The novel Ethan Frome, by Edith Wharton, uses symbolism to reveal hidden ideas and gives a deeper meaning to the novel. Symbolism is an object, sign, or image that is used to stand for something else. The symbol has both literal significance and additional abstract meaning. Throughout the novel, Ethan Frome, the main character, suffers from isolation and loneliness. He is a man who is trapped in Starkfield because of his responsibility to his family and his marriage to Zeena, the woman who nursed his mother. Zeena is emotionless, depressed, passive, and manipulative. Ethan marriage to Zeena occurs because he does not want to be lonely after his mother's death. Ethan's life began to brighten up after Mattie Silver, Zeena's cousin, moves in with them. Mattie is a fun, energetic, and sociable woman. Many symbolism's are used to describe these characters. The outdoors, the kitchen, and the red pickle dish are symbols presented in the novel Ethan Frome.

The outdoors in Starkfield "symbolizes the emotional and physical iso

lation, cold, darkness, and death that surround Ethan" (Free Essays). "He seemed a part of the mute melancholy landscape, an incarnation of its frozen woe, with all that was warm and sentient in him fast bound below the surface; but there was nothing unfriendly in his silence" (Wharton 8). The description of the winter gives a sense of silence, desolation, and despair felt by each of the characters. As the narrator explains, "I had a sense that his loneliness was not merely the result of his personal plight, tragic as I guessed that to be, but had in it the profound accumulated cold of many winters" (Wharton 8). This description sets the mood for the novel. The symbolism of the outdoors describes the darkness and isolation shown in the novel Ethan Frome.

The last symbolism is the red pickle dish. The red pickle dish symbolizes the forbidden love between Ethan Frome and Mattie Silver. The red color represents the passion that Ethan and Mattie have for each other. The location of the pickle dish on the top shelf of the china closet and the breaking of the pickle dish re

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Approximate Word count = 731
Approximate Pages = 3 (250 words per page double spaced)