Ethan Frome 5 Essay, Research Paper

Ethan Frome, the main character in the book entitled Ethan Frome, by Edith Wharton, has many complex problems occurring at the same time. His parents have died and he has a wife who is continually sick, and the only form of happiness he has is from his wife’s cousin Mattie. This, at times proves to be hard because of Ethan s wife’s interference. Nothing seems to be going in Ethan’s favor. The main theme of the book is failure, and this is shown through marrying his wife, not being able to stand up to his wife, and his involvement concerning the “smash up.” (New paragraph) My folks told me all the time you couldn t do no less than marry me after (Zeena, 83) The first way failure is shown in the book is through the marriage of Ethan and his wife. He married her because she had tried to help his mother recover from an illness and once his mother died he could not bear the thought of living in the house alone. His wife was seven years his senior and always seemed to have some kind of illness. It seemed all she ever did was complain, and he resented this because it stifled his growing soul. Since his wife was continuously ill, and her cousin needed a place to stay, they took her in to help around the house. Ethan took an immediate propensity to her cousin, Mattie, because she brought a bright light upon his dismal day. He seemed to have found someone who cared for him was always happy and could share his youth, unlike his sickly wife who always nagged him. He longed to be with Mattie, however he had loyalty to his wife. Being married to the wrong person proved to be Ethan’s first failure. (New paragraph)

Ethan’s second failure was not being able to stand up to his wife. His wife claimed that a new doctor said that she was extremely sick, and needed more help around the house. She told him without any discussion that Mattie had to go. Ethan could not find the words to make her alter her decision. His wife also decided that Mattie had to leave the very next day and Ethan could not do anything about it. It was stated in the book that his wife had the upper hand in the house by the line “Now she [his wife] had mastered him [Ethan] and he obeyed her.” Ethan just could not find the right things to say and because of his failure of not being able to stand up to his wife, he was going to lose the only thing that made him happy.(New paragraph)

Ethan’s last failure was the way he modified his and Matties’ lives regarding the “smash up.” He so desperately wanted to run away with Mattie, but he could not because his practical sense told him it was not feasible to do so. Mattie wanted so desperately to be with Ethan, that she suggested the way to stay together forever was to die together. It was Ethan’s job to steer into the tree with the sled so that it looked like an accidental death instead of suicide. Instead of running square into the tree, he did not hit the tree right and it did not kill either of them. Instead it just injured them, and these injuries stayed with them forever. In this way Ethan had his last failure in not exceeding to die with his love, but instead to live with the guilt from his wife, the injured Mattie, and broken dreams. (New paragraph)These three incidents prove the main theme of the book: Failure. His first failure, marrying Zeena, could have prevented the others. He was not able to stand up to Zeena; she controlled him. The smash-up happened because of her jealousy toward Mattie. It seemed that everything Ethan tried to do worked against his favor, no matter how hard he tried. With all the incidents that happened it seemed inevitable that his life would always be a string of failures. Ethan can t even succeed at ending his own life. Upon learning of this final failure Ethan says: Oh Matt, I thought we d fetched it (Ethan, 126)