Zusammenfassung
Zusammenfassung von Ethan Frome
Für wen es gedacht ist
For readers who love tightly built stories with a strong sense of place, love tested by duty and poverty, and anyone curious about Wharton outside the drawing room.
Worum es in diesem Buch geht
Ethan Frome is a short novel by Edith Wharton, published in 1911. It is set in the fictional hill town of Starkfield, Massachusetts, where winter lasts for months and money is scarce. Wharton was best known for stories of wealthy New York society. Here she turned to poor farmers in a cold, silent corner of New England, and she wrote it with great economy.
The story begins with a stranger who sees a lame, grey, silent man in the village and wants to know what happened to him. What he learns is a tale of three people under one roof: a poor farmer, his sickly wife, and a young cousin who comes to help in the house. The book gives you a story you can finish in one sitting, and a close look at how duty, poverty and longing can hold a person in place. Let us begin with the stranger and the man he cannot forget.
In dieser Zusammenfassung
- 1A stranger asks about a broken manFree
- 2Ethan's life is already a trap
- 3Mattie Silver brings light into the house
- 4Zeena's illness tightens its hold
- 5What the story is really about
- 6How Wharton builds the cold
Punkt 1 von 6
A stranger asks about a broken man
The book opens with a narrator who is never named. He is an engineer sent to Starkfield for a job, and he is stuck there through a hard winter. In the village he notices a tall man with a stiff, lame body who moves like a figure held in a vise. People call him Ethan Frome, and the narrator cannot stop looking at him.
He asks about the man, but the answers are thin. Harmon Gow, an older local who remembers the past, says only that Frome has been in Starkfield too many winters. The narrator learns that Ethan has carried the marks of an old accident for about twenty-four years. Nobody gives him the whole story, and each person tells it a little differently.
Then chance brings the two men together. The narrator's regular driver is unavailable, and Ethan agrees to drive him to the railway station each day. The narrator watches him in the cold, notes his silence, and feels there is something deep behind it. A snowstorm finally forces him to spend a night in the Frome farmhouse.
The narrator puts the story together from what he has heard and what he sees inside that house. From this point the novel steps back in time and tells the tale as the narrator imagines it. This frame matters. You know from the first pages that something has gone wrong, so every happy moment that follows carries a shadow.
That’s 1 of 6 key points.
The rest of the summary, written and spoken, and the whole book: free to start.
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Who’s who
- Ethan Frome
- A poor Starkfield farmer, Ethan is Zeena's husband, burdened by household duties and drawn to her cousin Mattie.
- Zeena Frome
- Ethan's sickly wife, Zeena brings her young cousin Mattie into their home to help with housework.
- Mattie Silver
- Zeena's orphaned young cousin, Mattie helps in the Frome household and brings warmth into Ethan's restricted life.
- The narrator
- An unnamed engineer stranded in Starkfield, the narrator asks local people about Ethan and reconstructs his past.
- Harmon Gow
- A longtime Starkfield resident, Harmon gives the narrator his first information about Ethan and the Frome family.
- Jotham Powell
- The Fromes' hired man, Jotham helps Ethan with farm work and driving and is familiar with the household.
About this edition
Every format is free to start, and print and large print are at cost.
- LengthAbout 36,000 words
- Reading timeAbout 2 h 25 min
- FormatseBook, large-print eBook, audiobook, 15-minute summary; paperback, hardcover and large print at cost
- LanguagesEnglish and 13 other languages
Questions about Ethan Frome
What is Ethan Frome about?
It tells of a poor farmer in the New England town of Starkfield, trapped in a joyless marriage. When his wife's young cousin Mattie comes to live with them, he falls in love and must face what he owes and what he wants.
Who is Mattie Silver in Ethan Frome?
Mattie is Zeena's young cousin, orphaned and poor, who comes to the Frome farm to help with the housework. Her warmth and cheerfulness awaken feelings in Ethan that he has long held down.
Is Ethan Frome a true story?
No, it is fiction. Edith Wharton published it in 1911 and set it in an invented town, Starkfield, Massachusetts. She drew on her knowledge of the New England hill country, where she lived for a time.
Why is the town called Starkfield?
The name suggests bare, harsh land and a bleak winter. Wharton uses the setting to mirror the lives of her characters, whose feelings are as frozen and limited as the snowy fields around them.
Is Ethan Frome hard to read?
No. It is a short novel with plain, direct language and few characters. Most readers find it easy to read.