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Ethan Frome is a 1911 novella by American author Edith Wharton. It details the story of a man who falls in love with his wife's cousin and the tragedies that result from the ensuing love triangle. The novel has been adapted into a film of the same name.
The young Frome is married to a sickly woman named Zeena (Zenobia), who appears older than her age, is unkind to Ethan, and whose life revolves around seeking expensive treatments for her varied illnesses. Although the Fromes have limited means themselves, they have charitably taken in Zeena's cousin Mattie, whose family is poor. Ethan falls in love with Mattie, and it becomes increasingly clear that Mattie also loves him. While it remains ambiguous if Zeena suspects Ethan's unfaithfulness, she makes plans to send Mattie away. Zeena claims that, because of her failing health, her physician has recommended she hire a maid who will relieve her of housework. Zeena has already arranged for the hired girl to arrive by train soon, and Mattie must vacate her room immediately. Ethan, miserable at the thought of losing Mattie, considers running away with her, but he lacks the money to do so, and will feel guilty about leaving Zeena with the farm.
The next morning, Ethan rushes into town to try to get a cash advance from a customer for a load of lumber in order to have the money with which to elope with Mattie. His plan is unhinged by guilt, however, when the customer's wife expresses honest compassion for Ethan. He realizes that he cannot cheat this kindly woman and her husband out of their money.
Ethan comes back to the farm and picks up Mattie to take her to the train station. They stop at a hill upon which they had once planned to go sledding and decide to sled together as a way of delaying their sad parting. After their first run, Mattie suggests a suicide pact: that they go down again, and steer the sled directly into a big Ulmus americana tree, so they will never be parted and so that they may spend their last moments together. The resulting crash leaves both of them alive, Ethan with a permanent limp and Mattie paralyzed from a spinal injury.
Returning to the present, the narrator tells of being forced by a blizzard to stay the night at the Frome house, the first stranger to enter the house in 20 years. He witnesses an unhappy scene with Mattie and the Fromes living together, with Zeena as Mattie's caregiver. Ethan and Mattie have gotten their wish to stay together, but in mutual unhappiness and discontent, and ironically Mattie has now developed an irritable disposition, and the sickly Zeena is rising to the challenge of becoming a caretaker. Zeena is a constant presence between the two of them, although it remains ambiguous as to whether she knew of their dalliance.
Lenox is also where Wharton had traveled extensively and had come into contact with at least one of the victims of the accident; victims of the accident are buried in graves nearby Wharton family members. In her introduction to the novel, Wharton talks of the "outcropping granite" of New England, the austerity of its land and the stoicism of its people. There are frequent references to Larix laricina, Ulmus americana, pine, and Tsuga canadensis trees. The connection between land and people is very much a part of naturalism; the environment is a powerful shaper of man's fate, and the novel dwells insistently on the cruelty of Starkfield's winters.Lewis, R.W.B. Edith Wharton: A Biography. New York: Harper & Row, Publishers, 1975.
Jeffrey Lilburn notes that some find "the suffering endured by Wharton's characters is quite bleak and makes for a dull read," but others see the difficult moral questions addressed and note that it "provides insightful commentary on the American economic and cultural realities that produced and allowed such suffering." Wharton was always careful to label Ethan Frome as a brief reminiscence rather than a novel. Critics did take note of this when reviewing the book, some in more candor than others. Elizabeth Ammons reflected that reading Wharton's novel compelled her to reminisce upon when literature was more enthralling. She found a story that functions as a "realistic social criticism," a reminder that some are willing to indulge in dull prose based solely upon the name of the author. Despite her obvious quarrels with the work, Ammons proceeded to analyze the text. The moral concepts, as described by Ammons, are revealed with all of the brutality of Starkfield's winters. Comparing Mattie Silver and Zeena Frome, Ammons suggests that Mattie would grow as frigid and crippled as Zeena, so long as such women remain isolated and dependent. Wharton cripples Mattie, says Lilburn, but has her survive in order to demonstrate the cruelty of the culture surrounding women in that period.Lilburn, Jeffrey. "Ethan Frome (Criticism)." Answers.com. Retrieved 2010-02-24.
Cathy Marston adapted the book to a one-act ballet titled Snowblind for the San Francisco Ballet. The ballet premiered in 2018, with Ulrik Birkkjaer as Ethan, Sarah Van Patten as Zeena and Mathilde Froustey as Mattie.
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