Discussion Topic

Ethan Frome's House as a Symbol of His Condition

Summary:

In Edith Wharton's Ethan Frome, Ethan's house symbolizes his bleak condition. Described as forlorn and stunted, the house mirrors Ethan's physical and emotional deterioration. The absence of shutters exposes its inner misery, much like Ethan's vulnerability. The loss of the "L" structure signifies a loss of purpose and emasculation, paralleling Ethan's unfulfilled life. Both the house and Ethan are depicted as poor, lacking warmth and nourishment, reflecting a life gone from bad to worse.

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How does Ethan Frome's house in Ethan Frome symbolize his condition?

It is in the prologue of Edith Wharton's novel Ethan Frome where we find the description of both Ethan and his place of residence. The prologue serves as a wonderful conduit to help us realize the current state of Ethan, both mentally and physically. It is precisely his condition that makes Ethan such a recognizable person in town, and it is his current state that sparks the curiosity of the first narrator, a visitor, who is told about Ethan's story by Harmon Gow.

We find that Ethan's house is described with the same amount of sadness, and instilling a similar amount of misery.

That's my place,” said Frome, [..] a flash of watery sunlight exposed the house on the slope above us in all its plaintive ugliness. The black wraith of a deciduous creeper flapped from the porch, and the thin wooden walls, under their worn coat of paint,...

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seemed to shiver in the wind that had risen with the ceasing of the snow.

This shows that, like Ethan, the house is an eyesore where there are very little strengths, where the winter seems to dominate its thin and weak frame, and from where things tend to "creep out". Similarly, Ethan's bent spine and overall deformity render him vulnerable, weak looking, and defenseless.

Moreover, the house lacks its essential needs. It has no shutters, so its inner misery its constantly exposed to the eye of passers-by. However, the most poignant description tells us that the house that belongs to Ethan Frome has gone from poor, to poorer.

the unusually forlorn and stunted look of the house was partly due to the loss{..} the “L”: that long deep-roofed adjunct usually built at right angles to the main house, and connecting it, by way of storerooms and tool-house, with the wood-shed and cow-barn.

The words "forlorn" and "stunted" certainly speak endless words about Ethan's own condition, for he is a man whose fate becomes stunted by circumstances and, for this reason, his dreams are "forlorn". The loss of the "L" is a way to explain that Ethan has become emasculated just like the home has lost its sense of "purpose", as it can no longer be connected to storerooms: the Fromes have nothing, just like Ethan has nothing to give to the world. The narrator agrees with this latter statement.

Whether because of its symbolic sense, the image it presents of a life linked with the soil, and enclosing in itself the chief sources of warmth and nourishment, or whether merely because of the consolatory thought that it enables the dwellers in that harsh climate to get to their morning's work without facing the weather, it is certain that the “L” rather than the house itself seems to be the centre, the actual hearth-stone, of the New England farm.

Therefore, Ethan's home is a reflection of Ethan: it is poor, needy, lost its sense of purpose, feels forlorn, and has become stunted, much like Ethan's life has become stunted as well. There is no sense of nourishment, for Ethan's life (like his home) is barren, and cold. It also has gone from bad to worse, just like Ethan's house has, as well.

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What are the characteristics of Ethan's house in Ethan Frome?

We get more impressions of decay and darkness from the mood of the story than from actual description when learning about the state of the home of Ethan Frome.

We know already that he is poor, so we can assume as readers that the place was modest, and small. We also know that Frome is unhappy, and that Zeena, his wife, is depressing and ill all the time. From this, we can gather than the place is not the jolliest in the world.

We know that

"The shutter-less windows were dark"
A dead cucumber-vine dangled from the porch like the crape streamer tied to the door for a death.

Therefore, Ethan's house is sort of a reflection of the state of mind of the inhabitants: Desolate, sad, depressive.

The house's windows lacked shutters. This may be significant because it means that Ethan gets to always stare out at the world outside while being trapped inside with Zeena. Having no shutters means that he has to face the world daily, and compare the world outside to the sad situation inside.

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