Dragged Down in Ethan Frome Essay

Dragged Down

No matter where you are from or what your circumstances are, you can be successful. Many people live by this statement, believing that their hopes and dreams can come true no matter what their lives are like. Unfortunately, life does not end up being picture perfect for everyone. In Edith Whartons Ethan Frome, Ethan is a poor, New England farmer in the cold, lifeless town of Starkfield, MA. He has always dreamed of becoming some sort of bio-chemist, but cannot get away from Starkfield because of his lack of money and his huge sense of duty, first to his sick parents, then to his wife, Zeena. When he falls in love with Zeenas younger cousin, Mattie, he wants to run away with her, but is once again held back by his sense of duty and lack of money. These circumstances eventually lead Ethan and Mattie to cripple themselves for the rest of their lives, destroying any hopes of a happy life in the future. Wharton uses setting and mood to reveal how uncontrollable circumstances dragged Ethan down into a hopeless life.

Wharton uses the symbols of the missing L in Ethans house and the cat to convey the mood of hopelessness in the novel. Ethan said to the narrator, The house was bigger in my fathers time: I had to take don the L a while back (Wharton 11). The absence of the L represents the emptiness in Ethans life. The L is made to protect farmers from the harsh weather, and to give them an indoor path to the barn. Just like the house was missing the L, Ethans life is missing a shelter from the harsh realities of his life. While Ethan is reminded each day of the missing L, he is also reminded of the everlasting presence of Zeena through her cat. On the night Zeena was gone, and Ethan and Mattie were enjoying their night together, the narrator says, The cat, who had been a puzzled observer of these unusual movements, jumped up into Zeenas chair, rolled itself into a ball, and lay watching them with narrowed eyes (Wharton 45). Even when Zeena is gone, her spirit still haunts Ethan, reminding him that he will never be free from her, and crushing his dreams of a new life with Mattie.

Wharton uses setting as a primary example of how environment can hold humans back from their hopes and dreams and crush their spirits. The narrator says about the harsh winters of Starkfield, One would have supposed that such an atmosphere must quicken the emotions as well as the blood; but it seemed to produce no change except that of retarding still more the sluggish pulse of Starkfield (Wharton 5). The author reveals how Starkfields long, bitter winters can drain the life out of all of its inhabitants, pushing away their aspirations and replacing them with a sense of lifelessness. Ethan cannot escape this town not because he does not want to, but because the winter takes away his ambition to leave. When first laying his eyes on Ethans house, the narrator describes, The black wraith of a deciduous creeper flapped from the poch, and the thin wooden walls, under their worn coat of paint, seemed to shiver in the wind that had risen with the ceasing of the snow (Wharton 11). Just as the harsh winters wear on a humans soul, it is the same with Ethans house, serving as a constant reminder to Ethan of the bleak, hopeless future that lies in front of him. These are just two of the many ways Ethans environment destroys his morale, and makes it nearly impossible to live a fulfilling life.

Ethans uncontrollable circumstances are also used by Wharton to reveal that human desire and ambition can be destroyed by one situation after another. Harmon say to the narrator about Ethan, Sickness and trouble: thats what Ethans had hs plate full up with, ever since the first helping (Wharton 8). From his parents sicknesses to Zeenas constant aches and pains, Ethan is followed by a constant burden that holds him back from a happy life. When Ethan finds the narrators book on bio-chemistry, he says, There are things in that book that I didnt know the first word about: (Wharton 9). Ethan could not control that his father became ill, and he had to drop out of college. He just did what his sense of duty told him was right, and dropped his dreams of bio-chemistry to help is family. Being poor, his familys illnesses, and his sense of duty are all circumstances holding Ethan back form his dreams and desires that he cannot control.

Both setting and mood convey how uncontrollable circumstances frustrate and hamper human desire and ambition. Ethan does not control that he lives in Starkfield, the cold, lifeless town that can freeze away any humans good spirits. He cannot control the illness of his loved ones that constantly hold him back from his dreams. The constant reminders of Zeena through the cat, and of being poor through the missing L are looking Ethan square in the face every day of his life and frustrating his ambition, making it impossible to move on to something better and more fulfilling. It is often thought that anything can be overcome with hard work and perseverance, but Ethan Frome proves that sometimes, no matter what, hopelessness follows humans around, destroying their desire, ambition, and their whole life.