Ethan Frome and Feminism Essay

Ethan Frome is the main subject of the set aside Ethan Frome. Ethans marital wo human race Zeena from Ethan Frome represents middle clan wo man power. For a long time, complaisant use of goods and servicess of wo custody in the auberge and within the family were limited by gender stereotypes and social norms dominated since prehi recital in a myriad of cultures. These norms were closely connected and influenced by class location of women and their social status. The following paper go out focus on the main char turningers Zeena, Mattie and Ethan of Ethan Frome and their presentation as literary flakes and their attri justes of the real initiation make out for womens lib.It is with Zeena and Mattie that the boloney hinges upon an idea of the life sort of women during this time point in time and the needs which they staunched by with(predicate) patriarchy. The paper will focus on how the values of this time period did non leave room for independent women and the reactio n of women to this societal identification will also be analyzed. In the work, Ethan Frome by Edith Wharton the author explores questions concerning the map of social class and social position in life of customaryplace people especi twainy in reference to the gap in the midst of women and men in reference to equality.The female characters are influenced by false social values and traditions accepted by societys more(prenominal)s, but their modify is ca utilise by different events and life circumstances, so they choose different methods to refuse social oppression and tyranny. The dissection of womens social roles and their ability to traverse these roles will be examined through with(predicate) character analysis of the literature mentioned. Ethans story is told, or discovered by the reader when the cashier becomes fascinated by the history of this lone man who comes into t cause to pick up mail. take sparks greater when the silent ride to Corbury Flats is bridged by a hi nt or 2 of what Ethan lived, or had through with(p) in his life. There are elements of womens liberationist movement in this book as they relate to the effectiveness of the women of the story, much(prenominal) as Mattie. The main focus of this paper will explore the dual role of feminism and strength of the women through drive in. A snow storm comes which permits the narrator to spend the nighttime at the Frome farm. Here the reader is shown the complete quondam(prenominal) of Ethan Frome as told by Mattie in the kitchen.Mattie and Ethan had a forbidden delight in because Ethan was married at the time of their tryst. Ethan was married to a muliebrity named Zeena and Ethan was logical with himself and conceit that it would be better to run external with , and as Lawson states, The warmth of the evening is brought to an apprehensive end by the accidental breaking of one of Zeenas sacred, never-used pickle-dishes. That the pickle-dish, a wedding gift, has never been used m akes it a strong figure of Zeena herself, who prefers not to take part in life.The depth of Zeenas reaction to its being broken is revealed by her angrily twitching lips and by two small tears on her lashless lids. (Lawson 30). And their love could flourish outside of the merry eye of his wife. Their fate unneurotic however was doomed. unmatchable winter night when the moon was high in the sky, in desperation for fear of decease slowly without separatelyother Ethan and Mattie decided a double suicide would be a better fate and symbol of their love. Here certain feminism elements in the story can be examined such as the lack of strength in the character Mattie, but as critic R. Baird Shuman states, in that location is credibly no more pervasive single element in Ethan Frome than the symbolism. Although Mattie loves Ethan, she does not attempt to ask Ethan for a divorce from his wife, but her logical thinking pattern suggests to there that suicide is the answer for both of them. There is a definite emasculation in this action as it does not kick the lovers to actually be together in a life, but alternatively to die dramatically and when this type of death is decided upon it is purely an act of attention to produce to the world, or to Zeena that they are better off curtly than with her in their lives.Thus, the act of suicide is not a strong libber action but merely a cowards way out of a live neither of them want, without all(prenominal) other nor under defy. The suicide attempt is done by sleigh riding into a tree together. The plan in conclusion and tragically fails and they live with Zeena where the narrator finds them. It waits that the true feminist in the peeled is Zeena. Despite the fact that she was abandoned by her husband for his new lover, and in the fact that she takes both of them support in, her strength as a character comes through.Ethan Frome was a strong young man doing what he thought was right. It was a tragicomic thing that he married Zeena but then he wouldnt accept met Mattie. Ethan is an upright man with enough loyalty to love to end life with love and enough honor toward marriage to not run off kindred he was going to do. Ethan was a man with few woes but the ones he did have were seemingly too double to bear. How could he live without his love, but in living at all live being changed by guilt to his wife.He was a sad man that life couldnt do without because it made him live through the torment of having a faithful wife, this is what Kenneth Bernard speaks of when he mentions true dimensions. These true dimensions means near the revelation of character through landscape such as the snow as a symbol of things being dormant in the midst of Frome and his wife. Although Ethan was an honorable man there does seem to be a liaison difference amid Zeenas honor and Ethans honor could both of them be considered feminist?Feminism is not an theory based primarily on the injustices done to women, but is in fact a report that women have had injustices done to them, and there is finally action and unification among women and men to stop such actions. So, the question becomes how is Whartons book about feminism. The idea of feminism in Ethan Frome is arranged around how the characters react with one other. Zeena is a strong willed woman who does not cheat on her husband and thusly is an upright and outstanding wife, except for the fact that Ethan is not in love with her.Zeena does not appear to have any character flaws, but she does seem to be overbearing in parts, unless that is the impression the other characters want to build of her. However, it does seem that the characters only exhibit qualities of feminism during parts of the book. It may safely be surmised that Zeena was only a faithful wife out of spite. She used her faithfulness as a weapon to shove into Ethans looking at to keep him chained to her. Zeena was a typical wanna be invalid quetch about anything for attention and if someone found something to be good at she despised that thing and that person.She cute to be the perfect Christian daughter and be good to Ethan and Mattie just so that the town would feel racy for her and say what a splendid woman she was to be kid to such a vile husband. She wanted that glory, thus although she was a strong woman in her own character this strength was a curse to those around her. The debate then is, is Zeena feminist or just a malicious woman. Her husband cheats on her, tries to kill himself with his lover, and she takes him back and nurses Mattie.This may seem like a genuinely good woman according to this unbiased facts, however, it is in Zeenas reaction wherein lies the true character. This type of characterization does not have to be with patriarchy or developing an equality among women and men but facing the fact of Zeenas deplorable character in the reasons that she allows Ethan and Mattie back in the home. Therefore, although Zeena is a rattling strong female character there is no reason except a selfish reason of properness to allow her husband back in the home, and this is not a feminist woman.Matties character can best be described as sweet, loving, and at least trying to do something nice. She puts up with Zeena silently which is more than what just about of the women in the novel could have done. She did what love, or what she love wanted her to do and be, a silent woman. A simple country daughter looing for a life to live with someone she cares about. Thus, here is the counter to Zeenas character. Mattie is not a strong character, so love for her does not demo that she is strong but rather weak since her escape is suicide.She does not stand up to Zeena in any way in the beginning or middle of the novel and thus her character is even further away from being considered a feminist than Zeena. In view of this relation Mattie is not a feminist but Zeena would be considered one, only in comparison with one an other. Mattie is a silent woman, she does not challenge what Ethan says to her, she does not utterance her own opinion, and she goes along with Ethans suicide attempt without a condition of complaint or counteraction. Almost the entire story is told in the kitchen, which in a patriarchal society is considered the womans part of the house.Although most people attribute womens liberation to Betty Friedans wakening book Feminine Mystique the dates of womens freedoms go as far back as 1848. During the freedoms ferment era, women were contributing their time and ideas to many movements. One such movement included greater power for women. During the late nineteenth century women were not well accepted or permitted to hold positions of power in any political regime. Their daily duties consisted of housework, and motherly duties not to say that women were not including themselves in political venture, but the common belief of womens place being in the home was widespread.Thus, it seems th at the focus of the book should not be on Ethan Frome but these two female characters. The excited network of Edith Whartons characters to their situations of love, sex and death, the existence for the story is one, is the complete stripe of the other, and for Wharton this rung represents the emotions of the characters themselves in their unequaled situation, as Kuribayashi writes, erotic impulses are often born(p) of close encounters with death, either ones own or that of a loved one, though contact with death may also pacify ones sexual urges.In addressing these topics the subject of writing style isnt elusive to its relevance in feminism. It is in postmodern feminism style that Wharton writes. This style of writing begets the transcendence of female writers and characters into a world where not necessarily control but freedom from man exists. This is how Wharton writes, with patches of reality mixed with cerebral counterparts. Whartons writing style does not ricochet a p recise example of postmodernism but a hybrid mental strain of it with feminism.She doesnt write disjointedly but when looked at as a whole, her story comes together to reveal Ethan Frome as a patriarch of the story despite his honor and Mattie as the typical silent woman and Zeena as the witch of the story, and their story is quilted together with a basis of divided up experiences coupled with various reactions. Whartons style of writing is one that isnt intrusive as most postmodern writing reflects but is comprehensive allowing the reader to form a cohesive viewpoint once each side of the story is known. Wharton doesnt focus on the complete cypher but the experience and emotional narration of the characters experiences.For these issues the inclusion of Wharton in a literary ordinance involves this narrative style which is very avant-garde and deserves recognition in her ingenuity and preference for that state of emotional landscaping (for it is through the details of the lives and events of these women and Ethan that the quilting effect or common thread is revealed). This is the new literary canon as derived from Munro feminist postmodernism. This metaphoric approach to writing ensures that her craft delivers reference to feminism for each of these three characters. In this the narrative gives space to the characters desires.For Wharton, these desires arent about love necessarily but about being touched(p) and gaining experience and not being lonely as Ethan seems to be. The true whiz in Whartons new literary canon is that of upsetting the traffic pattern devices of narrative. As Nunes states, As a metaphor for narrative, quilting/piecing destabilizes notions of unity, coherence, and balance it becomes a source of disruption for patriarchal narrative structure (1997). The style of piecing together a story becomes in this new tradition of a canon a feminine aspect. Wharton works her writing style in metaphor.In Ethan Frome each character circles around to the next until they complete eachother, despite this circle having a negative connotation. Her writing style doesnt necessitate an attachement between the characters but does give concord to their actions. The capacity Edith Wharton has to deliver a unique and persistent narrative exudes her place in the literary canon and the new definitions she lends to it. Her style of writing, at once reflecting her life and at once bad the reader clear identities to the characters and their emotional attachments to each other or to their own experiences makes Edith Wharton a literary genius.It is her writing wit, intelligence, eroticism and her complexities in dealing with these issues through characters and personal development that contribute to the changing face of feminist postmodernism. The experience the main characters have with each other and their identities is what makes this story intriguing in a feminist way, and their identities seem to be lost with one another as the story p rogresses is definitely felt. Through lack of communication between the genders, the characters find themselves imprisoned with one another.