The two main female characters, Zeena and Mattie differ in appearance quite a bit. Making Zeena out to be unattractive in pretty …show more content… So, it can be seen that Zeena and Mattie do have common feelings for Ethan Frome.
She probably has resentment and dislike for Ethan From and even herself since it was her idea to crash the sleigh into the oak tree.
Also, since her youthfulness was cut short because of an accident and there was no everlasting love that followed it. They both have very different outlooks on life and thoughts about their predicaments. Zeena is more worried of curing her illness and is in a gloomy and stagnant state. Where she is in constant despair and thinks that curing her illness will bring her joy.
While Mattie is a friendly, outgoing person that is full of life and everything a young woman could ask for. As the story opens, Wharton continues the imagery and symbolism of the winter setting in Starkfield. The first paragraph describes the winter night when Ethan walks into town to meet Mattie at the church.
It is windy, and there is two feet of snow on the ground; the stars shine like icicles and Orion seems to be a "cold fire. Wharton's intention is to emphasize the bitterness and hardness of the winter by describing a star in a "sky of iron. Wharton uses imagery associated with winter to characterize Zeena, and imagery of spring and summer to represent Mattie.
When Ethan reaches the church, he stays in "pure and frosty darkness," analogous to the silence and isolation he experiences and in opposition to the happy sociability of the interior of the church which he sees in "a mist of heat" caused by the "volcanic fires" from the stove in the room.
Ethan feels that Mattie's effect on him is like "the lighting of a fire on a cold hearth. In contrast to the warm, summer imagery associated with Mattie is the imagery that represents the cold, isolation, and death of spirit inherent during the winter months and apparently present in the Frome farmhouse.
Returning home from the church, Ethan and Mattie see farmhouses that seem to be "mute and cold as a gravestone. Their lives become cold and dead and Ethan experiences more intense silence and isolation than he did before Mattie came into his life. Wharton reveals important aspects of Ethan's character and introduces readers to Zeena and Mattie.
Ethan is an intelligent man; he spent time at a technological college, but had to quit and return home when his father died. His schooling "made him aware of huge cloudy meanings behind the daily face of things. He retreats into his thoughts to avoid the pain of reality. Ethan's thoughts are sometimes imprecise and irrational — they too often consist of illusions or half-truths rather than clear intuitions or reasoned conclusions.
Ethan constantly tries to analyze and control what is happening in the present and dreams and wonders about the future. Wharton introduces Mattie through Ethan's thoughts while he is waiting for her by the church window. Mattie is first identified as Zeena's cousin, who has come to Starkfield as a household helper, and is allowed to go into town from the farm to attend social activities.
According to Ethan's perspective, Mattie is the happy opposite of the cold and complaining Zeena. The tense silence and isolation that dominates Ethan's marriage to Zeena is not present in his relationship with Mattie. In contrast to Zeena, Mattie has a sensitive nature and is able to communicate with Ethan and Ethan with her. Mattie shares his appreciation of natural beauty. When Mattie exclaims that a sunset looks "just as if it was painted," Ethan feels as though he has found his soul mate.
As a result of his secret feelings for Mattie, Ethan often tries to escape the reality of his marriage by indulging in self-illusion, or fantasies. As Ethan continues to watch Mattie from outside the window of the church, he feels fearful because Eady is flirting with Mattie. The fears that Ethan forces on himself are an example of his use of self-illusion as an escape.
In his mind, Mattie's smiles and gestures have been just for him. Ethan's unhappy thoughts turn to thoughts of Zeena. Wharton characterizes Zeena as "sickly. He starts to believe that because of their many shared interests, his feelings for her may be reciprocated.
Love 2: Ethan tries to make up for Mattie's inefficient manner in managing household chores by doing some of her work at night, so that Zeena does not catch him helping Mattie out. By helping Mattie, Ethan's actions protect Mattie from Zeena's scolding. He does not want to give Zeena a reason for throwing her out because of inefficiency.
Love 3: Ethan wishes that he could express to Mattie exactly how much he cares for her and loves her, but he does not know how. All the years spent in quiet solitude and loneliness have made him a taciturn, reserved man. His relationship with Zeena has made him even more lonely than before; their marriage is not loving and tender at all. Ethan feels a passion for Mattie that he has never felt before. Love 4: Without Zeena present, Ethan feels that life on the farm is actually very lively and blissful.
Living under Zeena's cold and reserved control has made both Ethan and Mattie mindful of their actions and words; now that they are free from Zeena, they are able to enjoy each other's company freely and openly.
Ethan feels especially happy; it is the first night that he and Mattie have ever been alone since she came to live with them on the farm. Love 5: When Ethan and Mattie sit by the fire, they are positioned in the exact way that Ethan has dreamed of for so long: the two of them, sitting by the fire, in their cozy little house. Ethan has never felt such happiness and passion. They are genuinely enjoying each other's company and they engage in a friendly, easy conversation - one not riddled with accusation and complaint, like conversations with his wife.
Love 6: Fueled by their intimate conversation, Ethan is overcome with a desire to touch and kiss Mattie. Slowly kissing the sewing material that she had been working on all night, Ethan feels as if the sewing material is indeed an extension of Mattie herself. Ethan and Mattie's peaceful dream world is shattered when reality suddenly sinks in. Zeena will be returning home the next day. Their dreamlike world comes to an end when Ethan realizes that he has not even touched Mattie's hand, much less kissed her.
Love 7: Ethan envisions the night he spent with Mattie alone as part of the future, part of his destiny: he believes that he does have a chance of being in a relationship with Mattie. That night proved that he and Mattie do care for one another, and that they will find a way to be with each other despite Zeena's interference.
Love 8: Zeena's decision to throw Mattie out of their home enrages Ethan. He cannot believe that this cruel, bitter, heartless woman would actually have the audacity to take away from him the one person for whom he cares, the one person Zeena knows that he cares for more than anybody else.
Ethan feels as if Mattie is slipping away from his grasp and that he cannot do anything to help her or to save her. Love 9: Ethan schemes to run away with Mattie, rather than have Zeena throw Mattie out.
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