1.) The author’s purpose for writing this article was to show how the novel Ethan Frome relates to Edith Wharton’s personal life and relationships and how they influenced the writing of the novel.
2.) The author of this essay makes many points on how this book relates to Edith Wharton’s personal experiences. Throughout the essay Cynthia Griffin Wolff, who is the author, says that Edith Wharton married a man who had acquired an illness and needed to be taken care of so Wharton was the one to help him try to get better. That is one similarity between Ethan and Edith; they both have to take care of an ill spouse. But the peculiar part is that while Edith was tending to her sick husband she had a lover who she had fooled around with, just like how Ethan and Mattie had a secret love for each other. Also, Edith’s husband had suspected the secret relationship and would no longer let her leave the house to go visit anyone really, and once Zeena started to suspect something she tried to end it to.
3.) I believe that the argument presented in this article very well backed up. I think this because the author does not simply state these facts to prove her point, she used letters that Edith had actually written to her lover to show that it was actually true and did happen. I think that the author had gone into much depth in studying Wharton’s life n order to obtain such great information.
4.) I most defiantly agree with the argument presented in this essay, I think that with the evidence that Wolff presents is very hard to disagree with. I do not think that anyone would be able to say that there are no similarities between Ethan Frome and Edith Wharton. It was a great article and I truly enjoyed reading it, it got me to think a little differently about the story.
In response to Jenna's post, I liked the emphasis on the relationships Edith Wharton experiences. My article talked about Edith Wharton's relationships as well. I find the way that Edith Wharton used a specific experience of her husband expecting her to be unfaithful in the novel to provide conflict between Zeena and Ethan pretty interesting as well.
ReplyDeleteI liked how you showed some pretty significant similarities between Wharton's marriage and Ethan's. It would have been nice to know if there were any other moments or relationships at different points in her life that would have shaped the story of Ethan Frome. Other than just her marriage, life experiences probably had an effect on the outcome of the novel.
ReplyDeleteI thought you presented the information in a clear way. I liked the ideas you presented that the author's experiences paralleled and maybe inspired Ethan Frome. I would have liked to know if more parallels were present between Edith Wharton and Ethan Frome.
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