Ethan Frome Test Flashcards
takes care of sick Fromes (Ethan and Mattie)
Zeena
goes to the post office everyday
Ethan
has a romantic interest in Mattie
Ethan
symbolic of the pickle dish
Ethan
left penniless by father
Mattie
very “ill” and visits numerous doctors
Zeena
tries to repair pickle dish before Zeena returns
Ethan
becomes fascinated with Frome
Narrator
lies about getting paid in advance
Ethan
forced to stay overnight on the farm
Narrator
quit college for family reasons
Ethan
wants Mattie to leave
Zeena
helps Mattie move her trunk
Ethan
refuses to give Ethan an advance
Andrew Hale
took Zeena to the train station
Jotham Powell
shares his copy of Popular Mechanics
Narrator
refuses to abandon Zeena
Ethan
sells her piano
Mattie
refuses to stay for dinner at the Fromes
Jotham Powell
falls in love with a married man
Mattie
What are 5 of the major themes?
Passion, Determinism/Naturalism, Land/People, Isolation, Poverty, Lost Potential, Loss and Transience
What is the setting?
rural setting, New England winter in Starkfield, Massachusetts
Define Naturalism
Naturalism was a literary movement in America in the late 1800s and early 1900s that produced a unique type of realistic fiction. It developed out of realism. It is essentially realism, but it has one additional facet-Determinism which is the belief that characters don’t have free will. Naturalists viewed individuals as being at the mercy of biological and socioeconomic forces.
What frames the story?
The story is framed by an anonymous first person narrator who is fascinated by Ethan after he spots him outside the post office. He searches for sources of information about Ethan from Harmon Gow, Mrs. Ned Hale, and Denis Eady. There is a large distance between the audience and the story.
What is an extension of Starkfield?
the Frome farm. It mirrors the town’s name. It provides only the bare minimum for Frome and his family.
Define Determinism
the belief that characters don’t have free will; external and internal forces control their behavior; characters attempting to exercise free will are derailed by forces beyond their control; things happen to characters as if they were puppets whose movements are entirely determined by forces beyond their control.
What is Ethan’s tragic flaw?
His honor; he’s an honorable man; he will not abandon Zeena, he won’t deceive the Hales. his honor is not truly a free choice. He can only be honorable with the constraints of his life. He’s not in control. his honor makes him easier to sympathize with.
What can Ethan not get in time?
glue
Who does Ethan feel like he owes?
Zeena
How are each of the 3 characters trapped by poverty?
Ethan can’t leave the farm. He has no education due to his family’s poverty. Zeena is too ill to provide for herself and Ethan is not heartless enough to leave her. Mattie is destitute and must rely on her cousin’s family for financial support.
How does Zeena foreshadow Mattie?
Zeena’s story foreshadows Mattie’s future. Zeena was once a vibrant and lovely young woman. She is no longer due to the harsh life on Frome farm. Mattie’s actions are parallel to Zeena. They both came to care for someone, both are not financially fit to be on their own without Ethan, and both were once bright and livley but they soon became old hags.
Give an example of environment’s power over man
The horse falling and cutting its knee and the sleet makes work slow. This is why Ethan couldn’t get the glue in time. He is too powerless to do anything about the weather.
2 examples of how Ethan is the pickle dish
Zeena possesses and clings to Ethan as she does with the pickles dish. When she verbally attacks Mattie, it’s hard to tell if she’s speaking about the dish or Ethan. She says the phrase, “The one I cared for most of all”. She uses “took” instead of “broke” and “the one” instead of “the thing”. This is like she’s talking about a person instead of a pickle dish.
How is the foreshadowing finally revealed in chapter 9?
The reader already knew that Ethan had a terrible accident and that he lived through it.
How is chapter 10 Zeena’s chapter?
She is forced to care for Ethan and Mattie just like she was for Ethan’s mom. She doesn’t do this out of selflessness or compassion. She no longer suffers because she doesn’t have time to suffer. Zeena can now afford to care for these two because she no longer worries about losing her husband. She is in complete control. Ethan needs her now and Mattie no longer poses a threat. All is stable and fixed just like Zeena wants it to be.
What do the cat and mouse represent?
Ethan’s game with Mattie; he wants to know her feelings, but he is too reserved to be direct
What do the cat and rocking chair represent.
The cat is Zeena watching them and the rocking chair represents guilt being brought on by the environment and domestic order that overpowers Ethan’s passion.
What does the red pickle dish represent?
it’s a symbol of the Frome’s marriage. It breaking is symbolic of the lost of passion that their marriage has experienced. Being broken by a cat, an intruder to the table, is a symbol that the Frome marriage is being broken by someone who is an intruder in their home.
What does the sled ride represent?
free will and fate don’t matter (naturalism). Ethan doesn’t steer the sled, the track does (gravity and the slope). Nature is in control and is a force. It doesn’t matter what Ethan does, his fate is already determined.
What does the dilapidated kitchen represent?
poverty, which is a soul destroyer. Ethan is forced from happiness again and again. Mattie is a crippled hag who can’t leave. it represents how the people too have dilapidated with age. Time is a waster.
