ETHAN FROME

CHARACTER LIST

• Unnamed narrator,a visitor
• Ethan Frome, main character,local farmer
• Zenobia (Zeena) Frome,antagonist,sickly
• Mattie Silver, Zeena's cousin
• Mrs. Hale, whom narrator lodges with, widow
• Ned Hale, minor character

Untitled Slide

SETTING

• New England (VT,CT,ME,MA,NH,RI)
• Starkfield, MA
• 1800s
• Small,isolated village
• Land was harsh for farming,rocky and infertile
• Industrialization began,people moving west and rivers source of power for factories
• 1/3 of woolen goods, 1/2 of all U.S. shoes made in MA by 1890s

THINGS TO KNOW

• Foil character-a minor character whose traits when contrasted with a major character's highlights those of the main character.
• Main character can more than one foil.
• A frame story-a story told within another story. The outer story follows the inner story. The inner story is most important.
• Novella the shortest of the novels.

THEMES

• Price of rural and psychic isolation
• Redemptive power of love
• Limitations of love
• The importance of self-respect and honor

MARRIAGE IN 1800S

• Both a moral and economic situation
• Few women were educated and or expected to live independent lives
• There weren't divorces
• Men and women were economically dependent on each other. Sustaining a farm solo was not possible.
• Most or many people died at an early age. Spouse would have to remarry for financial reasons.
• People married at an early age to be less financial burden on the family.

SETTING HAS AN AFFECT ON MOOD

IMAGERY

• Imagery is word pictures created by the author to make a story life-like.
• Descriptions create imagery or pictures in your mind.
• "We came to an orchard or starved apple-trees writhing over a hillside" (7).
• "Starved" and "writhing" paint a struggle for survival.