Themes in Ethan Frome

Recall that the moments that Ethan spends with Mattie Silver, as well as Mattie Silver herself, are often described using color and light. In this instance, Ethan describes Zeena as having “faded into an insubstantial shade.” The term “insubstantial” means “intangible” or “illusory.” In contrast to Zeena, Ethan correlates Mattie with the reality that he desires and pushes Zeena into the background of his mind as something less than wholly real.

It is important to note the delight that Ethan gets from teaching what he has learned. Consider further that he is teaching Mattie, who has also not been able to further her education (regardless of whether she wanted to or not.) This might speak to the fact that women during Wharton’s time were largely expected to stay at home rather than pursue studies.

Wharton’s use of oxymoron (a literary device in which the author uses two contradictory terms in conjunction) highlights conflicting dualities throughout the novel such as determinism versus free will, nature versus man, and duty versus passion. Here, the oxymoron emphasizes the effects of a bitter winter on the human spirit. Consider the word “cold” in relation to the constellation Orion’s distance. This might signify an ominous event looming in the distance.

Ethan often describes the wintery surroundings using terms like “empty” and “void.” Recall too, that in the previous chapter he used the physics term “exhausted receiver” to describe the winter air. These words help illustrate that nature, and arguably nature’s most frightening season, is often a void for Ethan, something that both perplexes and overwhelms him.

Notice that Wharton places the word “drug” in quotations marks, suggesting that the business that Mattie’s father inherited might be crooked or questionable. Consider further, how Mattie’s father’s “drug” business furthers the motifs of medicine, sickness, and the loss of promising careers. Ethan forfeits the prospect of a promising future career by ending his studies prematurely due to his father’s illness. Mattie misses opportunities to hone useful skills due to her father’s failing “drug” business and her illness which forces her to get a job in a department store instead.

We can read this line in a few different ways. If Ethan does not see Zeena, it might be easier for him to ignore his feelings of guilt about the affair. It could also be read as signalling Ethan’s desire and attempts to keep Zeena “in the dark” about this affair. Either way, note again that Zeena is connected with darkness and Mattie with light.

Note that Ethan feels that he and Mattie are more free to express their attraction outdoors than inside the home, even though Zeena is still away. Ethan compares the freedom of the outdoors with the indoors and “all its ancient implications of conformity and order.” Traditions and duties once again produce feelings of confinement for Ethan, and the place in which these are most apparent for him is home.

Wharton has suggested that Ethan feels imprisoned for much of the novel, but at this moment she uses a metaphor (a comparison without the terms “like” or “as”) to make it extremely clear for the reader. Consider also that this metaphor comes directly after Ethan internally struggles with leaving Zeena to go West, abandoning duty and honor, or staying in his current situation. Even when he decides that he can leave, Ethan is trapped by his low earnings—he cannot even afford a train ticket.

Ethan feels his actions are being directed by an unseen “force.” Throughout the novel, Wharton has highlighted the forces of nature and revealed the impact that they can have on the characters’ lives regardless of their actions. Recalling that this story is set in a frame narrative, consider how Ethan’s lack of free will is examined by Wharton here. He feels that his “hands and feet were fulfilling” these unseen “orders.”