Ethan Frome

Lore & Background

The story begins with a nameless male narrator who works for a power plant and, due to a carpenters' strike, spends a winter in the small fictional town of Starkfield, Massachusetts. He is chauffeured daily by a limping, quiet man named Ethan Frome, a lifelong resident. The narrator learns that Frome's limp arose from an accident. The narrative then flashes back 24 years to detail Frome's past. Young Ethan is married to a sickly, unkind woman named Zeena, who seeks expensive treatments for her varied illnesses. The Fromes have taken in Zeena's poor cousin Mattie, with whom Ethan falls in love. Zeena, possibly suspecting the affair, arranges to send Mattie away, claiming she needs a hired maid. Ethan considers eloping but cannot obtain money and feels guilty about abandoning Zeena. He takes Mattie to the train station, but they stop at a hill to sled. Mattie suggests a suicide pact: they steer the sled into a big elm tree. The crash leaves both alive but permanently disfigured—Ethan with a limp, Mattie paralyzed. In the present, the narrator is forced by a blizzard to stay at the Frome house, witnessing an unhappy scene: Mattie and the Fromes live together, with Zeena as Mattie's caregiver. Mattie has developed an irritable disposition, and Zeena has become a caretaker.

Reader's Guide

Wharton began the story as a French-language composition while studying in Paris. She later transformed it into a novel, basing her sense of New England culture on her ten years at The Mount in Lenox, Massachusetts. She read portions daily to her friend Walter Berry. Wharton learned of it from a survivor, Kate Spencer, who suffered a hip injury and facial injuries. The novella is among Wharton's few works with a rural setting. The New York Times called it 'a compelling and haunting story.' Critic Lionel Trilling criticized it as lacking moral significance, saying the ending is 'terrible to contemplate' but the mind can do nothing with it. Jeffrey Lilburn notes some find the suffering bleak, while others see insightful commentary on American economic and cultural realities. Elizabeth Ammons viewed the story as 'realistic social criticism,' suggesting Mattie would grow as frigid and crippled as Zeena if women remain isolated and dependent. Wharton labeled the work a 'brief reminiscence' rather than a novel.

Did You Know?

• The story was originally a French-language composition Wharton wrote while studying in Paris.
• In David Foster Wallace's 'Infinite Jest,' character Don Gately misremembers the novella as 'Ethan From.'