Ethan Frome: Foil 2 key examples

Mattie views the relationship between Ned and Ruth as an idealized version of the relationship she has with Ethan, a view that Ethan appears to share. In Chapter 4, when he catches Ruth and Ned kissing each other, his thoughts immediately stray to Mattie, and he recognizes the fundamental difference between the two couples:

What did it matter to Ned Hale and Ruth Varnum is they were caught kissing each other? Everybody in Starkfield knew they were engaged. It pleased Ethan to have surprised a pair of lovers on the spot where he and Mattie had stood with such a thirst for each other in their hearts; but he felt a pang at the thought that these two need not hide their happiness.

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Despite the strict cultural rules that govern interactions between men and women when the novel takes place, Ned and Ruth are willing to put these obligations aside in order to express their love. Ethan, meanwhile, is too bound by duty and moral obligation to openly express his affection for Mattie. Ned and Ruth's relationship is also public knowledge and accepted by everyone in the community, so they have no need to hide their desire for one another and are free to marry. Ethan and Mattie's relationship, by contrast, must remain a secret because of Ethan's marriage to Zeena. If it were ever to become public knowledge, both participants would suffer, though the consequences would likely be worse for Mattie, since it would destroy her chance of finding a husband in the future. This passage reminds the reader that Ethan could technically break the rules of society to follow his heart, as Ned and Ruth do, but he chooses not to.

Due to these similarities and differences, Ned and Ruth's near-accident foreshadows Ethan and Mattie's accident at the end of the climax of the novel. Ned and Ruth did not intend to hit the tree at the bottom of the hill, and they both emerge unscathed from their experience. Ethan and Mattie, by contrast, purposefully steer their sled into the tree in an attempt to commit suicide, and both are left permanently disabled. Once again, external forces appear to protect Ned and Ruth while also punishing Ethan and Mattie.

As a result of these differences, the reader can easily understand why Ethan prefers Mattie to Zeena. But over the course of the novel, Wharton draws attention to several eerie similarities between the two women. For example, both Zeena and Mattie play similar roles in Ethan's life. Zeena arrived at the Frome farmhouse when Ethan was nursing his sick mother, and he latched onto her presence because he desperately wanted companionship. Mattie, meanwhile, comes to Starkfield at a time when Ethan is chafing under the responsibility of caring for his sickly wife, and she too provides him with the companionship he craves.

Despite their obvious physical differences, Zeena and Mattie are also blood relatives, and they so share a few characteristics, which become more striking when Ethan sees them in similar positions and locations. In Chapter 4, for example, Mattie stands in the doorway of the farmhouse holding a lantern, just as Zeena had done the night before, and Ethan is overwhelmed with a sense of déjà vu:

So strange was the precision with which the incidents of the previous evening were repeating themselves that he half expected, when he heard the key turn, to see his wife before him on the threshold; but the door opened, and Mattie faced him.

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She stood just as Zeena had stood, a lifted lamp in her hand, against the black background of the kitchen. She held the light at the same level, and it drew out with the same distinctness her slim young throat and the brown wrist no bigger than a child's.

And in Chapter 5, when Mattie sits in Zeena's chair, Ethan momentarily sees Zeena's face on Mattie's body:

As her young brown head detached itself against the patch-work cushion that habitually framed his wife's gaunt countenance, Ethan had a momentary shock. It was almost as if the other face, the face of the superseded woman, had obliterated that of the intruder.

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These moments of similarity foreshadow the ending of the novel, when Mattie's accident leads her to become almost identical to Zeena in terms of physical appearance and personality. In the Epilogue, the Narrator describes the two women as looking and sounding the same, and Mrs. Hale confirms that Mattie's disposition has changed to match Zeena's. When the Narrator first hears a woman's voice in the Frome house, he initially cannot tell whether it is Zeena or Mattie who has spoken. He even uses the word "querulous" to describe the tone of Mattie's voice, a word that was used earlier in the novel to describe Zeena.

By first contrasting and then comparing Mattie and Zeena, Wharton implies that, despite their differences, they both suffer as a result of the social expectations that were imposed on women of their time period.

Mattie views the relationship between Ned and Ruth as an idealized version of the relationship she has with Ethan, a view that Ethan appears to share. In Chapter 4, when he catches Ruth and Ned kissing each other, his thoughts immediately stray to Mattie, and he recognizes the fundamental difference between the two couples:

What did it matter to Ned Hale and Ruth Varnum is they were caught kissing each other? Everybody in Starkfield knew they were engaged. It pleased Ethan to have surprised a pair of lovers on the spot where he and Mattie had stood with such a thirst for each other in their hearts; but he felt a pang at the thought that these two need not hide their happiness.

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Despite the strict cultural rules that govern interactions between men and women when the novel takes place, Ned and Ruth are willing to put these obligations aside in order to express their love. Ethan, meanwhile, is too bound by duty and moral obligation to openly express his affection for Mattie. Ned and Ruth's relationship is also public knowledge and accepted by everyone in the community, so they have no need to hide their desire for one another and are free to marry. Ethan and Mattie's relationship, by contrast, must remain a secret because of Ethan's marriage to Zeena. If it were ever to become public knowledge, both participants would suffer, though the consequences would likely be worse for Mattie, since it would destroy her chance of finding a husband in the future. This passage reminds the reader that Ethan could technically break the rules of society to follow his heart, as Ned and Ruth do, but he chooses not to.

Due to these similarities and differences, Ned and Ruth's near-accident foreshadows Ethan and Mattie's accident at the end of the climax of the novel. Ned and Ruth did not intend to hit the tree at the bottom of the hill, and they both emerge unscathed from their experience. Ethan and Mattie, by contrast, purposefully steer their sled into the tree in an attempt to commit suicide, and both are left permanently disabled. Once again, external forces appear to protect Ned and Ruth while also punishing Ethan and Mattie.

As a result of these differences, the reader can easily understand why Ethan prefers Mattie to Zeena. But over the course of the novel, Wharton draws attention to several eerie similarities between the two women. For example, both Zeena and Mattie play similar roles in Ethan's life. Zeena arrived at the Frome farmhouse when Ethan was nursing his sick mother, and he latched onto her presence because he desperately wanted companionship. Mattie, meanwhile, comes to Starkfield at a time when Ethan is chafing under the responsibility of caring for his sickly wife, and she too provides him with the companionship he craves.

Despite their obvious physical differences, Zeena and Mattie are also blood relatives, and they so share a few characteristics, which become more striking when Ethan sees them in similar positions and locations. In Chapter 4, for example, Mattie stands in the doorway of the farmhouse holding a lantern, just as Zeena had done the night before, and Ethan is overwhelmed with a sense of déjà vu:

So strange was the precision with which the incidents of the previous evening were repeating themselves that he half expected, when he heard the key turn, to see his wife before him on the threshold; but the door opened, and Mattie faced him.

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She stood just as Zeena had stood, a lifted lamp in her hand, against the black background of the kitchen. She held the light at the same level, and it drew out with the same distinctness her slim young throat and the brown wrist no bigger than a child's.

And in Chapter 5, when Mattie sits in Zeena's chair, Ethan momentarily sees Zeena's face on Mattie's body:

As her young brown head detached itself against the patch-work cushion that habitually framed his wife's gaunt countenance, Ethan had a momentary shock. It was almost as if the other face, the face of the superseded woman, had obliterated that of the intruder.

Cite this Quote

These moments of similarity foreshadow the ending of the novel, when Mattie's accident leads her to become almost identical to Zeena in terms of physical appearance and personality. In the Epilogue, the Narrator describes the two women as looking and sounding the same, and Mrs. Hale confirms that Mattie's disposition has changed to match Zeena's. When the Narrator first hears a woman's voice in the Frome house, he initially cannot tell whether it is Zeena or Mattie who has spoken. He even uses the word "querulous" to describe the tone of Mattie's voice, a word that was used earlier in the novel to describe Zeena.

By first contrasting and then comparing Mattie and Zeena, Wharton implies that, despite their differences, they both suffer as a result of the social expectations that were imposed on women of their time period.