The Passive and Pitiful Ethan Frome Essay -- Ethan Frome Essays

The Passive and Pitiful Ethan Frome Ethan Frome is a man torn amid what he wants to do, and what he should do. Life in a rural township can be tough, but when faced with complications, it can be near unbearable. When Ethan decides to marry his distant cousin, Zeena, his disembodied spirit turns down a long and solitary(prenominal) road. Ethans lack of assertiveness and decisive action only worsens his already alone(p) and stressful carriage. Though too intelligent for rural life, Ethan finds himself stuck in an second-rate mans shoes. Leaving any opportunity he had to become someone in life, Ethan moves back to Starkfield to take care of his ailing mother and attend to their farm(Wharton 29). or else than living a lonesome life after his mother passes away, Ethan asks Zeena to check-out procedure with him, which turns out to be his first mistake (Wharton, 29). As soon as his mother passed away, Ethan should have asked Zeena to leave and sold his farm. His l ove for learning and pungency for engineering could have led Ethan to a much better life. Unfortunately, he feels obligated to bond with Zeena, thus ending all hope for a better life. Zeenas ailments were nonhing more than a way to gain assistance from Ethan and everyone else in Starkfield. Zeena wastes valuable money to buy an electric battery to servicing her overcome her sickness, but never figures out how to use it(Wharton, 26) She spends too much money buying useless medicine when she knows money is aphonic to come by. Being the man of the house, Ethan should have expressed the fact that her ailments were a factor of them being poor. Instead Ethan goes by twenty-four hour period by day doing what he needs to do, and what Zeena tells him. Unfortunately for Ethan,... ...controllable circumstances brought him back home, it was he who chose to stay and risk losing all hope for the life he had dreamed for. Ethans stopping point to be with Zeena did nothing bu t make his already dreadful life worse. When Mattie finally arrives, its almost like a small burden has been elevate from Ethans shoulders and he is almost allowed to live again. Lacking the ability to make decisions, Ethan worsens his life by letting things just slide by and by not standing up to Zeena, the outcome leaves Ethan more desperate and lonelier than he was before. whole kit and boodle Cited and Consulted Bell, Millicent. The Cambridge Companion to Edith Wharton. New York Cambridge University Press, 1995. Springer, Marlene. Ethan Frome A Nightmare of Need. New York Twayne Publishers, 1993. Wharton, Edith. Ethan Frome. New York Penguin Group, 1993.