7/21/2023 0 Comments Wharton writing challengeHad Zeena died and Matt married Ethan-well, it is my private belief that inside of a few years life on that farm would have been practically what it was before Matt arrived, with Matt playing the part of a Zeena II-different, of course, and yet the same. "Romantic love, as idealized for us by our forefathers, has long ago gone into bankruptcy. ![]() "As I read the book now, I come away with an impression that, in the author’s mind at least, the one thing needed to change Ethan’s life from a hell to a heaven would have been the full and free expression of his love for Matt. The critic Edwin Bjorkman, for example, offered the following comment in a 1913 essay: "Glancing over the all too brief volume in retrospect, I can find only one point where it suggests a certain degree of failure, of growth still unachieved… Who is responsible for Ethan’s ruin and misery? Ethan himself? Zeena? Fate? Starkfield? What would it have taken for Ethan to be happy? Marrying Mattie? Having more money? More courage? Better luck? Leaving town? Ever since the book’s publication, these questions have been central to the critical reception of Ethan Frome. These close reading exercises will culminate in an in-class debate and possibly the crafting of a short argumentative essay, in which students will have an opportunity to respond to Bjorkman’s thesis. In the process, students will engage in a close reading of pre-selected passages from the novel, along with a few passages of their own choosing through at-home reading journals. This lesson will challenge students to weigh the textual evidence for and against the claim that Ethan’s woes lay in staying in Starkfield-and not in the details of his personal relationships. Was Ethan ruined by his personal problems (his loveless marriage) or by “the crushing, choking atmosphere” of his social environment? Had Ethan been able to express his love for Mattie, could he have lived happily in Starkfield? Yet even as the story concludes, we are not quite sure what or who to blame for Ethan’s ruin. Indeed, the whole body of the novel represents the narrator’s effort to reconstruct the tragic circumstances of Ethan’s life. ![]() Ethan is, quite literally, a physical and emotional wreck. Readers of Edith Wharton’s Ethan Frome (1911) can hardly fail to be moved by the suffering of the title character. Literary critic and author Edwin Bjorkman "…after all, the tragedy unveiled to us is social rather than personal… 'Ethan Frome' is to me above all else a judgment on that system which fails to redeem such villages as Mrs.
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