At this moment we can see clearly just how broken her dreams are, just how badly things have gone for her. Zeena seems to flip-flop between the roles of nurse and patient.
In the early s medicine was much less of a developed science than it is today. If you are curious about the kinds of medicines Zeena was buying, click here. Interestingly, the story goes to some trouble to convince us that Zeena's illness is in some way imaginary or psychological. The biggest piece of evidence for this comes from Ruth, who is actually defending Zeena to the narrator.
It was a miracle, considering how sick she was — but she seemed to be raised right up just when the call came to her. Not as she's ever given up doctoring, and she's had sick spells right along; but she's had the strength given her to care for those two for over twenty years, and before the accident came she thought she couldn't even care for herself. According to Ethan, she learned how to care for the sick by being sick herself.
Yet, when Mattie and Ethan are injured, she miraculously becomes relatively healthy again, and remains so for at least the next 24 years. Hale extends an unexpected degree of warmth to Ethan after encountering him by chance one winter afternoon. Her kindness and praise for his dedication to Zeena lead Ethan to reevaluate his decision to borrow money from Andrew Hale to elope with Mattie. The hired man on the Frome farm. Markedly reticent, Powell is sensitive to the tensions between the Fromes but loath to involve himself in them.
A former stage-driver and town gossip. SparkTeach Teacher's Handbook. Themes Motifs Symbols. Because so much money was being spent by Zeena, there was no way Ethan could get ahead and realistically consider moving. Over the years Zeena becomes adept at using her illnesses to control everyone and everything in her environment. Her illness is the reason why Mattie must go and a hired housekeeper must come to take her place. Zeena's rule over Ethan is powerful.
She is seen as a "mysterious alien presence" and an "evil energy. When she does speak, it is to voice either a want or a criticism; consequently, before the arrival of Mattie, silence has prevailed in the Frome household. There never was and never would be any real communication between Ethan and Zeena. She goes to get her heartburn medicine and discovers the broken red pickle dish.
Major themes in Ethan Frome include silence, isolation, illusion, and the consequences that are the result of living according to the rules of society. Wharton relies on personal experiences to relate her thematic messages.
Wharton began the story that became Ethan Frome in the early s as an exercise in writing for a tutor she hired to improve her French conversational skills.
Mattie in Love As a young woman, Mattie seems to be truly in love with Ethan. Everything from turning down Denis Eady to declaring her love indicates that her affection for Ethan is sincere. Zeena is constantly going to different towns in search of more remedies. She is not actually sick, but every time she goes she discovers new symptoms. She hears of other peoples problems and begins to accept them as her own.
Furthermore, she makes Ethan financially stressed through her purchases. Yes, Ethan kisses Mattie near the end of the novel. He is supposed to be transporting her to the train station, but he takes a side route so they can…. Ethan married Zeena because he was afraid of silence, just as his mother was. The Fromes appear to suffer from a fear of loneliness, which causes them to make poor decisions.
The broken pickle dish that Zeena discovers at the top of the china closet symbolizes the shattered Frome marriage. Mattie is partially responsible for the breaking of both the pickle dish and the marriage, having handled them carelessly, and Ethan cowardly hides the broken state of each. Instead of going into the church, Ethan hides in the shadows near a window and watches Mattie dance with Denis Eady.
0コメント