Ethan Frome Ethan Frome, a novel by Edith Wharton, takes place in the small town in Starkfield during the winter. The novel includes the story of Ethan a poor and lonely man, his sick wife Zeena, and her young cousin Mattie Silver who has come to stay with them. Ethan, the main character, faces many challenges to be with the one he truly loves. In the beginning when Zeena came to help take care of Ethan’s mother while she was dying, Ethan thought Zeena was the women for him. Later on when Zeena became sick and Mattie came to live with them, Ethan fell in love with Mattie and out of love with his wife. However, Ethan couldn’t show his love for Mattie because he was afraid what society would think. One major theme Wharton conveys through Ethan about society during the late 19th and early 20th centuries is that when people fear they are violating the rules of society, they risk becoming enslaved by …show more content…
Ethan tried to reason with Zeena to still let Mattie stay, but it did not work. Ethan decides to run away with Mattie and then prepares to write a letter of farewell to Zeena, but pictures the grim situation he would have left Zeena in. The next day Ethan’s encounter with Mrs. Hale and her compassionate words encourage the idea that the Hales are the only ones that are sympathetic to Ethan and his situation. He thought if he lied to them that he needed money for Zeena’s condition they might be willing to give money, so he could use it to run away with Mattie. On his way to Mr. Hale’s he then realized what he was about to do. He was “ a poor man, the husband of a sickly woman, whom his desertion would leave alone and destitute; and even if he had the heart to desert her he could have done so only by deceiving two kindly people who had pitied him” (Wharton 124). His strict code of ethics won't allow him to lie to the Hales to get the money to run away with