"We Never Got Away - How Should You, Ethan Frome?"

Ethan Frome (1911) is widely considered to be Edith Warton’s masterpiece, regardless of the fact that it was a later novel, The Age of Innocence (1920), which earned her the first Pulitzer Prize ever awarded to a woman. I am in no position to judge between her books as I have never read anything else by her (although I will probably be looking into The Age of Innocence). However, I can tell you that I found Ethan Frome to be an inviting yet flawed novella, hardly deserving of the word masterpiece yet still worth the time that it takes to read it (which, at 77 pages, isn’t much time at all).

Ethan is a miserable man who has spent several long years married to an older woman who he does not love. The basis for the marriage, on his side at least, was a deep sense of gratitude, sorrow and loneliness. Zeena (his wife) came to help him with his ailing parents and, after their deaths, he asked for her hand in marriage. This one decision has haunted him ever since and he feels trapped by his one moment of weakness and stupidity.

Any light that once burned in Zeena’s eyes has long since gone out and she is now every bit as ailing as his parents were. An embittered woman, Zeena has quite certainly become the town’s biggest hypochondriac, as her symptoms seem to be very psychosomatic. In a moment of charity (at least in her eyes), she has invited her cousin Mattie to stay with them, providing her with a helper and Mattie with a place to stay. She quickly learns that Mattie is less than up to the challenge, though, and comes to resent her place in the house.

Although Ethan rebels against the thought of another person in the house initially, he quickly becomes captivated with Mattie and everything that she represents. Here is a woman much closer to his age, beautiful and full of life. He doesn’t even seem to care that she is less than capable around the house. If anything, he seems to cherish her even more due to her youthful imperfections. Still, Ethan is an honorable man and he upholds his wedding vows, even if it leaves him emotionally and physically cold and unsatisfied day in and day out.

Caution: Extreme Spoilers Ahead

As time continues, though, his resolve begins to weaken and he spends all of his time daydreaming about his beloved Matt (his nickname for her). When his wife decides that she must go out of town to visit yet another doctor he is overjoyed and plans to spend the evening alone with Mattie. Their time together enraptures him further and proves to the reader that she feels the same way towards him. Although they don’t even touch, their lives seem brighter and free.

Then, disaster strikes. Zeena informs him that her new doctor has diagnosed her with complications (People struggled on for years with “troubles”, but they almost always succumbed to “complications.”) and has told her that she needs a full time helper. Since Mattie obviously isn’t going to be suitable for her needs she has already hired another girl to take her place. As Ethan listens to her speak he feels his world crashing down around him and he briefly tries to defy his wife’s wishes so that Mattie can stay. He quickly comes to believe that it’s futile, though, and becomes desperately depressed. It is interesting to note that even though it was very common place for men to think of their word as law during this time period, Ethan didn’t have enough courage and self confidence to stand up for himself for more than a moment.

The previously mentioned incident goes a long way towards developing the characterization of him that will stay in your mind. I constantly felt that he resembled Tim Burton’s vision of Ichabod Crane, from Sleepy Hollow. I interpreted Ethan as a man who wanted more than anything to be strong willed and respected, perhaps even a bit of a stubborn pain. His true personality shines through his façade time and again, however, and we come to see him as a rather weak willed, sensitive man who strives to avoid confrontations at all costs.

When he first contemplates running away with Mattie we don’t view him as a scoundrel, rather as a very confused and heartbroken individual. Once the extent of Zeena’s true feelings for him are revealed (it seems that he isn’t the only person who entered that marriage for reasons other than love) we long for him to find the courage to leave. However, based on previous experiences we know better than to get our hopes up. It is therefore a bit of a shock when he defies Zeena’s wishes and declares that he will be taking Mattie to the train stop. When he takes a different path we hope for a moment of truth but we quickly learn that he is simply stalling and has decided not to run off with Mattie due to a lack of money. He could have gotten enough money to get away, but it would have required deceiving those who had been nice to him and for once we are glad, although saddened, to see him do the right thing.

Mattie develops a different plan for them, however, one that requires the loss of life. Like Romeo and Juliet before them they vow that it would be better to die together than live apart and they attempt to kill themselves by sledding into an extremely large tree. Fate is still not with them though and they survive the ordeal only to turn into mere shadows of themselves, thrust upon the mercy of Zeena who miraculously recovers and spends the rest of her life caring for them. Her primary charge becomes Mattie who has more or less turned into Ethan’s worst nightmare: a living reflection of Zeena’s old, embittered self.

End of Extreme Spoilers

The reason I decided to read this book was because I was curious as to why the neighborhood schools were reading it. A romance isn’t typically the type of literature that the students come to the bookstore to buy and I wanted to know just exactly what message the teachers were trying to get across. In the end I believe that they are probably misconstruing Wharton’s original moral. I believe that she was trying to teach us how wrong it is to marry without love and show us how important it is to remain true to yourself. Unfortunately, I have a sinking feeling that the teachers are using it as a platform to discuss infidelity. While it is, of course, morally wrong to cheat on your spouse, I also believe that it’s wrong to imprison yourself in a loveless marriage. One has to wonder if Ethan and Zeena had ever even consummated the marriage, as birth control wasn’t exactly used then and there were no children in their lives.

In the end I enjoyed this book more than I had expected to (romance isn’t exactly my cup of tea) but I did find some flaws with Wharton’s style. My major complaint is that certain situations were not explained very well and I felt that the ending would have been much better with a slightly more in-depth analysis. Still, I would have no problems recommending this book to anyone who enjoys classics, romance, or is looking for something a little bit different.