Ethan Frome Essay, Research Paper

The Story of Ethan Frome

Ethan Frome is a very well written book with a story of

love, intrigue, suspicion, and hatred. In the story, there

are many people, but only three stand out to me, plus an

animal. I will tell you of one scene in the book that shows

the cat ?puss? as a symbol and a familiar.

In the story of Ethan Frome, there are three main

characters, Ethan From, his wife Zena, and Mattie, Zena?s

relative. Ethan was a man of little character. Being from

a small town in New England, he and his towns people where

very isolated and knew almost nothing about the world

outside of Starkfield. As for Zena, she had come to Ethan?s

side when his mother was deathly ill. After his mother

past, Zena was welcomed to stay with Ethan, and then they

where married. Zena was a very cold woman who had no

character and very little compassion for other people. She

was the type of person who always looked for a way to have

attention drawn to her as if she where important and she

also wanted people to feel sorry for her every time she was

sick, which was quite often. In this story, one girl, who

is Mattie, stands out to Ethan as being a vibrant and young

lady, unlike his older wife, Zena. Mattie has a very

colorful outlook on things and is always getting peoples

attention in a good and loving way, unlike Zena who draws

attention to herself by always being ill.

In this story, Zena has a cat named ?puss? who can be

recognized as both a symbol and a familiar. I learned that

familiar is another word for a person to ?see through? to

another person or even another world, like a mirror. Puss

is, in my opinion, is Zena?s familiar, watching over Ethan

and Mattie. When Zena left town for one of her doctors

excursions, Ethan and Mattie where left alone at the house

for the night. Zena knew nothing of Ethans feelings toward

Mattie, but she knew to be careful about leaving them alone

together. That night, Mattie fixed a delightful dinner and

used Zena?s pickle dish, which was a wedding present and it

was the only thing that had any value to her. When they

where eating, Mattie noticed the cat was sitting in the

chair where Zena often sat, it was like she was sitting

there watching there every move. Mattie and Ethan where

having a wonderful conversation, when all of a sudden, the

cat leaped onto the table and knocked over the priceless

pickle dish. Mattie was very upset but Ethan calmed her

fears, and told her he would go to town the next day and buy

glue and the pickle dish would be as if it where new. This

seemed to be a ?familiar? of Zena. She wasn?t there, but

the cat made it seem as if they where being watch by

someone, maybe Zena. When the cat broke the pickle dish, it

was a sign that Zena would eventually find out about Ethan

and Mattie having an extravagant dinner and this would

outrage her because she never uses the pickle dish, not even

when the minister came to dinner. When she went to her

medicine cabinet, she saw the broken pickle dish set on the

shelf, which was still all in pieces. She asked Ethan how

it had been broken. When he told her the cat jumped up into

the cabinet and broke it chasing for mice, she was very

intrigued that her cat could put a broken dish back on the

shelf.

The cat can also be recognized as a symbol in this same

section of the book. When Zena wasn?t at the house, Ethan

and Mattie enjoyed each others company even more. When the

cat came around either of them, they both thought of Zena.

This especially bothered Ethan. Being her husband, he knew

that he couldn?t hurt her, in any way but his love for

Mattie was growing stronger every day. It seemed to me that

he felt guilty about his liking Mattie whenever the cat or

Zena came around. The book later goes on to tell the tragic

story of Ethan and Mattie?s love for each other and of

Zena?s future.