32 lines
1.5 KiB
Plaintext
32 lines
1.5 KiB
Plaintext
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Jason Scott 5/8/86
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English Essay Mods NOOP
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Essay: The book of "Ethan Frome", concentrating on theme.
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When reading through the book assigned to us, it became apparent that the
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author, Edith Wharton, was not putting her priorities on plot or action, but
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concentrating and developing the complexity of the characters. She spends a
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large amount of pages describing the characters' feelings and reactions to the
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subject, retaining a third-person view, then actually describing the action
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taking place.
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These prioritites became apparent when inspecting the theme of this
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novelette. The theme, in my opinion was one of guilt compromising happiness.
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Some examples would be the guilt that the young Ethan felt towards his
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feelings towards Mattie, and Mattie's towards Ethan. They both felt guilty in
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the presence, or assumed presence of Zeena. Mattie felt guilt at her breaking
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of the pickle dish, and Ethan felt guilt towards his cowardice of Zeena's
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demands.
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This conflict of guilt was never solved or vanquished, and this leaves the
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reader with an unfulfilled sense, like there should be some either happier or
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more satisfying ending, instead of a reminder of the beginning of the book.
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The entire book could be considered a study of New England life, which it
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does very well.
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