A ray of hope enters ethans life of despair when his wifes cousin mattie arrives to help. In fact, sometimes, it is hard to call it even a tragedy as we dont see purification through pain in the story. Edith whartons 1911 novel ethan frome tells the story of a tragic love triangle. Frome and zeena marry after she nurses his mother in her last illness. Ethan frome is a novel where the very limits of humanity is forced, tested and tresspassed on. Ethan frome is a novel by edith wharton in which the title character, ethan, struggles in his marriage to his wife, zeena, and falls in. Ethan lives on a large farm where there are no neighbors for quite a ways, which allows for him to stay secluded and become depressed as the story progresses because starkfield is a place that you seemingly get stuck in. Ethan frome vol book wharten, sample of research papers. Plot overview summary plot overview finding himself laid up in the small new england town of starkfield for the winter, the narrator sets out to learn about the life of a mysterious local named ethan frome, who had a tragic accident some twenty years earlier.
Major themes in ethan frome include silence, isolation, illusion, and the consequences that are the result of living according to the rules of society. When ethans wife hires her young cousin as a housekeeper, ethan falls hopelessly in love with her. With liam neeson, patricia arquette, gil rood, tate donovan. Ethan frome 1993 this is a classic edith wharton melodrama, a hyperromantic short novel that has turned on and turned off many high schoolers and literature majors over the years. Books similar to ethan frome meet your next favorite book.
The village lay under two feet of snow, with drifts at the windy corners. Jun 08, 2003 i think i enjoyed the book, ethan frome, written by edith wharton, much better than the movie. Feb 22, 2012 but her 1911 novel, ethan frome, featured workingclass characters who couldnt have been more different from her usual subjects. The book and the movie were quite different both in interpretation, and my personal liking. Hailed by critics nationwide, ethan frome is the classic edith wharton tale of blazing passion and forbidden desire. Patricia arquette is one of my favorite actors and liam neeson is always good in whatever i have seen of him, but the story is tough to take in a movie form. When her young cousin mattie comes to stay on their new england farm, frome falls in love with her. In chapter 1 of ethan frome we are sent back in time about 24 years, and we find young ethan frome walking on a snowy, moonless night to some mysterious purpose 1. See a complete list of the characters in ethan frome and indepth analyses of ethan frome, zenobia zeena frome, and mattie silver. Study guide compares the book ethan frome by edith wharton to the movie ethan frome 1993 this is the only film of the book.
Differences between ethan frome book vs movie page 1. The movie adds some characters and changes the plot a little, but liam neeson is perfect as frome. However in the movie, the character of ethan frome was not the crux. Ethan frome begins when the narrator, an engineer who is living temporarily in starkfield, massachusetts while working on a project in a nearby town, becomes curious about ethan frome.
I dont remember ever reading it though i saw the movie with liam neeson and patricia arquette a long time ago. The movie version of ethan frome is not like the book by edith wharton recommended movie. Movie version the movie version of ethan frome is not like the book by edith wharton recommended movie. Ethan frome was a difficult read because, much like the movie titanic, you know the ship is going down but you still kind of hope it wont or that therell at least be enough life boats. Both the movie and novel is set in the fictional new england town named starkfield and tells the story about a husband and wife who need an extra hand around the house due to. The prologue, which is neither named as such nor numbered, opens with an. The frame is the narrators vision of the tragedy that befalls ethan frome. Serialized in scribners magazine from august to october in 1911, ethan frome was published in book form the same year. He lives in starkfield, massachusetts, and is driven to the local train station every day for work and back. There is not a moment in which the atmosphere of the setting does not match the emotional performance of the actors. In the case of ethan frome by edith wharton, the movie is a semiaccurate but tepid portrayal of both the story and the meaning of the story. The problem is that the story, simply as a story, is a forlorn and cheerless morality tale. The younger one mentioned it recently, and i decided to give it a read. Compare and contrast of zeena and mattie essay 687 words.
Hale mentions that it wasnt too long since ethan and zeenas house was built. It is an adaptation of the novella ethan frome by edith wharton. The narrator often describescompares ethan to his surroundings he seemed a part of the mute melancholy landscape, an incarnation of its frozen woe. As a novel, ethan frome can grow on you, because of whartons quiet passion.
Read a plot overview of the entire book or a chapter by chapter summary and analysis. What gives the movie version of ethan frome the edge over its book counterpart is the visual experience and the haunting soundtrack. The characters in ethan frome have different values and options than modern characters or most of the members of a typical movie audience but that isnt a problem if the filmmakers give those values weight and importance. Ethan frome takes place against a backdrop of the cold, gray, bleakness of a new england winter. Ethan frome is a novella published in 1911 by the pulitzer prizewinning american author edith wharton. Its a great story and its hard to go totally wrong with it, but its an old fashioned story, and more slow and steady than filled with amazing or surprising turns and emotional insights. May 21, 2010 book chat ethan frome by edith wharton duration. About ethan frome book summaries, test preparation.
Although the beginning and end of the book are told from a narrators point of view, most of the novel concerns ethan fromes actions and view on life. When her young cousin mattie comes to stay on their new england farm, frome falls in love. Book part 1 the narrator is a mechanic the narrator seems to play an unimportant part in the starkfield community the narrator ends up at frome s house by chance part 2 ethan s story starts when. The main characters are ethan frome, his wife zenobia, called zeena, and her young cousin mattie silver. Despite the powers of the cast, especially the powerful ethan and the intense allen, the drama proves thin and slow as your proverbial molasses in january. The novel was adapted into a film, ethan frome, in 1993. The novels namesake is a poor farmer married to a domineering and sickly wife. A new pastor arrives in a stark vermont village and is intrigued by crippled, misshapen ethan frome living on an isolated, hardscrabble farm with his sickly wife zeena. I think i enjoyed the book, ethan frome, written by edith wharton, much better than the movie. Reverend smith has arrived in starkfield from boston. The good changes seemed to make the movie take another path that the book had never taken. The smashup it wasi gathered from the same informantwhich, besides drawing the red gash across ethan frome s forehead, had so shortened and warped his right side that it cost him a visible effort to take the few steps from his buggy to the postoffice window. The narrator used in ethan frome, a businessman who is intrigued by ethan. However, the film seldom shows the true essence of the book, and can result in a misleading view of the novel.
The ethan in the book, once he realizes that he will hurt people to get away with mattie, makes the more noble choice. A nameless engineer is in starkfield, massachusetts on business and he first sees ethan frome at the post office. Ethan frome is set in the fictional starkfield, massachusetts during the late 1800s to early 1900s. The space between the 52yearold ethan of the prologue and the 28yearold ethan of chapter 1 is waiting to be filled in by the rest of the story. Ethan frome is a novel by edith wharton that was first published in 1911. Ethan frome is a 1911 book by american author edith wharton. The classic novel of despair, forbidden emotions, and sexual undercurrents set against the austere new england countryside ethan frome works his unproductive farm and struggles to maintain a bearable. A comparison of the book and movie of ethan frome kibin. Some novels may relate to everyday relationships, while others may relate to society in general. Both of my sons love this book and talk about it frequently. The novel is framed by the literary device of an extended flashback. In theme, ethan frome s vision of frustration, catastrophe, and prolonged pain and despair reflects a maturity and complexity of thought not apparent in the earlier vignette wharton composed in french.
This description suggests that ethan is very withdrawn and has been affected by unfortunate circumstances. The book did not always move at a steady pace, as did the movie. The smashup it wasi gathered from the same informantwhich, besides drawing the red gash across ethan fromes forehead, had so shortened and warped his right side that it cost him a visible effort to take the few steps from his buggy to the postoffice window. Ethan is a man in his early fifties who is obviously strong, and obviously crippled.
Book part 1 the narrator is a mechanic the narrator seems to play an unimportant part in the starkfield community the narrator ends up at fromes house by chance part 2. The widowmaker, schindlers list, husbands and wives stars as ethan frome, a man torn between his joyless marriage to one woman and his lustful desire for another patricia arquette stigmata, true romance, trouble bound. Opposite the varnum gate, where the road fell away toward the corbury valley, the church reared its slim white steeple and narrow peristyle. Ned hale, and harmon gow, a longtime resident and former stagecoach driver, about ethan. In theme, ethan fromes vision of frustration, catastrophe, and prolonged pain and despair reflects a maturity and complexity of thought not apparent in the earlier vignette wharton composed in french. Set in the highly symbolic wintry landscape of starkfield, massachusetts, the narrative centers on the title characters fraught relationships with his sickly, cantankerous wife zeena and his young, beautiful cousin mattie silver.
In 1993, john madden directed a movie version of edith whartons novel ethan frome. Ethan frome comparison book vs movie, sample of essays. Wharton relies on personal experiences to relate her thematic messages. Ethan lives on a large farm where there are no neighbors for quite a ways, which allows for him to stay secluded and become depressed as the story progresses. The moon had set, but the night was so transparent that the white housefronts between the elms looked gray against the snow, clumps of bushes made black. Ethan frome is an isolated farmer trying to scrape out a meager living while also tending to his frigid, demanding and ungrateful wife, zeena. This movie version, however, doesnt find a cinematic equivalent of whartons style, trusting that the story and the acting will interest us. In both versions, the character of zeena frome is portrayed as a. The frame story takes place nearly twenty years after the events of the main story and is written in first person, revealing the thoughts and feelings of the narrator. What we witness in that book is a human tragedy, not a sacrifice. The book was more in depth and in tune to the basic part of the story, while the movie was written in a way to expand the length. Many novels are being made into films nowadays, resulting in media exposure and perhaps an increased amount of readers for the novel.
The narrator introduces the character of ethan frome into the storyline. Somehow ethan frome seems more acted against than acting, more of a passive victim of his own mopery than a tragic hero. The title character is held in thrall by his parents, his land, his poverty, and his lifeless and loveless marriage. Young ethan frome walked at a quick pace along the deserted street, past the bank and michael eadys new brick store and lawyer varnums house with the two black norway spruces at the gate. One scene that caught my attention right away, when watching the movie was the very first scene. Of mice and menmany novels are meant to be enjoyed by the reader as they are read. Although frome seems ambitious and intelligent, zeena holds him back. Ethan frome 1993 starring liam neeson, joan allen, and patricia arquette. Themes in ethan frome cliffsnotes study guides book. Edith wharton wrote ethan frome as a frame story meaning that the prologue and epilogue constitute a frame around the main story. But her 1911 novel, ethan frome, featured workingclass characters who couldnt have been more different from her usual subjects. Movie paper some of the changes in the book seemed to make an enormous change, some were good and others were bad.
Ethan frome is a 1993 britishamerican drama film directed by john madden, and starring liam neeson, patricia arquette, joan allen and tate donovan. Ethan in the movie is less likable than in the book because he openly flirts with mattie and because of their intimate relationship. Jun 02, 2011 the narrator in the book was an engineer, stuck in starkfield because of a strike. In a sky of iron the points of the dipper hung like icicles and orion flashed his cold fires. In the movie the minister sees that the whole town is ostracizing ethan frome, but in the book he never even realizes that there is nothing going on besides him being crippled that the town seems to find. The widowmaker, schindlers list, husbands and wives stars as ethan frome, a man torn between his joyless marriage to one woman and his lustful desire for another patricia arquette stigmata, true romance. Mar 17, 2015 ethan frome full movie sofie shearman. Ethan frome is a powerful story about powerless people. When his driver is unable to take him, he suggests that the narrator ask the crippled ethan frome to drive him to the station. Throughout her life as a writer, wharton would schedule the time that she wrote around social engagements and she did not readily discuss her writing. Within the first page or two you have a fair, though not absolute, idea of the outcome of the story. The camera truly captures the melancholy of the land.
It is set in the fictitious town of starkfield, massachusetts. This change made the movie more interesting, because it brought the antipathy that existed between ethan and the people in starkfield. Both the movie and novel is set in the fictional new england town named starkfield and tells the story about a husband and wife who need an extra hand around the house due to zeenas constant illness. The narrator in the book was an engineer, stuck in starkfield because of a strike.
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