Flashcards for Ethan Frome

Andrew Hale

Andrew Hale is the friendly builder and contractor from Starkfield who plays a minor yet significant role in Edith Wharton's Ethan Frome.

character

Denis Eady

Denis Eady is a minor yet significant character in Edith Wharton's Ethan Frome.

character

Ethan Frome

Ethan Frome is the tragic hero of Edith Wharton's 1911 novella, a Massachusetts farmer whose deep longing and imagination are stifled by poverty, obligation, and social isolation.

character

Mattie Silver

Mattie Silver is the young cousin of Zenobia Frome, who comes to the Frome farm to help out, ostensibly to pay off a family debt.

character

Mrs. Hale

Mrs. Hale (née Ruth Varnum) is one of the most notable figures in Starkfield and plays an important role in Edith Wharton's Ethan Frome: she is the narrator's main source of town insights and, most importantly, the one who reveals the novella's heartbreaking final twist.

character

Ned Hale

Ned Hale is a minor yet symbolically significant character in Edith Wharton's Ethan Frome.

character

Ruth Varnum (Hale)

Ruth Varnum, later known as Ruth Hale, plays a minor yet structurally important role in Edith Wharton's Ethan Frome.

character

The Narrator

The Narrator in Edith Wharton's Ethan Frome is an unnamed engineer who arrives in Starkfield, Massachusetts, for a winter work assignment and becomes intrigued by the town's most enigmatic figure.

character

Zenobia "Zeena" Frome

Zenobia "Zeena" Frome is Ethan's older wife and serves as the novel's main antagonist, acting as the unyielding force that traps both Ethan and Mattie in their respective sorrows.

character

“I had the sense that the deeper I entered into that mute melancholy landscape the further I got from the life I knew.”

This line is delivered by the unnamed narrator, an engineer who arrives in Starkfield, Massachusetts, for a work assignment and becomes intrigued by the mysterious Ethan Frome.

The unnamed narrator · Introduction / Prologue

“We never got away—how should you?”

This haunting line is spoken by Zeena (Zenobia) Frome to Mattie Silver, but more accurately, it's voiced by the narrator's imaginative take on the aged, broken Ethan Frome as he reflects on what the mysterious Mrs. Hale has suggested about the tragedy.

Mrs. Ruth Hale · Epilogue (Frame Narrative conclusion)

“I want to put my hand out and touch you. I want to do for you and care for you. I want to be there when you're sick and when you're lonesome.”

This tender declaration is made by Ethan Frome to Mattie Silver in Edith Wharton's 1911 novella Ethan Frome.

Ethan Frome · Chapter 8

“He was a poor man, the husband of a sickly woman, whom his desertion would leave alone and destitute.”

This line is taken from Edith Wharton's Ethan Frome (1911) and is delivered through a close third-person narrative that reflects Ethan's thoughts.

Narrative voice (Ethan Frome's perspective) · Chapter 7

“There was one day, about a week after the accident, when they all thought Mattie couldn't live. Well, I say it would ha' been better for all concerned if she had died then.”

This chilling remark comes from Mrs. Ned Hale (Ruth Hale) in the Epilogue of Edith Wharton's Ethan Frome (1911), directed at the unnamed narrator.

Mrs. Ned Hale (Ruth Hale) · Epilogue

“Guess he's been in Starkfield too many winters.”

This line is delivered by Harmon Gow, a local resident, early in the frame narrative of Edith Wharton's Ethan Frome (1911), when the unnamed narrator arrives in Starkfield and sees the worn-down, prematurely aged Ethan.

Harmon Gow · Introduction / Frame Narrative (Prologue)

“The sweetness of the picture, and the relief of losing himself in it, were checked by the fear of Zeena's return.”

This line is from Edith Wharton's 1911 novella Ethan Frome, narrated in the third person during a crucial moment when Ethan finds himself alone with Mattie Silver — his wife Zeena's young cousin and helper — and dares to envision, if only for a moment, a life filled with warmth and domestic happiness alongside her.

Narrator (third-person) · Chapter 4

“Ethan, I don't want you should think—”

This line, spoken by Mattie Silver to Ethan Frome at a pivotal moment in the novella, captures the intensity of their unspoken love as they find themselves alone together.

Mattie Silver

“It was the first time he had ever touched her hand, and the touch was so electric that he felt it in every nerve.”

This line is from Edith Wharton's Ethan Frome (1911) and captures the moment when Ethan Frome first touches Mattie Silver, his wife Zeena's young cousin who has come to stay with them.

Narrator (close third-person, Ethan Frome's perspective) · Chapter 4

“The motions of her mind were as slow and laborious as the motions of her body.”

This line comes from the unnamed narrator in Edith Wharton's Ethan Frome (1911), describing Zeena (Zenobia) Frome, Ethan's sickly and emotionally distant wife.

Unnamed narrator

The Elm Tree

In Edith Wharton's Ethan Frome, the great elm tree at the bottom of School House Hill symbolizes fate, destruction, and the unavoidable consequences of repressed desire.

The Frome Farmhouse

In Edith Wharton's Ethan Frome, the Frome farmhouse symbolizes entrapment, decay, and the heavy burden of duty.

The Red Pickle Dish

In Edith Wharton's Ethan Frome, the red pickle dish symbolizes Zeena's marriage, her repressed desires, and the harmful effects of betrayal.

The Sled

In Edith Wharton's Ethan Frome, the sled symbolizes a doomed escape and a fatal yearning.

Winter and Snow

In Edith Wharton's Ethan Frome, winter and snow represent emotional paralysis, feeling trapped, and the heavy burden of circumstances.

Motif

In Ethan Frome, Wharton employs cold and winter as a central motif that intertwines the landscape with psychological entrapment.

Symbolism

In Ethan Frome, Edith Wharton uses symbolism with quiet precision, letting physical objects and landscapes convey the emotional burdens that her repressed characters cannot express.

Frame Narrative

In Ethan Frome, Edith Wharton tells the central tragedy through a frame narrative that controls what the reader learns.

Irony

Irony permeates Ethan Frome at every level, most strikingly in the novel's central twist.

Pathetic Fallacy

In Ethan Frome, Wharton uses pathetic fallacy so consistently that the Starkfield landscape reflects Ethan's emotional confinement.

Foreshadowing

In Ethan Frome, Edith Wharton weaves foreshadowing intricately into the novella's structure, making the ending both shocking and inevitable.

Simile

In Ethan Frome, Edith Wharton uses simile to reveal her characters' repressed inner lives against the backdrop of the harsh New England landscape.

Tone

Wharton maintains a tone of bleak inevitability throughout Ethan Frome, turning what could have been a straightforward rural tragedy into something resembling Greek fate.

Imagery

In Ethan Frome, Edith Wharton uses vivid imagery to transform the New England winter into a dynamic force of tragedy rather than just a backdrop.

taciturn

Habitually silent and saying very little; not inclined to talk or share thoughts with others. Used here to describe a person whose quietness feels almost impenetrable.

adjective · Chapter 1

querulous

Complaining in a fretful, whining way, often about petty matters. Describes a tone of persistent, irritable dissatisfaction.

adjective · Chapter 1

exanimate

Lifeless or spiritless; drained of any animation or vitality. Used to convey a deadened, hollow quality in a person or scene.

adjective · Chapter 1

laconically

In a very brief, terse manner, using as few words as possible. Describes speech that is clipped and gives away almost nothing.

adverb · Chapter 1

reiterated

Said or did something again, repeating it for emphasis or because no answer was given the first time.

verb · Chapter 1

evasions

Deliberate acts of avoiding a direct answer or a difficult subject; ways of sidestepping questions without outright lying.

noun · Chapter 1

pellucid

Perfectly clear and transparent, allowing light or meaning to pass through without distortion. Used of air, water, or expression that is crystal-clear.

adjective · Chapter 1

inarticulateness

The condition of being unable to express oneself clearly in words; a deep difficulty putting feelings or thoughts into speech.

noun · Chapter 2

rudimentary

Basic and undeveloped; existing only in a simple, incomplete form rather than fully worked out.

adjective · Chapter 2

atrabilious

Gloomy, irritable, and bad-tempered by nature; having a melancholy, sour disposition. An old medical term for a chronically dark mood.

adjective · Chapter 2

vitiated

Spoiled, weakened, or made less effective; corrupted so that something no longer works or feels as it should.

verb · Chapter 2

monosyllabic

Responding or speaking only in single-syllable words; giving the shortest possible answers as a way of shutting down conversation.

adjective · Chapter 2

concatenation

A linked chain or series of things — events, causes, or circumstances — each one connected to and leading to the next.

noun · Chapter 2

inscrutable

Impossible to understand or interpret; having an expression or manner that gives away nothing about what is being thought or felt.

adjective · Chapter 2

impassive

Showing no emotion or reaction on the face or in behavior; appearing completely unmoved by what is happening around one.

adjective · Chapter 2

connubial

Relating to marriage or the relationship between husband and wife; a formal, slightly old-fashioned word for marital.

adjective · Chapter 3

acrid

Having a sharp, bitter, unpleasant smell or taste that is irritating to the senses, often from smoke or chemicals.

adjective · Chapter 3

mordant

Sharply cutting or biting in tone; describing humor or a remark that is harshly critical or darkly sarcastic.

adjective · Chapter 3

propitiate

To win over or appease someone who is angry or hostile by doing something to please them and reduce their displeasure.

verb · Chapter 3

deprecatory

Expressing mild disapproval or an apologetic attempt to ward off criticism; a gesture or tone meant to soften or excuse something.

adjective · Chapter 3