Edith Wharton
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Edith Wharton's novella Ethan Frome was first published in 1911. The title character of the book is a poor man who has a sickly wife, Zeena. Ethan is frustrated in his efforts to help his wife as well as in his inability to express his love for her young cousin, Mattie. Because of his poverty and social conditioning, Ethan is trapped "into a world of self destruction" ("Women and Literature: ..." 48). However, Ethan Frome is not the only character who suffers during the story. Both Zeena and Mattie are also trapped by social conditions. In fact, the plight of these women is made worse by the fact that they are never given a chance to express how they feel. The strict male point of view in the narration of Ethan Frome helps reflect the treatment that women experienced during that time in history. Edith Wharton is one of the most important women writers in American literature. Her original name was Edith Newbold Jones, and she was born in New York City in 1862. Her family was both wealthy and aristocratic and she was raised to think of herself as a member of "the American elite" (Joslin 2). The idea of making a living as a writer was frowned upon by Edith's family. Nevertheless, she began writing at an early age and her parents paid to have her first book of poetry published when she was only sixteen years old (Filbert & Gubar 1167-1168). The famous poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow was impressed by Edith's work and he helped to get her poems published in magazine
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gine only one way of escaping from his dilemma. This occurs when Mattie and Ethan make the decision to commit suicide together by running their sled into the large elm tree. However, even this effort turns out to be futile. After the "accident," Ethan's problems are simply doubled because he is burdened by two sickly women instead of only one. This ironic ending emphasizes the overall theme that there is no escape from the restrictions of society.
It is interesting to note that Ethan Frome is one the few books by Wharton "with a man for a central character" (Women and Literature 48). In her fictional works, she was generally interested in expressing how women are repressed in a male dominated society. This theme of the repression of women is accentuated by the fact that Ethan Frome is told strictly from a male point of view. Just as women were treated as second class citizens during that time in history, the perspective in the story implies that the women have no input into their own lives. Zeena, for example, is a woman whose only means of personal expression is through illness. When she first marries Ethan, Zeena has her own dreams for making her life better. However, she soon finds herself trapped in the same feel
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Approximate Word count = 2982
Approximate Pages = 12 (250 words per page)
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