Ethan Frome, Chapter 4 summary

What happens

1. While hauling lumber, Ethan imagines domestic happiness with Mattie and recalls the isolation, nursing, and disappointed hopes behind his marriage.
2. Andrew Hale refuses Ethan’s request for fifty dollars, and Ethan denies being in financial difficulty.
3. Ethan fears Denis Eady is visiting Mattie, then encounters Ned Hale and Ruth Varnum kissing near the church.
4. Returning home, Ethan finds Mattie dressed with a crimson ribbon and supper carefully prepared; Jotham Powell is her only visitor.
5. References to Zeena unsettle their conversation, and the cat breaks her special pickle dish when Ethan and Mattie touch hands.
6. Ethan arranges the broken pieces on their shelf to conceal the damage and feels proud when Mattie trusts his reassurance.

In this chapter

What to notice

Ethan sees the broken dish as the collapse of their hoped-for happiness. The damage brings fear of Zeena into their private supper.

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