Edith Wharton’s Symbols, Book Review Example

The novel “Ethan Frome” by Edith Wharton draws attention of many investigators since its publication in 1911. It initiated multiple interpretations of characters, plot lines, and their symbolism. One of the most frequented points is the problem of contrary concepts describing the life of protagonist Ethan Frome. Among them, Edith Wharton uses contrasts of light and darkness to illustrate the starkness of Ethan’s world.

Ethan Frome lived a “silent”, monotonous life with his hypochondriac and always complaining wife Zeena on a farm in Starkfield, Massachusetts. One day the situation changed when Zeena’s young cousin Mattie Silver came to their farm. The naturally determined surname “Silver” explains light, brightness and warmth the character conveys. When Ethan saw Mattie for the first time, she seemed “the lightning of a fire on a cold hearth” and “bright” (16). He experienced the delicate feelings, which brought reviving into his routine life. On a frosty morning, he sees her face in “the sun’s red and of the pure glitter on the snow” (31). Light is also associated with Ethan’s memories of past parents.  Though “the kitchen was a poor place, not “spruce” and shining as his mother had kept it in his boyhood”, it got “a homelike look” with Zeena’s absence (36). When Zeena leaves the house, it looks different. “It was warm and bright in the kitchen. The sun slanted through the south window on the girl’s moving figure, on the cat dozing in a chair, and on the geraniums” (36).

The idea of darkness is ambiguous. Apparently, it characterizes Ethan’s life with Zeena; he blows “out the light so that he should not see her when he took his place at her side” (30). On the other hand, at night he could not conceal his emotions. When he went to Starkfield to fetch her home, he could walk holding her hand and talking. Unnoticed in the dark, Ethan could also watch her dancing with young people.

Edith Wharton applies various devices to depict the stark living of Ethan Frome.  The concepts of contrary notions, the light and darkness belonging to them, reveal dull, monotonous routine contrasted to kindly feelings to a young girl.

References

Wharton, E. (2005). Ethan Frome. New York: Penguin Group.