Split Page Notes for the Preface through Chapter 1
Big Understanding: The quiet of everday life soothes. It is that understanding that draws in the reader, despite the absence of dramatic plot twists.
Essential Questions:
1. When is it necessary to reinvent oneself?
2. How much of who we are depends on our circumstances?
3. How does one know when love is real or merely infatuation?
Essential Questions:
1. When is it necessary to reinvent oneself?
2. How much of who we are depends on our circumstances?
3. How does one know when love is real or merely infatuation?
From the Text
“I had the story, bit by bit, from various people, and, as generally happens in such cases, each time it was a different story” (3). POV and narrative structure
“…hollow-backed bay…” and “drag himself across the brick pavement…” (3). diction and imagery
“Even then he was the most striking figure in Starkfield, though he was but the ruin of a man” (3).
“[I]t was the careless powerful look he had, in spite of a lameness checking each step like the jerk of a chain” (3). juxtaposition and figurative language
“smash-up” (4) and “wust kind” (5) regional dialect
“[T]he postmaster would hand him an envelope addressed to Mrs. Zenobia—or Mrs. Zeena—Frome, and usually bearing conspicuously…the address of some manufacturer of patent medicine” (5). character development
“Though Harmon Gow developed the tale as far as his mental and moral reach permitted there were perceptible gaps between his facts, and I had the sense that the deeper meaning of the story was in the gaps” (6).
“Guess he’s been in Starkfield too many winters” (7). motif and symbol
“But when winter shut down on Starkfield, and the village lay under a sheet of snow perpetually renewed from the pale skies, I began to see what life there—or rather its negation—must have been in Ethan Frome’s young manhood” (7). imagery & symbolism
“…I had been struck by the contrast between the vitality of the climate and the deadness of the community” (7). juxtaposition and symbolism
“…storms of February had pitched their white tents…” (8). personification
Facts about Mrs. Ned Hale (9) contrast and tenets of realism
“Her mind was a store-house of innocuous anecdote…but on the subject of Ethan Frome I found her unexpectedly reticent” (9).
“…the look in his face which…neither poverty nor physical suffering could have put there” (10).
Facts about Ethan’s tragedies (12) character development
“…mute melancholy of the landscape, an incarnation of its frozen woe, with all that was warm and sentient in him fast found below the surface…” alliteration, binary opposition, symbolism
“[H]is loneliness was not merely the result of his personal plight, tragic as I guessed that to be, but had in it…the profound accumulated cold of many Starkfield winters” (13). metaphor, symbol, motif
“…outer situation and inner needs…” (15). juxtaposition
[H]is sleigh glided up through the snow like a stage apparition behind thickening veils of gauze” (16). Imagery & figurative language
On page 17, there is a lot of personification and pathetic fallacy. Imagery, too. Effects?
“…one of those lonely New England farm-houses that make the landscape lonelier.” “plaintive ugliness” (17).
Metaphor of Frome’s house as a depiction of his character/body (18-19)
“But after the trains begun running nobody ever come by here to speak of… and it preyed on [mother] right along until she died” (19). Theme
Note how the preface establishes the framed narrative. What is its effect?
“In a sky of iron the points of the Dipper hung like icicles and Orion flashed his cold fires” (23). Imagery, personification
Evidence of Ethan’s education in comparison to others in Starkfield (24)
Repetition of Corbury road (24-25)
Chiaroscuro on page 25
[He] drew forth a girl who had already wound a cherry-coloured “fascinator” about her head, and…whirled her …” (26). Symbolism
Ethan’s feelings on Dennis Eady (28)
Mattie Silver symbolism of name
“…coming to his house…was like the lighting of a fire on a cold hearth” (29). Juxtaposition, figurative language
“But hitherto the emotion had remained in him as a silent ache, veiling with sadness the beauty that evoked it” (30). motif
“He even noticed two or three gestures which, in his fatuity, he had though she kept for him…” (31). character development
“…if she were ailing, as she believed…” (31).
Contrast between Zeena and Mattie (31-32).
“…she lay…under the dark calico quilt, her high-boned face taking a graying tinge from the whiteness of the pillow” (33). symbolism, chiaroscuro
“I guess you’re always late, now you shave every morning” (34).
“Zeena…had faded from an oppressive reality…into an insubstantial shade. All his life was lived in the sight and sound of Mattie Silver…” (35).
“I had the story, bit by bit, from various people, and, as generally happens in such cases, each time it was a different story” (3). POV and narrative structure
“…hollow-backed bay…” and “drag himself across the brick pavement…” (3). diction and imagery
“Even then he was the most striking figure in Starkfield, though he was but the ruin of a man” (3).
“[I]t was the careless powerful look he had, in spite of a lameness checking each step like the jerk of a chain” (3). juxtaposition and figurative language
“smash-up” (4) and “wust kind” (5) regional dialect
“[T]he postmaster would hand him an envelope addressed to Mrs. Zenobia—or Mrs. Zeena—Frome, and usually bearing conspicuously…the address of some manufacturer of patent medicine” (5). character development
“Though Harmon Gow developed the tale as far as his mental and moral reach permitted there were perceptible gaps between his facts, and I had the sense that the deeper meaning of the story was in the gaps” (6).
“Guess he’s been in Starkfield too many winters” (7). motif and symbol
“But when winter shut down on Starkfield, and the village lay under a sheet of snow perpetually renewed from the pale skies, I began to see what life there—or rather its negation—must have been in Ethan Frome’s young manhood” (7). imagery & symbolism
“…I had been struck by the contrast between the vitality of the climate and the deadness of the community” (7). juxtaposition and symbolism
“…storms of February had pitched their white tents…” (8). personification
Facts about Mrs. Ned Hale (9) contrast and tenets of realism
“Her mind was a store-house of innocuous anecdote…but on the subject of Ethan Frome I found her unexpectedly reticent” (9).
“…the look in his face which…neither poverty nor physical suffering could have put there” (10).
Facts about Ethan’s tragedies (12) character development
“…mute melancholy of the landscape, an incarnation of its frozen woe, with all that was warm and sentient in him fast found below the surface…” alliteration, binary opposition, symbolism
“[H]is loneliness was not merely the result of his personal plight, tragic as I guessed that to be, but had in it…the profound accumulated cold of many Starkfield winters” (13). metaphor, symbol, motif
“…outer situation and inner needs…” (15). juxtaposition
[H]is sleigh glided up through the snow like a stage apparition behind thickening veils of gauze” (16). Imagery & figurative language
On page 17, there is a lot of personification and pathetic fallacy. Imagery, too. Effects?
“…one of those lonely New England farm-houses that make the landscape lonelier.” “plaintive ugliness” (17).
Metaphor of Frome’s house as a depiction of his character/body (18-19)
“But after the trains begun running nobody ever come by here to speak of… and it preyed on [mother] right along until she died” (19). Theme
Note how the preface establishes the framed narrative. What is its effect?
“In a sky of iron the points of the Dipper hung like icicles and Orion flashed his cold fires” (23). Imagery, personification
Evidence of Ethan’s education in comparison to others in Starkfield (24)
Repetition of Corbury road (24-25)
Chiaroscuro on page 25
[He] drew forth a girl who had already wound a cherry-coloured “fascinator” about her head, and…whirled her …” (26). Symbolism
Ethan’s feelings on Dennis Eady (28)
Mattie Silver symbolism of name
“…coming to his house…was like the lighting of a fire on a cold hearth” (29). Juxtaposition, figurative language
“But hitherto the emotion had remained in him as a silent ache, veiling with sadness the beauty that evoked it” (30). motif
“He even noticed two or three gestures which, in his fatuity, he had though she kept for him…” (31). character development
“…if she were ailing, as she believed…” (31).
Contrast between Zeena and Mattie (31-32).
“…she lay…under the dark calico quilt, her high-boned face taking a graying tinge from the whiteness of the pillow” (33). symbolism, chiaroscuro
“I guess you’re always late, now you shave every morning” (34).
“Zeena…had faded from an oppressive reality…into an insubstantial shade. All his life was lived in the sight and sound of Mattie Silver…” (35).
Reflections/Connections/Questions
