What follows is an abject depiction of a love that is notionally requited, but that is acted upon in only the most roundabout way.
The puritanical context in which Frome and Zeena live, as well as Fromes wont towards self-flagellation, essentially create a scenario that is all about stagnation, repression, and resentmentso what better way to throw a spanner in the works than a love affair? And this Wharton does in style by introducing Mattie, a live-in, unattached housemaid who happens also to be Zeenas cousin. Zeena plays the consumptive card to keep Frome close, while Fromes sense of residual guilt over both his late mothers and over his wifes health sees him take her incessant barbs without comment. Zeena is the type who is perpetually indisposed, something she puts down to her past efforts to care for Fromes mother, and their entire marriage revolves around this fact. The dynamic between Frome and Zeena is a chilling one, and its one that no doubt deserves some dissection by someone whos more pyschoanalytically inclined than I am. Fromes life has been one of expectation and obligation, and he has spent the better part of his youth caring first for his mother, and subsequently for his wife Zeena, whom he takes in out of a sense of duty. Some twenty years ago Frome was a strong, able-bodied man, although emotionally he has never been in especially good shape. Inclement weather forces them to return to Fromes home, where the stranger speculates on Fromes downfall, after which point the novel takes us back to the events that culminate in Fromes disfigurementa disfigurement that certainly seems to be a sort of moral or karmic retribution. The book opens with an unnamed narrator hiring a crippled husk of a manEthan Fromeas his driver during his stay in town. Wharton takes a circular approach to her narrative, using the flashback framing device popular when the book was written to explicitly contrast the then and the now. Its less a recount of something that has happened than one of what might or could neverhave happened. I would, however, suggest supplementing your literary journey with a hot chocolate or something similarly comforting.Įthan Frome is a challengingly bleak novel that slowly, quietly forces itself upon the unsuspecting readers psyche. If youre after a read thats relentlessly desultory but that is, despite its inherent emo-ness, worthy of your emotional investment, then pick up a copy of this book, and read it straight through. Despite having finished Ethan Frome a good fortnight or so ago now, Im still haunted by this book, and suspect that I will be for a long time to come.
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