This content is from Wikipedia. We do not consider this content professional or citable. Please use your discretion when relying on it. GradeSaver also offers a professionally written study guide by one of our staff editors.

Plot

Summary

The novel is framed with the literary conceit of an extended flashback; the first chapter opens with an unnamed narrator, spending a winter in the New England town of Starkfield, who sets out to learn about the life of a mysterious local figure named Ethan Frome, a man who had been injured in a horrific “smash-up” some two decades before.
The narrator fails to get many details from the townspeople, but makes Frome’s acquaintance when he hires Frome as his driver for a week. A severe snowstorm forces Frome to take the narrator to his home one night for shelter.
The second chapter flashes back twenty years; the narration switches from the first-person narrator of the first chapter to an omniscient third-person narrator. Ethan, described as “the most striking figure in Starkfield” --“the ruin of a man,” with a “careless powerful look…in spite of a lameness checking each step like the jerk of a chain”, is waiting outside a church dance for Mattie, his wife’s cousin, who lives with Ethan and his wife Zeena to help around the house since Zeena is sickly. Mattie is given the occasional night off to entertain herself in town as partial recompense for taking care of the Frome family without pay, and Ethan has fallen into the habit of walking her home. It is made clear that Ethan has deep feelings for Mattie, and equally clear that Zeena suspects these feelings and does not approve.
When Zeena leaves for a two-day visit to seek treatment for her illness in a neighboring town, Ethan is excited to have an evening alone with Mattie. However, the two never verbalize or show their passion for each other throughout their evening together. The Fromes’ cat breaks Zeena’s favorite pickle dish that Mattie had set out to celebrate their dinner together, but Ethan fixes it as well as he can. Ethan represses the impulse to demonstrate his passion and affection for Mattie.
In the morning, Ethan’s plans to reveal his love for Mattie are foiled by the presence of his hired man; he runs into town to pick up some glue for the broken pickle dish, and upon his return finds that Zeena has returned. Zeena informs him that she plans to send Mattie away and hire a more efficient girl to replace her, as her health is failing even more rapidly.
Ethan’s passions are inflamed by the thought of losing Mattie and he kisses her passionately when he finds her in the kitchen after Zeena’s pronouncement. He tells her of Zeena’s plans to dismiss her, but their moment is interrupted by Zeena herself. Zeena discovers the broken pickle dish and is angered, furthering her determination to get rid of Mattie.
Ethan considers eloping with Mattie, but doesn’t have the financial wherewithal to do so. The next morning, Zeena announces the plans to hire a new girl and send Mattie on her way; Ethan rushes into town on an errand to seek out an advance from a customer for a load of lumber, so as to give him the money to elope with Mattie. His plan is unhinged by guilt, however, when his customer’s wife compliments him on his patience and dedication in caring for Zeena through her sickness.
Ethan returns to the farm, and picks Mattie up to go to the train station. They stop at a hill upon which they had once proposed to go sledding, and decide to go through with the sledding despite the dangers of the trees. After their first run, Mattie suggests a suicide pact; that they run themselves into a tree so they may spend their last moments together. Ethan resists the notion, but then finally acquiesces, and they take the ride down together.
On the way down, the sight of Zeena makes Ethan try to turn aside at the last moment; instead of both of them being killed, Ethan comes to after the accident in an embrace with Mattie. She is paralyzed and he is barely able to walk, although not paralyzed as badly as she is.
The final chapter switches back to the first-person narrator point of view of the first chapter, as Frome and the narrator walk into the Frome household two decades later. The tables are turned; Mattie is sickly and seated and Zeena is fixing their dinner.

Symbolism

Ethan Frome makes ample use of symbolism as a literary device: similar to the Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne (also set in New England), Edith Wharton uses the color red against the snowy white background of her Massachusetts setting to symbolize Mattie’s attraction and vitality as opposed to Zeena, as well as her temptation to Ethan in general. Wharton uses the cat and the pickle dish to symbolize the failing marriage of Ethan and Zeena; the cat symbolizes Zeena’s presence when Ethan and Mattie are alone, and when it breaks the pickle dish, this symbolizes the final fracturing of the marriage that is rapidly coming as Mattie and Ethan slide closer and closer to adultery.