Analysis of Literary Style of Ethan From by Edith Wharton
Analysis of Literary Style of Ethan From by Edith Wharton
The novel that I read was Ethan Frome written by Edith Wharton. The main character in the book is Ethan Frome, has many complex problems going on at the same time. His family has died and he has a wife that is always sick, and the only form of happiness he has is from his wife's cousin Mattie. This, however, at times proves to be hard because of Ethan's wifes interference. Nothing seems to be going in Ethan's favor. The main theme of the book is failure. The main school of writing is naturalism. The literary styles that I will go over are flashback, symbolism, situational irony, foil and dialect.
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. Mattie always made Ethan happy but he was bound by marriage to his wife He longed to be with Mattie, however he had loyalty to his wife. Being married to the wrong person was Ethan's first failure. Another failure of Ethans was not being able to stand up to his wife, like when Zeena wanted Mattie out and the new maid was to come Ethan didn’t stand up to his wife and tell her that he wanted Mattie to stay. Zeena didn’t even acknowledge what he said. “ If she says it to-night she’ll say it to-morrow” (87) This shows how Zeena is in charge.
Naturalism is when the author sets up everything up for failure and everything that can go wrong does. This is shown in Ethan Frome by his failed attempted suicide that makes him crippled. Leaving only Zeena to look after them and take care of them.“ And Zeena’s done for her, and done for Ethan, as good as she could “(129)
There was also flashback, which is when the time changes in the story so you know what happened in the past. In the beginning Ethan was an old man who caught the lawyer attention but then in chapter one it tells the story of his life his younger years and in the last chapter it goes back to him being old. The author sets it...