Ethan Frome and Naturalism
...…”(51) This is an example of naturalism because Ethan’s mother dying was beyond his control, and since he lives in New England where the winters are harsh and brutal, Ethan did not want to be alone with his misery during the depressing, miserable bland winter that was upon him. So since his mother died during that awful time of year Ethan decided he needed a “smart” woman to be with so he could continue living his dream of becoming an engineer. He found his woman in Zeenoba, and since Ethan figured the woman he found was “smart” he could marry her. Well come to find out, Zeena is nothing but an old, needy hypochondriac who needs to be taken care of twenty four hours a day, seven days a week. Since Ethan could not do all of the work by himself, the “couple” decided to enlist the help of Zeena’s cousin Mattie Silver. Mattie was the complete opposite of her cousin. Mattie was young, vivacious, witty woman who could have the whole world in her hands. Mattie’s only problem was that she basically had no family to call her own, and she was looking for a new opportunity. Mattie really wasn’t used to doing the kind of work that was needed at first, but she quickly somewhat caught on and helped around the house. The theme of naturalism comes in to play when Ethan has a very passionate lust for Mattie, and has an affair behind Zeena. Naturalism comes in to play here because Ethan cannot hide his feelings for Mattie, and his feelings are beyond his control. Due to the circumstances of being unhappy and being poor and not knowing a way to make everything right, Ethan and his wild urges have no choice but to do the most drastic thing possible. In the end, paying for his consequences, irony has played a significant role in the novel. In Edith Wharton’s novel “Ethan Frome” the setting also shows characteristics of naturalism. The story took place in New England, Massachusetts to be exact. The s...