Ethan Frome By Edith Wharton!

 

It is a plaintive story of a poor farmer, Ethan Frome, a man with thwarted desires and meagre resources. His entire life (past, present and future) is allegorical of hardship, austerity and distress!

 

I was expecting it to be focused around passion (as from the blurbs), but I found it to be everything else but passion. Maybe had I read it a few years ago, then I might have exultantly and emotionally rated it high, but a mindset smacked with experiences, derives loopholes, and studies books with a different lens!

 

The synopsis -

A poor farmer (Ethan Frome) of meagre resources,

Of bleak and stiffened appearance,

Frozen by his tragic past,

Imprisoned in a forever mortal silence,

Having accumulated the cold,

of many Starkfield winters!

Living in a mute melancholy,

Having lost his parents,

Expecting a brief reprieve post marriage with Zeena,

But both fall into a forever ghastly silence,

No love, no communication,

Just doctoring his sickly wife!

The birds start twittering, and love is foretold,

When pretty, sensitive, natural beauty, Zeena’s cousin, Mattie, joins the family,

To help her!

Ethan starts falling for Mattie!

Zeena forces upon a smothering silence on her too!

A day comes by, when the 2 are alone,

Savoring every moment.

Zeena returns back home, with a medical report full of complications,

The wife confronts the two,

Catching them red-handed,

basking in a pleasure perverse!

Ethan’s sense of responsibility to his wife,

outweighs his love for Mattie,

So drives Mattie to the station, to bid her adieu.

A change of heart occurs,

When the 2 take a detour,

both reminisce about the fleeting moments of happiness shared,

Desperate, both plan a final sled ride down the hill(sledding),

Just to join each other forever in death!

But a horrendous turn impends,

Their plan is impeded, and

Both are left brutally injured,

Zeena, changes her mind/outlook post the accident,

Accepts Mattie in the household,

Story fast-forwards 20 years,

With the two slovenly women,

Huddled together in cold,

In a poorly furnished room!

 

My views stand tangentially opposite to what it is supposed to be construed!

 

For me Ethan Frome suffuses silence, isolation, self-flagellation, living in a hard-rule-bound society, and finally irrationality! But definitely, I couldn’t find a tinge of real passion/love, as it professes!

 

Throughout there is a silence – emotional, mental, physical

 

 

 

There is an eternal silence in Ethan’s life, Zeena too resorts to horrendous silence post her marriage, there is an evident lack of communication between the husband and wife.

 

Finally, when Mattie joins in the household, silence is also forced on her by Zeena, and finally Ethan and Mattie, both abandon rationality as they decide to commit suicide, just to enter a forever hell of silence.

For me they were already living a silent hell, suicide wasn’t a solution!

Ethan Frome is emblematic of silence & isolation, post losing parents, getting married, adoring Mattie and yet not getting her!

 

The imprisonment and enslavement to society rules hold the centre stage in the novel! Ethan doesn't leave his wife because he feels bound by his marriage avowals. He dreams about being married to Mattie; however, even as he writes his goodbye letter to Zeena, and subsequently his conscience does not allow him to execute his wishes. Instead, the rules of society govern his life and stays ensnared in a loveless marriage!

 

If I have to define the 3 characters my way, I would say-

Ethan Frome - Epitome of self-flagellation

 

Mattie- metaphor for the ephemeral joys of life, transience of life and joy!

Zeena- the sickly kind-hearted wife, who accepts Mattie back, post the accident, irrespective of their affair!

 

It is defined as a tale of adulterous passion, but honestly, I found it to be a tale of poignancy, silence and isolation. Where an isolated being, finding love and pleasure, still couldn’t get it due to society rules and self-flagellation, and finally when he loses all his rationality, he ends up making the rest of his life as the worst of his life!

 

Did the irrationality in Ethan emerge due to his love for Mattie or the abomination towards his life? I presume the latter is true.

There is no effrontery but only submission!

 

“The return to reality was as painful as the return to consciousness after taking an anaesthetic. His body and brain ached with indescribable weariness, and he could think of nothing to say or to do that should arrest the mad flight of the moments” 

I was restive and had a queer feeling throughout the read.

A queerly 3.5 stars!