling physical appearence to justify affer between her husband and ger cousin
tall, unfemenine, overly-thinm protuding bones, flat chest
7 years older
unattractive + premature agedness contribute to sharp opposition btween Zeena and Mattie
old, cold, unappealing
spoke only to complain about things not in his power to remedy
Infertility - described as 'milky'
her hair visualised as always crimped and confined with pins - represents imprisionment in Frome farm
hair could represent her repressed femininity in her loveless marriage
Mattie descibed as youthful vigor and beauty, sparkling personality and a name to match
Mattie Silver
attractive
arouses passion
Crimson ribbon + red makes her more attractive
Ethan thinks her hair is one of the most beautiful things
represents beauty, love and sexuality
Zeena leaves town overnight + Ethan fantises about Mattie
1.3 WISH YOU WERE DEAD, ZEENA!
Ethan returns home with Mattie in his arms + fantasises about his wifes death
Zeena associated with coldness and death to perfectly justify Ethans desire to cheat on his wife
Ethan longs to get rid of his wife to marry Mattie and live a
happily ever after
together
Foreshadows Mattie's fate as dying in Frome farm entrapped in isolation and misery
Ethan has always desired chane and freedom
Whilst being in love with Mattie he sees his surroundings as brand new
1.4 I'M A GREAT DEAL SICKER THAN YOU THINK
Male narrator frames Zeena as a women who 'needed the help of a stronger arm'
Makes reader suspicious that she might be a hypochondriacs
When they first met everything was okay
There must have been sometime where they enjoyed eachothers company, had mutual feelings for eachother
All the story action unfolds in winter - expression/reflection of their 'burried lives' at Frome farm
Zeena mightve married as fir some women marriage is the only way they can provide a home for themselves
Ethan's fathers passes away + mother fell ill
Zeena must of felt a lost of identity as she used to live quite close to the railway meaning that she could travel to the city much more often
Now lives a life of isolation
Dragged into the Frome farm, Zeena
victimized
under lonely conditions
When she becomes Ethans wife, she becomes bitter, taciturn and spiteful
She doses herself with quantities of various medicines
Husband accuses her to attract attention through reminders of her poor health
She becomes silent damaged by the isolation and frustration of her days at the farm
Lack of possibility of any communication between them
Her feelings are beyond male comprehension - demostrates the limitations of the male narrator
1.5 I GUESS YOU´RE ALWAYS LATE, NOW YOU SHAVE EVERY MORNING
Zeena suggest Mattie join dance night
to loosen contrast life she had then and now in isolation at Frome farm
never shown jealousy towards Mattie
Suspicious of her husbands secret feelings towards Mattie
starts experiencing insecurity, anxiety, fear, slepessness and depression
Abrupt decision to go look for a doctor
Seek a way to get rid of Mattie before its too late for marriage
Framed as a mean callous women that kicks her paralyzed cousin out of her house
Narrator potrayes Zeena as a witch because of her 'evil laughter'
Zeena also has a black cat which conributes to the idea of witchcraft
Cat is Zeenas invisible presence
Reminds Ethan and Mattie of Zeenas existance
Supernatural extension, the cat nearly caused Mattie to trip over + jumped between Mattie and Ethan and sat in Zeenas empty chair
Zeena hides broken pickle dish away - another sigh of feeling repressed as a wife
Mattie always supported by Ethan
Ethan did Matties chores
Ethan shows indifference towards his wife
Lies to not take her to the train station to avoid a long car ride with her
Ethan realises his wife is aware of eveything that goes on around her
Strarted shaving since Mattie moved into the house with them
Even the cushion Zeena made for ethan he finds uncomfortable and he throws it across the floor - growing dislike and rejection for his wife
Mattie sits on Zeenas chair - foreshadows her destiny to spend her rest of her life sat on the same chair as an invalid
Mattie tries to impress ethan with a pretty dinner table - attempt to express her feelings of love and passion towards him
Responsible for breaking the picke disha and the marriage
Only moment narrator symapthises with Zeena
Zeena discovers her smashed pickle dish - most treasured wedding gift
It was red. Red = love + passion
Shattered show shattering of marriage
Most treasured wedding gift has been used by Mattie
1.6 WHY, WHERE ARE YOU GOING ZEENA
Limitation of narrators vision
Zeena seems to be the stronger character despite her negative potrayal
Zeena known as quite competent in her profesional job as a nurse
Talented and trained in housekeping + powerful presence in household - makes ethan 'shamed'
A solid force in the household
She ends up looking after both her husband who does not love her and her paralyzed cousin
Traditional gender roles
Ethan proves to be inefficient, weak and inarticulate as a man
Blames his wife for his own failure and incapacity to act when necessary
Zeena - efficiency and smartness + has an acute sense of observation
Zeena arrives home early + mentions intention to expel Mattie from the household
Ethan unable to respond to the decision
Remains passive, indecisive and inarticulate
Believes Zeena has taken everything he had from him
Filled with emotional turmoil - separating him from who he loves most
Suicide attempt only proactive move
Cowardice
Mattie suggested the suicide attempt
Zeena exposes ethans lie and causes him to feel weak and inefficient once again
People are gossiping in town about Ethan and Mattie - she should have expelled her a long time ago
1.7 IT'S A PITY, THOUGH...THAT THEY'RE ALL SHUT UP THERE IN THAT ONE KITCHEN
Shocking for the reader that the women complaining at the start of the book is actually Mattie as she is whinning in pain
Unnamed male narrator playing with the mind of the readers
Fooling with their set beliefs and prejudices
Unrealiability of the narrator
Wharton critizing male point of view and perspective towards women
Nobody knows Zeenas thoughts
Zeena secret sufferer of the Frome story
Isolation in New England
Women - confined to houses with domestic chores
Men - more opportunities to socialise when they are out for business