Ms. Moehlis' Advanced English II

Ethan Frome:
Background and Literary Movement

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Edith Wharton's Ethan Frome is representative of the American Realist movement. Set against the backdrop of the cold Starkfield, Massachussetts winter, the reader follows Ethan Frome, the protagonist and title character.  Through setting and contrast, the internal struggles of the characters are revealed. 

As stated in Anita Shreve's Foreword, "the prose is measured and haunting" (xii).  The frame sets up "a literary thread of suspense" and the "geography [perfectly] mimics the interior and psychological landscape of the characters" (vi). She goes on, "If ever place was a character in a novel, this is it" (ix).

It is also true that Ethan Frome  is Wharton's most autobiographical novel.  Trapped in an unhappy marriage to Teddy Wharton, Edith's affair with Morton Fullerton helped to open her eyes to what life might be.  She and Wharton divorced in 1913-- a difficult feat for the time-- and she established herself as a literary force all her own. 

Below is the prezi presented in class.  There you can revisit the tenets of Realism.