Monday, August 18, 2014

What does the narrator learn about Frome from other characters in Ethan Frome?

From the very first reference to Ethan Frome's damaged
physique the narrator, and we as readers, are increasingly interested in the precise
details of how Ethan Frome had his "smash up." Harmon tells the narrator that, even
though the accident was very grave, the "Fromes are tough" and that "Ethan'll likely
touch a hundred." Also, he tells our narrator that it is Ethan who actually cares for
"the folks." Most of the "smart" inhabitants move away from Starkfield, however, Ethan
has been unable to do move away because of the responsibilities he has towards the
unspecified "folks" that he looks after. Even though the narrator assumes that since his
accident others have had to care for him, Harmon replies by telling him that Frome has
"always done the caring." Out of all the information that is told to the narrator, there
is one phrase that strikes him as being of particular
importance:


readability="6">

But one phrase stuck in my memory and served as
the nucleus about which I grouped my subsequent inferences: "Guess he's been in
Starkfield too many
winters."



This is something
that the narrator begins to understand as he lives through a winter there and
experiences what the "negation" of life would have been like for
Ethan.

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