wed in the stove Ethan was suffocated with the sense of well-being.(53)Edith Wharton presents a stark contrast of the feelings Zeena and Mattie inspire in the man they care most for. Zeena inspires irritation, awkwardness, and antipathy while Mattie promotes eloquence, and feelings of well-being.Wharton was an avid social critic. She believed that it was difficult, if not impossible, to escape from the social and economic class one was born in. None of her other novels that were social critiques such as The House of Mirth, or Custom of the Country, portray this belief as sharply as Ethan Frome. Although Mattie was a beautiful, friendly young woman, she was destined to the same fate that Zeena was destined to because she had been born into the same social-economic class. ...
