Ethan Frome

A detailed Summary of Ethan Frome

Detail and Figurative Language Illustrate Differences in Characterization

"In a day when women were to look at and nothing more, they weren't intelligent, they

were fashionable, Edith stood alone" (Ovard, 1). Edith Wharton was born on January 24, 1862

into a tightly controlled, New York society that positively discouraged women from achieving

anything beyond a proper marriage. Her role as a daughter of an aristocratic New York family

was to learn the mannerisms and rituals expected of well-bred young women in those days. Edith

would eventually rebel against this role. As a child she was schooled at home, and she had the

privilege of using her father's extensive library. Therefore, she began to read at an early age and

made up stories which she acted out for her nanny. Later, she would publish her first nonfiction

book, The Decoration of Houses. Edith marries in 1885 and later discovers her husband taking

money from her. She divorces Teddy in 1912 and never marries again. Instead, she devotes her

time to traveling, helping refugees from World War I, and writing. Edith Wharton became one of

America's most prolific and celebrated writers, producing more than forty books, including

figurative language involved in that particular section is always pleasant. The author utilizes

was alive with Mattie's presence . . . " (101). Although it is cold outside Ethan still finds

forward, unwinding her wraps, the colour of the cherry scarf in her fresh lips and cheeks" (39).

their talk, like a wheat-field under a summer breeze" (66). Ethan views Mattie as a wheat-field on

of feeling that all he imparted left long reverberations

when she tells Ethan that it was time for Mattie to leave. The narrator characterizes Zeena

Approximate Word count = 1344
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: English

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