Ethan Frome - Prologue

Ethan Frome

Is described as an incarnation of the climate (see cold, bleak)

Ethan's emotional side reflects that of starkfields physical environment

Starkfield

The Name gives a bleak image and mood already

Snow and Ice

Motif's to set a desolate atmosphere

Shows a harsh climate that is cut off from the community

Harsh climate

Wharton pays particular attention to show how the climate has effected the residents

Frome's Farmhouse

Old and dilapidated

Reflects ethan as a whole

"In the diminished dwelling the image of [Frome's] own shrunken body"

Gives sense that nothing can survive the harsh climate unscathed.

Structural Gap

Wharton starts the novel near the end of the chonological storyline

Gives hints as to what has happened, what is going to happen and what the reader is going to find out

As the story has already happened the reader is given a sense of finality

Narrator

May reflect wharton as a character

Male

Although the narrator is thought to be male, his name nor gender is revealed

Is used to create a phsychological distance between the reader and Frome

Creates and unbiased view of Frome that wouldn't be possible with a resident of starkfield

Ethan Frome

Described by the narrator as "The Most Striking" and "The Ruin Of a Man"

Ethan is not a bad or nasty man

Shown when he rides the narrator 10 miles to his destination in a snowstorm

Ethan is disfigured

Crippled body

Reflects his psychological state

Stiff Face

Creates a distant and unrelatable image

Result of a "smash up"

Creates a sense of mystery, urges the reader to find out what happened

Is shown to be reserved and isolated

It is indicated that he was not always like this