Edith Warton's Ethan Frome

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"Love is just a word until someone comes along and gives it meaning," is a famous quote by Paulo Coelho. In Edith Warton's novel Ethan Frome, Ethan finds his true love unattainable for his wife, Zeena, is restraining him from his true happiness. Mattie Silver, Zeena's cousin, moves to Starkfield left with nothing after her family's death to become Zeena's indentured servant. Soon, Ethan has developed feelings for Mattie and finds out that Zeena is planning on firing her to replace her because she is unable to fulfill her duties. Throughout the novel the author's descriptions of the church and the village, Warton conveys the theme that people will often resort to drastic extremes for the sake of love.
The church is where the story begins, but
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scenery and naturalistic elements of Ethan Frome by Edith Warton pose no threat to the main characters, but poor conflicts throughout the work create a detrimental tragedy through the issues of gender, physical, and economic limitations. Mattie has entranced Ethan, so much so to the point where Ethan Frome constantly chooses Mattie over his own wife, Zeena. The women are constantly pitted against each other in a fierce battle for Ethan’s love and attention. Ethan inevitably chose Mattie over his wife…

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