Fuad Baghdady AP English 3/2/13 Ethan Frome Essay The novel Ethan Frome by Edith Wharton can be considered a tragedy because the main character, Ethan, has one tragic flaw. Ethan Frome is antisocial and this one flaw leads to an inability to express his feelings, loneliness, and a failed marriage. Through irony and Wharton’s choice of words, these three aspects make Ethan Frome a tragedy. Ethan Frome’s antisocial behavior makes it impossible to express his feelings. He is unhappy with his marriage to Zeena but he never tells anyone how he feels.
Of Mice and Men is filled with characters such as this, which are unable to find a way out of their lonely lives. The loneliness in this story builds and builds and never is allowed to escape. By never allowing its escape, Steinbeck effectively forms a solid backing for the characters and events in his novel. Lennie's loneliness chiefly stems from the fact that he is both mentally undeveloped and very big and strong. His retardation sometimes causes others at the ranch to shun him; even to the point of thinking he is "cuckoo."
This highlights the main theme of the novel: loneliness. Living alone in his room Crooks craves the company of others but, because of his coloured skin and the era he lived in, he is shown to be separated from the other ranch workers and thus suffering from loneliness more than his colleagues. Because of his skin colour, Crooks is shown to have “kept his distance and demanded that other people kept theirs.” Steinbeck describes how crooks wants others to stay away from him and reciprocates their feelings towards him but, later in the novel, he reveals that he is very lonely all by himself and would like to have someone to talk to. However, because he is so used to being shunted away by society, he pushes everyone away from him before they have the chance to do the same, portraying him as a “proud, aloof man”. Again, this fact highlights Crooks' loneliness and, even though he has convinced himself he doesn’t need anyone else, he knows the pleasure of having company and this is something that can’t be replaced by the many possessions he has acquired.
Ethan Frome Throughout the novel Ethan Frome, by Edith Wharton, the main character Ethan goes through hard time in his life, internal and external which eventually lead to his downfall. Ethan is very much a tragic hero because of various tragic flaws in him. Ethan From has very poor judgment and lacks the ability to analyze situations. This flaw leads to problems, including marrying Zeena, his wife, as well as having a relationship with Mattie. Another flaw which Ethan has is his lack in ability to communicate with the people around him.
Ada has been left penniless, and all alone to tend a broken down farm which she has no knowledge of how to run. As time goes on Ada’s health deteriorates because she is eating very little and has very little money to take care of herself. When Ruby (Renee Zellweger) shows up at Ada’s farm, Ada seems timid at first whether to let Ruby help her, but she realizes how desperate she is and really has no choice. As Ruby walks around the farm she realizes how much work needs to be done and begins to make a list. Ada seems lost when Ruby is talking; this is ironic because Ada is the educated one but when it comes to farming Ruby is considered the educated one.
Edith Wharton portrays Ethan Frome as a ‘stoic’ sufferer who lives, “part of the mute melancholy landscape, as an incarnation of its frozen woe”. Wharton presents the reader with a character whose mental condition corrodes due to his inability to express his emotions, which creates a sense of Ethan’s cold demeanour as being the source of his psychological deterioration. The narrator suggests that the protagonist “lived in moral isolation,” with his physical appearance looking “bleak” and “unapproachable”. For years Ethan has existed in a state of despair, and has longed for change and freedom, however changing his external environment would be deemed impossible for a man with his stoic character traits. Kenneth Bernard comments that, “Throughout the book Frome recognises his futility and accepts it rather than trying to fight his way out of it.” An example of Bernard’s theory can be seen when Mattie is sewing and instead of him touching her hand he touches the end of the piece of fabric as a substitute for his intimacy.
As well as isolation in those senses, Arthur Kipps is also very emotionally isolated from his family’s happiness at the start of the novel, and is separated from other men by his traumatic experiences. Later in the novel, he is physically isolated from civilization, as he passes through Gapemouth tunnel to Crythin Gifford. All throughout the novel you could say, as he is away from his family and friends that he is also
Dunstan Ramsay, the novel’s protagonist exhibits the issue of how a rough childhood can impede on relationships later on in life. Dunstan’s relationship with his mother leads him to develop three problems that arise in his dating life. The first problem is Dunstan’s trust issues; he can never fully trust a woman due to his betrayal of trust with his mother. The second problem is Dunstan’s negative depiction of sexual relations. Due to his mother’s stern moral beliefs, he does not have much interest in sexual relations and has negative views on it.
Baba never discusses her with Amir, and he doesn’t appreciate the qualities she passed down to her son “That was how I escaped my father's aloofness, in my dead mother's books” this being a disgrace to baba as he wished for a masculine son "Real men didn't read poetry-and God forbid they should ever write it!” this effectively showing baba’s disinterest in Amir as Baba believes a real man is interested in sports. One interpretation to explain his lack of conformity to the ideal model of manhood could be due to his mother as she feminizes him even though she's almost
Furthermore, Leonce “thought it very discouraging that his wife, who was the sole object of his existence, evinced so little interest in things which concerned him, and valued so little his conversation” (Chopin 6). The contrast between Edna and the other women in the novel stood out in this quote because the women at the time adored their husbands and paid their utmost attention to them. As for Edna, she would have rather been sleeping and did not care much as to what Leonce had to say or to the outcome of his events at night. The tone of this quote gives off a melancholy and disappointed feeling due to Edna’s lack and interest in her husband’s stories. Chopin employs the literary techniques of diction and tone in order to allow Edna to appear different from other women during the late 1800s time