ethan frome

The Effects of Ethan Frome?s Dishonor to Responsibilities Ethan Frome by, Edith Wharton is a story of an ill-fated love, set during the winter of a rural New England town called Starkfield. Ethan is a farmer who is married to a sickly woman named Zeena, whom he had previously taken the responsibility of caring for his sick mother with. They both live the lives of unspoken resentment, on Ethan's failing farm. Ethan has been …

…suffering instead of alleviating it as he had planned. After suffering so long with Zeena, Ethan now has to exist with the horribly deformed remains of a once beautiful, sensitive, and loving girl. Once again surrendering himself to the forces of isolation, silence, darkness, cold, and "death-in-life" that is Starkfield. These are the effects of him only worrying about the happiness of himself, and not taking into consideration the effects of his actions on others.