Best known for The House of Mirth and The Age of Innocence, both about high society, in Ethan Frome, Edith Wharton broke script by writing about poor, rural farmers.
The unnamed narrator is visiting Starkfield on a sojourn; he is an engineer planning a nearby power plant. Years after the events of the novel, he meets Ethan Frome because Ethan takes him to a railroad that he needs to take daily. Having a curiosity about Ethan, having heard stories about him, the narrator pieces Ethan’s life together. Or does he? How much are actual events? How much is his imagination?
Reticent Ethan Frome lived on his farm and sawmill in Starkfield, Massachusetts. He was torn between two women, his wife, Zeena, and her cousin, Mattie, who was staying at the Frome farm because she had nowhere else to go. Zeena was practical and judgmental; she was cold and bossy. Ethan had married her to starve off loneliness. By contrast, Mattie was youthful, playful, and warm. Her parents were dead, and she came to the farm to pick up the slack in work because Zeena had a long-term illness. One day, Zeena traveled to a distance city to see a new doctor, and upon returning, she announced to the household that a woman would come to take care of her. Having to support Mattie for a year, Zeena decided it was time for others in the family to care for her. That decision, needless to say, created the crisis that Ethan found himself in.
This is an emotional tale about longing. Most of the conflict happens in Ethan Frome’s thoughts and feelings. His lust! Perhaps he doesn’t know it is lust he is experiencing, but Zeena knows and feels jealous of Mattie for it. And as for Mattie, we sense her desperation, her need to belong, and her attraction towards Ethan. Is that attraction based on love or need? Perhaps no one knows, especially Mattie herself.
The story takes place in winter, the loneliest season. New England winters are some of the harshest climates known to man. Nights are long; the days, short. And the three people are trapped in the remote farmhouse. Nothing to do but sit in front of the fire and knit. As lonely as the setting is, it is also exciting. Ethan and Mattie went sledding. And dangerous, as Ethan found himself in the house for a night with Mattie. Nothing happened. Unsophisticated Ethan didn’t know he wanted anything to happen. And Mattie, all she wanted to do was needlework. The tension was real. It was a long, lonely, dissatisfying winter.
It’s a story about need and loneliness. Perhaps Edith Wharton knew loneliness, even in her marriage. Born in 1862, Edith Jones lived a privileged life. She married Edward “Teddy” Robbins Wharton in 1885, when she was 23. Teddy suffered from a mental illness, which made her marriage unhappy, and she divorced him in 1913. She spent her time writing, traveling, and socializing with friends. While married, she had an affair with Morton Fullerton. Best known for The House of Mirth and The Age of Innocence, she wrote prolifically throughout her life. In fact, she left The Buccaneers unfinished at her death in 1937. She is buried in France, where she lived most of her later life.
The word of the novel is merino, which is a soft wool or a wool and cotton fabric that resembles cashmere. In describing Zeena, Wharton wrote:
Instead of the usual calico wrapper and knitted shawl she wore her best dress of brown merino, and above her thin strands of hair, which still preserved the tight undulations of the crimping-pins, rose a hard perpendicular bonnet, as to which Ethan’s clearest notion was that he had to pay five dollars for it at the Bettsbridge Emporium.
It is a short novel. I borrowed it from the library, but it is available at bookstores like Barnes & Noble and Amazon. The first option on Amazon has a paperback version for $5.99, but the Kindle version is free. In fact, after reading the library book, I went ahead and purchased the Kindle book for nothing. I wanted a copy for myself. Since the book is in the public domain and a very popular, it is not hard to find.
Needless to say, I like it. Like all reticent characters, Ethan comes across as mysterious, as a man who has secrets, or at least regrets. It is not surprising that the narrator finds Ethan’s story interesting. Legendary!
