Opening Prelude

Summary:

There is an author's introduction to Ethan Frome, written by Wharton in 1922. It is included in most editions of the novel. In her introduction Wharton explains how and why she went about writing Ethan Frome: in her experience of literature set in rural New England, she had seen little that resembled the land as she saw it. Earlier literary portraits romanticized poverty and left out the harshness of the land, overlooking the "outcropping granite" (9). Wharton also explains her scheme for the novel: a sophisticated first-person narrator collects the different parts of the tale from various sources, after which he presents a unified vision of the story.

"I had the story, bit by bit, from various people, and, as generally happens in such cases, each time it was a different story." Ethan Frome is framed by a first-person narrator who did not witness any of the events of Ethan Frome's story. The unnamed narrator is an outsider, who came to know Frome while working for a local power plant and staying in the harsh rural town of Starkfield, Massachusetts. The narrator sees Ethan Frome by chance outside the Starkfield post office, and Frome immediately makes a great impression on him. Frome is extremely tall, and he has been lame ever since an accident twenty-four years ago. His face is grizzled, perpetually locked into a harsh expression. Though he seems to have an easy power in his body, when the narrator sees him he knows he is looking at the "ruin of a man."

Fascinated by Frome, the narrator tries to find out more about him. His first source of information is the stage driver, Harmon Gow. From Harmon, the narrator gathers that Frome has never been able to leave Starkfield; although "most of the smart ones get away" (14), Ethan has been stuck in Starkfield since youth. At the Frome farm, there has always been someone to care for. First there were Ethan's parents, and then his wife, and then there was "the smash-up." Harmon tells the narrator some of Frome's story, but the narrator senses that "the deeper meaning of the story was in the gaps" (14).

The narrator reflects that he quickly learned the harshness of Starkfield life. The winter he stayed in Starkfield, he was working on a job at the Corbury Junction power house. He stayed in Starkfield because it was the nearest inhabitable place. Although he initially felt invigorated by the clear blue skies and shocking white of the snow-covered land, when he saw the periods of blue sky and glittering snow followed by weeks of cold and darkness he began to understand the numbed character of the people, the "deadness of the community" (15).

The narrator lodges with a widow named Mrs. Ned Hale, the daughter of the previous generation's town lawyer. Lawyer Varnum's house is the grandest home in town, but the house has a careworn feel to it; clearly, the family has fallen on more meager times. Nightly, the narrator listens to the old widow talk about Starkfield and its people, but on the subject of Ethan Frome she is oddly silent.

Denis Eady, the rich local grocer, provides for the narrator's daily transportation to Corbury Flats, where he catches the train to Corbury Junction for work. When Eady's horses fall ill, Harmon Gow suggests that the narrator hire Ethan Frome. Times are (and have been) hard for the Frome farm, and Frome could use the extra money. So for a brief period, every morning Frome arrives with his horse-drawn sleigh to drive the narrator to the Flats. Frome is very taciturn, usually responding only minimally to the narrator's questions. One day, the narrator leaves a book on biochemistry in the sleigh by accident. When Frome picks him up later that day, the narrator sees the book in Frome's hands. Frome is fascinated by the book, as well as humbled: "There are things in that book that I didn't know the first word about" (18). The narrator lends the book to Frome, touched by the contrast between Frome's curiosity and the limitations of his environment.

After Frome has been driving the narrator for a week, an incredibly blizzard disables the railroad lines. Ethan Frome arrives as always, offering to take the narrator all the way to Corbury Junction: a good ten miles. Amazed by the generosity of the offer, the narrator accepts. On the way home later that day, the snowfall becomes stronger. The going gets quite rough, until it becomes clear that making it all the way back to town is impossible. Frome's home is on the way. He offers to put the narrator up for the night. The narrator tells us, "It was that night that I found the clue to Ethan Frome, and began to put together this vision of his story" (22).

Analysis

For readers who only know Wharton through her finely crafted novels-of-manners, such as The Age of Innocence or The House of Mirth, the spare and simple style of Ethan Frome may come as a surprise. Wharton is modifying her style to suit her subject: this is not a novel of manners set in New York's upper social circles, but a short novel about a doomed love affair in rural New England.

Wharton may have had some anxiety about the distance between herself and her subject matter in Ethan Frome. She was no farm girl, and her own upbringing had been in the privileged world of New York aristocrats. Acknowledgment of the difference may explain the layers she places between the reader and the story. The narrator, like Wharton, is a man of greater means and education than the people of Starkfield. Although readers may find his descriptions of the townspeople occasionally condescending, the narrator's honest criticism of the rural world is a reaction against novels that romanticize rural people and settings. In Ethan Frome, there is honest and direct acknowledgment of the gap between townspeople and narrator in privilege, education, and sophistication. In his distance from the rural world, we can assume that the narrator acts not only as Wharton's double but also as our own. He is our guide into the town of Starkfield, which is probably a world quite different from the world of the novel's readers.

Having already inserted the fictional narrator between the reader and the story, she also makes the narrator a second-hand witness of the events. He has seen nothing of Frome's story. Nor has he gotten a complete account: he acknowledges, before we begin Chapter 1, that the following is a "vision" of Frome's story. Wharton does not attempt to sell her work as journalism, or documentary-style fiction. She is admitting to the distance between herself, the reader, and the story and world of Ethan Frome. In acknowledging the distance, she frees herself to use imagination as the means for getting to the heart of Frome's story. This is a "vision" of Frome's tragedy, which will communicate the parts of the story that Wharton finds most compelling.

Some of the novel's themes are set up in this brief opening. The connection between the land and the people is a recurring theme of the novel. The narrator, an outsider, expresses dismay at the incredible harshness of the Starkfield winters. The name of the town is symbolic of the character of the land and its people. This is not a bountiful or generous land. A living must be scraped from the soil. Frome's own farm mirrors the name of the town, as his nearly barren soil provides barely enough for his family's survival. To say that a man or woman has spent "one too many winters in Starkfield" has become a grim town joke, and after the narrator experiences the darkness of the winters he understands why. The harshness and power of the land are mirrored by Ethan Frome, whose body still exudes strength despite its lameness. But he is a "ruin of a man," and his face shows how much he has suffered.

Isolation is another important theme. Rural New England in winter is a land under siege, with tiny towns and tinier farms like little islands separated by vast expanses of cold and snow. The isolation is both physical and emotional. The isolation becomes personal for Ethan Frome, whose tragedy has removed him from the other people of Starkfield. The narrator remarks that in a town like Starkfield, people's lives are harsh enough so that they have little time to alleviate the pain and troubles of others.

Lost potential is a third theme, closely connected to the two themes listed above. As Starkfield is not a nurturing world, Ethan's curiosity and intellect have had few outlets. His show of lively interest in the biochemistry book is a poignant moment: this fifty-two year-old man, with few practical uses for biochemistry, is brought to life by this book. It hints at Ethan's potential, which will be disclosed in later chapters. The disparity between his intellectual curiosity and the limitations of his environment is painful. Ethan is not only the ruin of the man that he was, but the ruin of the man that he could have been.

Determinism is an important theme in this novel and in many of Wharton's other books. Starting with late-nineteenth century American literature, exposure to Darwin and thinkers like Huxley and Spencer began to have a strong influence on American novelists. Naturalism, the school of thought that makes individuals subject to forces of heredity and environment, was a new philosophical force in novels and plays. Individuals have little or no agency, and the environment destroys or nurtures as it sees fit. A person is either made to adapt or made to fail. In Ethan Frome, the influence of this Darwin-inspired outlook is undeniable. Wharton links it to an older form of determinism, the harsh philosophy of New England's old Calvinists, by choosing Starkfield, Massachusetts as her setting. The historical backdrop of Puritanism is for atmosphere rather than for religious instruction; there is little God in Wharton. The environment, which can be natural, cultural, or situational, is the force that decides men's fates.

Chapter 1:

Summary:

We are now twenty-some years farther back in the past. Young Ethan Frome walks through the heart of town, passing Eady's new brick store and the grand Varnum house. It is a cold and crisp winter night, and the feeling reminds Frome of a concept he learned from his studies in science. About five years ago, he enrolled in technological courses at a college in Worcester; his father's death ended Ethan's higher education, as Ethan had to return home to care for his mother and the farm.

There's a dance in the basement of the Church, and Ethan positions himself by the window so he can see what's going on. He is there to pick up Mattie Silver, the cousin of his wife. He strains to catch a glimpse of Mattie; when he finds her, she is dancing with Denis Eady, the son of the Irish grocer. Ethan feels an intense surge of jealousy when he sees the happiness on Mattie's face and the look of ownership on Eady's.

Mattie has lived at the Frome farm for over a year. She came to be the help for Ethan's wife, Zeena; in exchange for her housekeeping, Mattie gets free room and board, but receives no pay. On these nights when she goes for a dance or other social event in town, it is Ethan's job to escort her back. After a hard day of work the extra two miles to and from town is tiring, but Ethan loves the time alone with Mattie. Like him, she is sensitive to natural beauty; in her, he has found someone to talk to about the beauty of the land and the small bits of science he knows. Her vitality invigorates him. He has fallen in love with her.

He does not know if Zeena has any inkling of his feelings for Mattie. Zenobia is a sickly, whining woman, but she sometimes surprises Ethan by proving more observant than he'd hoped. She's noticed that since Mattie's coming, Ethan has been shaving every day. She mentioned the change obliquely, surprising Ethan because he had assumed that Zeena was oblivious to everything but her own endless parade of health problems.

Analysis:

The first glimpse of Ethan Frome as a young man brings into relief the theme of lost potential. We learn that he began studies but had to cut them short after the death of his father. Poverty's harshness is a recurring theme: because of financial limitations, Ethan had no choice but to return home and care for his mother and the farm. Poverty also brings Mattie Silver to the Frome farm, and after the accident it will force her to stay there. The major events of Ethan's life have not been choices: things have happened to him, and he has been forced to endure them.

His isolation on the farm has been relieved by Mattie Silver. She seems to share a love for natural beauty, and Ethan finally has someone with whom he can talk. But Ethan is already married, and this first scene establishes Ethan as one who remains an outsider. We see him in the cold, watching the dance from the outside, looking through a window at happiness he does not share. His poverty, circumstances, and sensitive disposition have left him isolated. His marriage is a loveless match with a sick and whining woman. Illicit and frustrated passion is an important theme. Ethan's feelings can find few outlets. He looks forward to his rare walks with Mattie from town; he shaves every day; he watches Mattie through a window. But as he sees her dancing with Denis Eady, he realizes how difficult his situation is. Wharton gives us no clue about her feelings for Ethan, so we are made to feel as clueless as he.

Wharton also creates a feeling of loss and transience. Many of the landmarks we saw in the narrator's opening are here. The difference is that in Frome's youth the buildings are new and handsome, whereas by the time the narrator sees them they are old and faded. The fine mansion of the Varnums is mentioned prominently, as is the new brick store opened by Denis Eady's father. The first-person narrator of the opening mentioned these building in passing, and now the third-person narrator of Chapter 1 mentions them again. The tone is much more sensual in Chapter 1: there is a sense of the town as a living place, with smells and colors described evocatively. But we are looking at the past, and it is a far cry from the dead world the narrator of the opening shows us. The effect is a very bleak portrayal of the relationship between a small town and the passage of time. In a big city, old buildings become historic, or they are replaced by new buildings. In Starkfield, old buildings simply fall into disrepair. Family fortunes dwindle, and men like Ethan Frome fade and deteriorate as slowly and certainly as the buildings of their immediate environment.

Chapter 2:

Summary:

As the dancers leave the Church basement, Frome hides behind the storm door. He sees Mattie waiting for him, but he is suddenly overcome with nervousness and shyness. As he watches, Denis Eady flirts with Mattie and invites her to take a ride on his sleigh; Frome cannot bring himself to interfere. Mattie seems to consider the offer, but she breaks away from Eady and tells him that she can't ride with him. When he insists, she rebuffs him more firmly, and sets off as if she's going to walk back to the Frome farm alone.

Ethan catches up with her, content that Mattie didn't go with Denis Eady. The link arms and take the long walk home. As they pass one of the town's best sledding hills, they talk about the possibility of "coasting" (sledding) some night when the moon is bright. Mattie mentions a sledding couple that nearly killed themselves on the big elm at the bottom of the hill; Ethan promises that she would be safe with him steering.

Ethan can't help but point out that she lingered after the dance. He says that he supposes that what people say is true: she'll be leaving the Frome farm before long. Mattie seems distressed by the idea, and her distress makes Ethan happy. Apparently, the idea of her leaving upsets her as much as it upsets him. They pass the Frome graveyard, and Ethan feels that the graves offer a promise of stability. Before, the graves always seemed to mock his desire to leave Starkfield. Near the end of the walk, Mattie stumbles and Ethan draws his arm up around her for support. It's the first time they've had contact so close, and they remain linked this way until the reach the door of the house. Usually, Zeena leaves the key for them under the mat. But the key isn't there, and Ethan worries that something has happened. He hears noises inside the house, and the door opens . . . revealing Zeena. She says that she felt too ill to sleep. After the happiness of the walk with Mattie, seeing Zeena is like the abrupt end of a pleasant dream: she is harsh, angular, flat-chested, with a mouth of false teeth. The lamplight exposes every crevasse of her harsh face. Tonight, Ethan dislikes the idea of Mattie seeing him go up to bed with his wife; he tries to invent some excuse for staying downstairs for a bit longer, but with the fire already out this behavior seems strange. After Zeena's surprise at his suggestion, as well as what seems to be a warning glance from Mattie, Ethan gives in and goes upstairs with his wife.

Analysis:

Wharton shows the difficulties of repressed and illicit passion, passion without any possible outlet. Ethan fears that Mattie might know how he feels, but he also despairs of her not knowing. He cannot bring himself to interrupt her interaction with Denis Eady: he waits for her to make a decision, even though the thought of her riding with Denis makes Ethan miserable. On the way home, he is constantly playing little games, trying to get some hint of how she feels about him. But because he is married, this is not a normal courtship. It is courtship without any possible goal. Frome cannot imagine life without Mattie, but he also cannot find any way to be with her.

Ethan Frome has very little agency. We see him here passively waiting for Mattie to make a decision about the sleigh ride with Denis Eady; on the walk home, we see him try to learn Mattie's feelings, knowing full well that there is little he can do no matter how she feels. The cemetery has always mocked his desire for freedom: it is full of Fromes who never escaped from Starkfield, and Ethan used to feel that the graves promised him the same fate. Tonight, he feels content with the idea that he and Mattie might stay at the farm together forever, but his fantasies are untenable. A real life wouldn't be possible with Zeena around.

His wish for Mattie to stay forever will ironically be fulfilled. This chapter is full of foreshadowing of the tragic fate awaiting Ethan and Mattie: note the discussion about sledding, in which Mattie mentions the couple that nearly had a terrible accident on the big elm tree at the bottom of the hill. Ethan swaggers, promising that he would be able to steer, but an observant reader will remember that the "smash-up" that will change Ethan's life is going to happen on that very hill.

Chapter 3:

Summary:

While hauling lumber early the next morning, Ethan reflects on the events of the previous night and circumstances that brought Mattie to Starkfield. Ethan went to bed, blowing out the candle before he crawled in so as to avoid looking at his wife. Under the door, he could see just a flicker of the light from Mattie's candle, all the way on the other side of the landing. He watched the light until it went out. He wished that he had kissed Mattie while they had been out on their walk.

Mattie's father was Zeena's cousin. He had left the hills and traveled to Connecticut, but he died too young to make his fortune. His wife died soon after, leaving Mattie to fend for herself. She had no real skills, and the difficulties of working for a living disagreed with her health. When Zeena's doctor recommended that Zeena find a housekeeper, the family arranged to have Mattie stay at the Frome farm. Although life there has been harder than her old life in Conneticut, Mattie has been cheerful and happy. However, she has little talent for housekeeping, and her ineffectiveness vexes Zeena.

When he finishes hauling the lumber, Ethan thinks about the tension in his house. He worries that trouble will come up between Mattie and Zeena, so he decides to return home rather than deliver the lumber. He arrives home to find his wife dressed for travel: she has decided to go to Bettsbridge to see a new doctor. She will spend the night with her aunt; for the first time since Mattie arrived, Mattie and Ethan are going to be in the house overnight without Zeena. Ethan, anxious to avoid a long ride with Zeena, decides to have Jotham Powell, the hired man, use the sorrel to drive Zeena to the station. Ethan will use the other horses to haul lumber.

Analysis

Ethan's passion for Mattie has become more difficult to control. Although a few days ago the thought of kissing Mattie would never have occurred to him, now the desire to do so is becoming irresistible. He once contented himself with fantasies of simply being allowed to stay near her; now, he is thinking about having her physically. Zeena is only twenty-eight years old, but she is prematurely an old woman. The physical descriptions of her make clear that she cannot be an object of erotic desire. Ethan is twenty-one, and Zeena arouses no passion in him.

The Frome's poverty is clear in this chapter. Mattie is destitute after the death of her parents, and she is forced to take refuge with the already-struggling Fromes. She has nowhere else to go. But Ethan's resources are stretched to the limit: when he sees Zeena in her bonnet, he cannot help but recall how much the bonnet cost. And although he is thrilled by the prospect of being alone in the house with Mattie, he fears the expensive new medicines that Zeena might buy. The fact that these three people are together in the house is not a matter of choice. Ethan was forced to return to the farm because of poverty: after his father, someone had to take care of his mother, and they lacked the funds to hire help or support Ethan's studies. Mattie is destitute, and needs the shelter and food provided by the Fromes' farm. And because of poverty, fantasies of leaving Zeena are an impossible. It would be heartless to leave Zeena, who is ailing and has no way to provide for herself. All three characters are trapped. They are bound by poverty into the same house, and the combination of the Fromes' loveless marriage and Ethan's growing passion for Mattie makes for a very dangerous situation.

Chapter 4:

Summary:

Driving the lumber to Andrew Hale's, Ethan looks forward to his evening with Mattie. He whistles and sings as he rides along; there resides in him a spark of life that Starkfield has not yet extinguished. It was even stronger when he was younger. He was known in Worcester as taciturn, but even when he is quiet he loves the company of others. After he returned to the farm to care for his mother, his mother slowly became more and more eccentric. By the end, she rarely talked at all. His cousin, Zeena Pierce, came to help care for her. Zeena seemed lively at first, providing the company and conversation that Ethan craved. She was an efficient housekeeper, and her help restored some of the freedom Ethan had once known. When his mother died, he could not bear the thought of being alone again, and he asked Zeena to stay with him as his wife. At first, they had plans to sell the farm and move to the city. But financial troubles and a scarcity of buyers impeded them, and Zeena became more and more sickly and obsessed with her own illnesses. Her hypochondria cut off the possibility of leaving Starkfield. After a year, Zeena became as quiet as Ethan's mother had been.

To explain why he couldn't drive Zeena to the station today, Ethan lied and said he needed to deliver the lumber in person to get a cash advance. But now he regrets the lie: thinking they have cash handy, Zeena will be more extravagant in buying her medicines. Uncharacteristically, Ethan resolves to swallow some of his pride and ask Andrew Hale for cash up front instead of the normal quarterly payment. But once he asks Hale, Ethan feels shame. Hale is not willing to give the cash, although he refuses with enough geniality, and Ethan is too proud to say he needs the money.

While in town, Ethan runs some errands. He runs into Denis Eady briefly, and worries that the young man might be headed toward the Frome farm. Ethan also stumbles onto Ned Hale and Ruth Varnum kissing; he realizes with sadness that these two need not hide their passion, while he has been torturing himself over a simple kiss with Mattie. As he rides back to the farm, he takes note of a tombstone that has always interested him because the man in the grave shares his name: "SACRED TO THE MEMORY OF ETHAN FROME AND ENDURANCE HIS WIFE, WHO DWELLED TOGETHER IN PEACE FOR FIFTY YEARS."

When Ethan gets to the door he finds it locked, and it takes a moment for Mattie to answer. The wait reminds him so much of the previous night that he half-expects to see Zeena there. But it is Mattie, her hair laced with a red ribbon. Ethan is overjoyed just being with her. They sit down for dinner, but conversation proves difficult. Any mention of Zeena's name leads to awkwardness, and Ethan pretends to be famished so he can eat rather than talk. The cat knocks over the pickle-dish, shattering it, and Mattie is thrown into a panic: it is a fine red dish, one of Zeena's wedding gifts. It came all the way from Philadelphia and is irreplaceable here in Starkfield. Mattie begins to cry, because Zeena will want to know why the dish was being used in the first place. Ethan takes charge of the situation, piecing the dish together and putting it back on the high shelf where it is kept. He'll glue it tomorrow, and it might take months for Zeena to realize what happened. Mattie does not even know what he has done, but she trusts him enough not to ask him about it. Ethan is thrilled that his assurance subdues her; it makes him feel strong and in control.

Analysis:

The first half of the chapter is spent establishing that Starkfield in general and the Fromes' farm in particular stamps the life out of any who live there. We are told that a spark of life resides in Ethan still, but we also remember the older, grim Ethan of the opening. The life left in Ethan at twenty-one will not last much longer. The themes of isolation and lost potential are central to the story of Ethan's youth. He lost his chance to pursue further studies, and he returned home to care for his mother as she lost her mind and became silent.

The effect of environment is powerful, as the Frome farm wears down anyone who spends too much time there: Zeena, initially lively, became increasingly lost to hypochondria and bouts of silence. Starkfield winters exact a heavy price.

We see more determinism in the marriage: it came about not because of great passion, but because of loneliness. Significantly, Ethan's mother died in winter. Ethan wonders if he would have married Zeena if the death had happened in the spring; it was the thought of spending winter alone that made him need her. The chance timing of his mother's death becomes another factor over which Ethan had no control; it may have led to his disastrous marriage, a marriage that tied him to Starkfield for good.

The moment with Andrew Hale reveals Ethan's fierce pride. He swallows it enough to ask for a cash advance, but once he has made the request his face becomes red. And he cannot bring himself to explain his request to Andrew; when Andrew asks if Ethan has any special need for the money, Ethan cheerfully says that he doesn't.

Wharton uses a moment of happiness to show the painful passage of time in Starkfield. When Ethan stumbles on Ruth and Ned kissing, we remember that in twenty-four years time, Ruth will be an old widow living in the careworn remains of her father's mansion. Rarely do we see places or people for whom a pleasant fate waits. We know that Denis Eady will be very wealthy, but the young Denis is presented as so unlikable that his future prosperity is almost as depressing as the hard times waiting for Ruth.

Wharton foreshadows Mattie's future transformation into a second Zeena. Zeena, too, was lively when she came to the Frome farm. And when Ethan waits at the door, Mattie imitates Zeena's actions from the previous night. The parallel is so strong that Ethan wonders if Zeena is going to be there when the door opens. Although Mattie is lively now, it must be remembered that Zeena once had the power to make Ethan happy. Starkfield winters and the harshness of life at the Frome's farm can wear down anybody.

The old tombstone is another bit of ominous foreshadowing. As the tombstones mock Ethan with the reminder of other Fromes who never were able to leave Starkfield, this tombstone foretells the living Ethan's fate. The Ethan Frome of the tombstone lived with his wife, Endurance, for fifty years. The language is of compulsion and forbearance rather than a celebration of the couple's life together. The best that can be said of them is that they "dwelled together in peace," and the wife's name is a symbol and a bit of foreshadowing. For the living Ethan, love will not be the mark of his life with Mattie or Zeena. Endurance will be the virtue that Ethan will be forced to cultivate, and he will have long decades to do it.

It becomes very clear at dinner that Mattie's feelings for Ethan are in line with his feelings for her. She uses the forbidden red dish and prepares Ethan's favorite foods: clearly, she wanted to make their dinner together special. They are making an attempt at a normal dinner together, as a husband and wife would have, but their situation does not allow it. Zeena's absence is nearly as oppressive as Zeena's presence, and conversation becomes impossible. Red is being used as a symbol of passion and transgression. In Chapters 1 and 2, Mattie is wearing a cherry scarf. Here, she wears a red ribbon in her hair and serves Ethan on a rid dish. But passion and transgression lead to trouble: the red dish is smashed, and Mattie panics about having to explain the loss to Zeena. As much as they would like to pretend otherwise, it is impossible for Mattie and Ethan to have a dinner together like a married couple. Their meal deteriorates into awkward conversation, silences, and broken dishes that cannot be replaced.

Chapter 5:

Summary:

Ethan and Mattie settle down for a quiet night by the fire, Ethan with his pipe and Mattie with some sewing. Ethan can't see Mattie from his position by the fire, so he invites her to sit in Zeena's rocking chair. When she sits there, Ethan thinks for a moment that he sees Zeena's face in place of Mattie's. Mattie also seems uncomfortable with the spot, and she soon returns to her place at the table, pleading that the firelight is not bright enough for needlework. At first, the conversation seems to go easily. They talk about the goings-on in town, and they discuss the possibility of sledding ("coasting") some night. Ethan pulls his chair up to Mattie's table.

The conversation becomes awkward; Ethan brings up Ned and Ruth in hopes that talk of the young couple will somehow open up a chance for a soft touch. It doesn't work; the conversation turns to Mattie leaving someday, and Mattie worries that Zeena is displeased with her. She worries that Zeena will force her to leave. Ethan expresses his dismay at the idea of Mattie's departure, and his earnestness makes Mattie blush.

The cat, which has been sitting in Zeena's chair, jumps down to chase a mouse. The leap sets Zeena's chair rocking, reminding Ethan that Zeena will be sitting there by tomorrow evening. At the table, he touches the end of the cloth that Mattie is sewing. He holds it firmly in his hand, and then it brings it to his lips for a gentle kiss. Mattie quickly rolls up her work. They both do the last nightly chores and go to bed, each in their separate bedrooms. Ethan reflects that he never once touched her.

Analysis:

Passion is blocked by guilt and the power of the environment. The room stifles any romantic possibility: "Now, in the warm lamplit room, with all its ancient implications of conformity and order, she seemed infinitely farther away from him and more unapproachable" (54). Ethan indulges in the fantasy that he and Mattie live as man and wife. For a brief moment, their simple conversation together sustains his fantasy; it as if they had the leisure to speak so easily every night. But while Ethan fantasizes that this room is his and Mattie's, the room begins to remind him that it belongs to Ethan and Zeena. Domestic order and conformity, symbolized by the room, prove too strong for Ethan's passionate impulses.

Ethan's guilt makes him see Zeena's presence everywhere. When Mattie sits down in Zeena's chair, Ethan believes that Mattie has Zeena's face. The brief illusion is enough to make him very uneasy, and Mattie's discomfort with taking her cousin's place forces her back to the table. The cat leaping down from the rocking chair sets the chair into motion, immediately reminding Ethan of Zeena's impending return. The cat-and-mouse chase also parallels the game Ethan is playing. He is trying to learn Mattie's feelings, but he is too restrained to be direct; he has to bait her, bring up conversation topics that might make her reveal herself. The cat chasing the mouse also makes for a somewhat sinister atmosphere. The mouse hunt bridges the gap between the domestic space and the world of hunter and prey, reminding us that there is no real division between humans and the world of Darwin.

The smallest hint of passion is immediately strangled. Ethan's move is small, but unmistakable. In kissing the cloth that Mattie is sewing, he crosses the line. Mattie rolls up her things and gets ready for bed. She does not scold him, and when he bids her good night she answers him kindly. But she is too scared by even this small gesture of affection; adultery is too frightening a step to take, especially because Mattie will have nowhere to go if forced to leave the Frome farm. Society's strictures and the burden of Mattie's poverty make transgression unthinkable.

Chapter 6:

Summary:

Jotham Powell, the hired man, arrives early in the morning to help with the last of the lumber. All through breakfast, Ethan is inexplicably happy. Although nothing has changed, he feels like he has tasted what life would be like with Mattie. He plans to get the work done early enough so that he can buy some glue and fix the dish before Zeena arrives.

But the work is hard going. Sleet makes the roads treacherous, and the logs are so slick that loading them takes much longer than usual. Ethan is unable to set out for town until late. He hopes to make it back before Jotham retrieves Zeena from the station, but in town he has trouble finding the glue.

When his sleigh pulls back into the barn, Ethan sees that the sorrel isn't there and assumes that Zeena hasn't gotten home yet. He bursts into the kitchen, announcing proudly to Mattie that there is still time to fix the dish. She hushes him, whispering that Zeena has arrived. The sorrel isn't in the barn because Jotham Powell borrowed it to bring some supplies back to his house. Zeena has gone straight up to her bedroom, and has not emerged.

When Jotham returns with the horse, Ethan invites him in for dinner. Jotham refuses, which makes Ethan curious: Jotham never turns down a meal. Zeena must be in a foul mood because of something that happened on her trip. Jotham leaves, and Ethan goes back inside the kitchen to find it ready for supper.

Analysis

Chapter 6 continues with the theme of the environment's power over men. Nature makes Ethan's plans impossible; the sleet makes work arduous and slow, and two strong men fumble with the logs. The wet roads slow down his delivery, and chance circumstances make it difficult to find the glue. Ethan cannot make it back in time, but through no fault of his own. Throughout the novel, humans are unable to carry out their plans, great or small. Some chance event or natural occurrence blocks the human will at every turn. From Ethan's desire to leave town to the attempt to buy glue to the doomed passion between Ethan and Mattie, the novel is full of frustrated desires and unfulfilled plans.

Chapter 7:

Summary:

Ethan goes up to ask Zeena down to supper. Zeena tells him, ominously, that she's sicker than he realizes. She has "complications." Ethan is torn between hoping for her death and feeling pity for her, but his compassion is stronger than his selfishness. The conversation is tense, full of blunders; Zeena is picky and irritable. She tells him that the doctor thinks she should rest for months, without doing any work whatsoever. The doctor has recommended a hired girl, and Zeena has already contracted one to come. Ethan becomes angry; he simply doesn't have the money for it.

Zeena lashes back, saying that she became ill tending Ethan's own mother. The fight is open, aggressive; it is the only time in their marriage that Zeena and Ethan have shown so much open anger. They bicker over costs, and Zeena brings up the promised money for the lumber delivery. Ethan is caught in his lie, and he lacks the skill to evade it. Zeena also points out that their expenses will be less now that Mattie will be leaving. Ethan is horrified; he had not even considered that Mattie would be sent away. Mattie comes up to call them down for dinner, but Zeena responds that she won't be having dinner; clueless, Mattie goes back downstairs. Ethan tries to persuade Zeena to let Mattie stay, but Zeena is adamant.

Ethan goes down to eat, but he has no appetite. Mattie keeps asking what's wrong. Instead of answering, Ethan pulls her to him and kisses her. She returns the kiss, but after a moment withdraws. Ethan blurts out clumsily, "You can't go, Matt! I'll never let you!" (66). He tells her about the doctor's orders and Zeena's decision, and both of them know that Zeena never changes her mind. Matt faces an uncertain future.

Zeena comes downstairs, having decided to eat dinner after all. She speaks in her flat whine, eating and telling them stories about the intestinal problems of her friends and relatives in Bettsbridge. After dinner, she has heartburn and goes to get some special stomach powders; she returns furious, tears in her eyes, the broken bits of the pickle-dish in her hands. Ethan tries to blame it on the cat, but Mattie admits that she brought down the pickle-dish to try and make the table look pretty. Zeena has never used it, even when company has come over, and she is mad with grief and rage: "You're a bad girl, Mattie Silver, and I always known it. It's the way your father begun, and I was warned of it when I took you,k and I tried to keep my things where you couldn't get at 'em ­ and now you've took from me the one I cared for most of all" ( 70). She leaves the room with the pickle-dish's shattered remains, acting as if she "carried a dead body" (70).

Analysis:

Wharton is able to flesh out characters with a minimal number of strokes. Zeena, reclusive and withdrawn and therefore difficult for the reader to know, emerges from this chapter as a much fuller character. We see how she uses her illness as a weapon: Wharton writes with humor that although many people around town have health problems, "only the chosen had Œcomplications'" (61). In a small town where people's intestinal disorders rank as a favorite topic of conversation, being ill makes a person something of a celebrity; being truly ill makes one into a star. Zeena uses her sickliness as a weapon against Ethan. It's the safest (and most cowardly) way to control him. We also see that Zeena harbors resentment against him: she blames her current illness on her time tending to Ethan's mother. Whether the claim is true or not, and it probably is not, Zeena has decided to see her sickness as the result of some sacrifice she made on Ethan's behalf. Clinging to this belief allows Zeena to feel that Ethan is indebted to her; it also makes her resent him.

The argument between Ethan and Zeena is worth a close study, because every statement gives vital clues to the character's psychology and the workings of small town society. Zeena constantly refers to the opinions of friends and relatives as if they were taken from Scripture. Her arguments are usually supported by something someone in her family has said. The difficulty of rural life is an important theme, but here we move beyond the physical difficulties and see the psychological pitfalls of Starkfield living. The community is so small that it is stifling. The opinions of a few biased relatives stand as the voice of the whole world, and Ethan crumbles under Zeena's arguments.

We also learn of Zeena's insecurity. Some of her comments hint that she feels Ethan married her out of obligation. And here we see the tragedy of Zeena's character. She wants Ethan to feel obligated to her. She uses her illness as a weapon, and she was content to let him marry her out of a sense of loneliness and obligation. But after winning him as her husband in this way, she is tortured by the fact that Ethan married her out of obligation and loneliness rather than passion. She has won her victory in the way that she wanted to win it, but she must then live with the knowledge that her husband has been cornered into being with her.

She is not a generous woman by nature. Her attitude toward her pickle dish is indicative of her personality. Her most precious possession has been horded, hidden, never used even when beloved company has been over. Zeena was satisfied keeping the dish tucked away and never used, hidden from the world. Control of the dish was important to her: she makes sure that no one else touches it. The theme of poverty is here: Zeena's fussiness is a function of being poor, but it is only one possible reaction to being poor.

In a similar way, she has contented herself with possessing Ethan without doing anything to make him happy. She has used her sickliness to make him feel obligated to her, and has clung to him since. But her hypochondria and her whining have made Ethan miserable. There are definite parallels between Ethan and the red dish. When Zeena lashes out at Mattie, she seems to be speaking about Ethan as much as she is talking about the destroyed pickle-dish. She accuses Mattie of taking "the one I cared for most of all" (70), and the language is specifically chosen for its double meaning. "Took" rather than "destroyed," and "the one" rather than "the thing": every key word is chosen so that it can refer to both the dish and Ethan. Whether Zeena knows about Ethan and Mattie is never revealed: the pickle-dish speech can be read as an accusation or as a moment of dramatic irony.

Chapter 8:

Summary:

Ethan has a tiny study on the first floor, done up in humble imitation of the study of a minister who was kind to him in Worcester. Since Mattie came and he moved the stove up to her room, it has been uninhabitable during the winter. But he goes there now, trying to figure out a way to take his life back. He carries with him a tiny note written by Mattie and left for him on the kitchen table: "Don't trouble, Ethan" (73).

He remembers meeting a couple who had faced a similar situation. The man had divorced his wife and fled west with his new girl, and everyone had prospered. The ex-wife sold the farm and started her own business, and the man and his new wife fared well out west. He begins a farewell letter to Zeena. But as he tries to plan a course of action for himself, he realizes that escape is impossible. Zeena will not be able to sell the farm for any considerable sum, and she has no means to survive in the mean time. And as for him and Mattie, they don't even have enough money to get out West. Ethan falls asleep in the study despite the cold.

The next morning, Jotham Powell is there. A coach is going to come later in the day to pick up Mattie's heavy trunk, and Jotham is going to take Mattie to the station when he goes to pick up the new hired girl.

Ethan heads toward town, humiliated by his own powerlessness. He suddenly considers a new plan: if he tells Andrew Hale that he needs money to hire a girl to help Zeena, he could use the cash advance to flee west with Mattie. He goes to the Hale mill, running into their sleigh on the weigh. Mrs. Hale is the rider, and she talks to Ethan sympathetically about Zeena's latest health problems. She admires Ethan for taking care of Zeena and before her, his mother. The sleigh takes off, and Ethan keeps on toward the Hales': if they feel sorry for him, they're sure to loan him the money. But then Ethan realizes that he is planning to use the compassion of the Hales' to get money dishonestly. He realizes the truth of his situation: Zeena cannot fend for herself, and Ethan's flight with Mattie would depend on deceiving the Hales. He turns and goes back to his own farm.

Analysis:

Ethan is completely boxed in, and Wharton's determinism becomes oppressive. He has no options: as he sits in his study planning an escape, he realizes that what worked for another man will not work for him. He simply does not have the resources. The reality of his situation continues to torment him. Ethan can't find an honorable way to save his happiness.

And he is, whether he likes it or not, an honorable man. He does not have it in him to abandon Zeena, or deceive the Hales. His choice to live honestly rather than pursue his passion for Mattie is admirable, but it should not be taken as evidence of human agency. Ethan's decency is part of what makes him so sympathetic, but in Wharton's universe goodness and morals limit options rather than multiply them. His decision to remain honest is one of the few choices he is allowed in the novel, and it lends his character tragic dignity. It is not a sign of man's power over his own life; rather, it is an example of a man behaving honorably within the constraints that life has given him.

Chapter 9:

Summary:

Ethan returns home and goes upstairs to help Mattie bring down her trunk. He finds her crying; she thought that he might have left for good, and that she was never going to see him again. He tries to comfort her, and helps her take her trunk down the stairs. At lunch he announces that he is going to take Mattie to the station himself. Zeena argues with him, but he insists vehemently that he'll be taking her. Claiming he has business in town, he plans to leave three hours before Mattie's 6 o'clock train.

They set out at three, and Ethan takes advantage of the extra time to take Mattie on a long ride. They go to Shadow Pond, where he and Mattie enjoyed a church picnic together a few months earlier. Ethan takes Mattie down to a quiet spot in the woods. They talk sweetly to each other, more open in their affection than ever before. The pond, with its happy memories, becomes too painful. They return to the sleigh. As they ride on toward town Ethan asks what Mattie intends to do. Prospects aren't good, and though Mattie pretends she'll manage it seems clear that hard times are ahead of her. Mattie brings out the letter Ethan began to Zeena; she found it by accident. Ethan says, in anguish, that he can't leave the farm. But he asks Mattie if she would come with him if he could. She admits that she would, but their talk changes nothing.

As they near the edge of town, Ethan persuades Mattie to come sledding with him; it's their last chance to go coasting down the hill. The find a sled and go down, despite the fact that it's twilight and the light is the most confusing of any time of day. The first trip down is exhilarating; Ethan steers well, and they reach the bottom safely. They climb up the hill and realize fully that soon they will never see each other again. Both begin to cry, unable to leave each other, telling each other that they can't bear to be apart. Mattie asks Ethan to take her down the hill again, straight into the big elm. She does not want to live without him. They get into the sled for a second ride down, Ethan in front this time. He won't be able to steer, but the track will carry them down straight into the tree.

They go down the hill, but they don't die. Ethan comes to, disoriented. He is in unbelievable pain. He realizes he is holding Mattie; she, too, is still alive. He hears the horse whinnying up at the top of the hill, and he realizes that the horse needs feeding.

Analysis

The realization that Mattie reciprocates his passion makes Ethan reckless. He is tortured by the happiness that lies outside of his reach. But the sled ride is not a carefully considered choice. Mattie and Ethan give in to passion, but the result is not freedom. Instead, they ruin their lives. The theme of illicit passion is not given a happy spin in Ethan Frome. When Mattie and Ethan succumb to it, they destroy themselves. Passion is not a liberator; Ethan and Mattie are not in control of their feelings. Passion is only another force that acts on man, robbing him of agency.

The sled ride is a symbol for Wharton's conception of free will and fate, a conception shaped by Naturalism. Although Ethan has some power in steering the sleigh, the track carries them down on the final run. Ethan steers the sled to some extent, but gravity and the shape of the hill drive them down into the elm. Man's freedom exists within a very narrow range of options. In the opening, we already learned that Ethan had a terrible accident, and so the event seems all the more fixed. Wharton has been foreshadowing the accident all along. We also know that Ethan is still going to be alive at the time when the narrator arrives in Starkfield, and so we immediately know that their suicide attempt is going to be unsuccessful. The suicide attempt is the final and most terrible failed plan of Ethan Frome. It caps off a long string of aborted plans and frustrated wishes, and this time the consequences are tragic.

Chapter 10:

Summary:

We are back with the narrator of the opening. He is entering Ethan Frome's house, and from afar he has heard the harsh sound of a woman complaining. In the kitchen two old women are sitting, one tall and severe, the other slight. The tall woman gets up to get supper on the table. The slight woman moves her head without moving her body; she is paralyzed. She has a witch-like stair and a nagging, terrible voice. Ethan introduces the women to the narrator: the tall woman is Zeena. The cripple is Mattie Silver.

Later, the narrator is talking with the widowed Mrs. Hale (Ruth Varnum, before she married Ned). Mrs. Hale is surprised that Ethan invited the narrator in for the night. Not many go into the Frome home, on account of Ethan's pride. Mrs. Hale visits there one or two times a year. She tries to pick a day when Ethan is out, because she cannot bear to see the pain on his face.

On the night of the accident, Zeena came right away to the minister's place, where the two of them had been taken. As soon as Mattie could be moved, Zeena had her brought back to the Frome farm. Mattie has been there ever since; she had nowhere else to go. Zeena has cared for them both for twenty years; somehow, she found the strength, even though at one time she believed she couldn't take care of herself. All of them are hard, bitter people. Mattie is hateful and difficult, and although Zeena usually bears it, at times the two of them quarrel viciously. At these times, the look on Ethan's face is heart-breaking.

Mrs. Hale confides in the narrator that she thinks it would have been better if Mattie had died. The novel finishes with one of the more memorable closing lines of American literature, spoken by the widow with conviction: "And I say, if she'd ha' died, Ethan might ha' lived; and the way they are now, I don't see there's much difference between the Fromes up at the farm and the Fromes down in the graveyard; 'cept that down there they're all quiet, and the women have got to hold their tongues."

Analysis:

The narrator's outside view brings the Fromes' poverty into sharp relief. He remarks that even by the standards of the rural poor the Fromes' kitchen is squalid. And when we see Mattie Silver, now a paralyzed and hideous hag, we are reminded that she had nowhere else to go. Ethan Frome is partially a reaction against portraits of rural living that romanticized poverty and farming. Wharton shows again and again that poverty is soul-destroying. It has taken away Ethan's chances at happiness again and again. It forced Mattie to stay with the Fromes after the accident, and it has led to all of them ending life as stunted, hateful people.

We see the theme of time as destroyer, waster. Before, the novel has given us the contrast between buildings as they were in the past and as they stand now; we have also seen the painful contrast between the young Ethan and the old lame man he becomes. But Mattie's transformation is the most horrible change we have seen. She is transformed from a lively, pretty girl to a hideous and bitter crone. Her re-entrance as an old cripple is one of the novel's most chilling moments.

Zeena's transformation is an interesting and ambiguous development. Some have read it as showing that Zeena possessed untapped reserves of strength and compassion; however, this reading runs up against some significant counter-evidence. The first is the narrator's description of her: "She [Zeena] had pale opaque eyes which revealed nothing and reflected nothing" (91). Hardly the description of a saint. Zeena has hardened to fit her circumstances; Mrs. Hale says that Zeena is not the one who suffers most, because she no longer has time to suffer. Just as she was able to care for Frome's mother, she finds it in herself to care for Ethan and Mattie. But her care is not marked by compassion or tenderness; this is care that comes because there is no other choice. And given what Chapter 7 revealed about Zeena's character, her transformation can be read very darkly. She can now afford to care for Ethan and Mattie because she no longer needs to worry about losing Ethan. If her earlier hypochondria was a way of controlling Ethan, it is no longer necessary. He is lame and needs her; in a similar way, Mattie no longer poses any kind of threat. All is stable at the Frome farm; there is no longer any way for Zeena to lose control of the situation.

We finish with the graveyard that made such an impression on Ethan in his youth. The tombs are more than a reminder of mortality; Mrs. Hale says that the three living at the farm are like people already dead. They will continue to live in this way for a while yet; Harmon Gow assured the narrator that the Fromes are a hardy breed, and Ethan will probably live to be a hundred. We are reminded of the tombstone that bore Ethan's name, recording how a previous Ethan had lived with his wife "Endurance" for fifty years. Those fifty years become a grim promise. Ethan must live on, continuing to eke out a living on his farm's poor soil. The theme of determinism finishes here, with three people trapped together for the rest of their lives. Ethan will stay at the farm because he has no choice; he is as trapped and lifeless as his ancestors in the Frome burial ground.

• Biography of Edith Wharton
• About Ethan Frome
• Character List
• Major Themes
• Short Summary
• Full Summary and Analysis
• Summary and Analysis of Prelude and Chapters 1-2
• Summary and Analysis of Chapters 3-5
• Summary and Analysis of Chapters 6-8
• Summary and Analysis of Chapters 9-10
• Related Links on Ethan Frome
• Author of ClassicNote and Sources
• Purchase Ethan Frome and Other Works
• Test Yourself! Quiz 1
• Test Yourself! Quiz 2
• Essays on Ethan Frome
• E-Text
• Message Board on Ethan Frome