Ethan Frome | Ethan Frome

At a glance:

Author: Edith Wharton
First Published: 1911
Type of Work: Novel
Type of Plot: Psychological realism
Time of Work: Late nineteenth century
Genres: Long fiction, Domestic realism, Frame story
Subjects: Love or romance, Suicide, Nineteenth century, Marriage, Villages, New England, Poverty or poor people, Jealousy, envy, or resentment, Farms, farmers, or farming, Adultery, Accidents, Sick persons, Fate or fatalism, Happiness, Sleds or sledding
Locales: New England, Starkfield, MA

Starkfield. Fictional village in the hills of western Massachusetts’s Berkshire County, where Wharton herself lived for many years. Small and rural, Starkfield lives up to its harsh name. Though connected by trolley to the larger town of Bettsbridge—which has libraries and theaters—Starkfield is isolated and lonely during the long New England winters. The village has a post office and a Congregational church. It also has one mansion, Lawyer Varnum’s house, in which the narrator boards during his enforced residency in the community. The narrator refers...

Ethan Frome | Ethan Frome

At a glance:

Places Discussed

Join eNotes