Please post your favorite example of Edith Wharton's use of imagery throughout Ethan Frome. Post the entire passage and be sure to include a page number. In addition to the passage, tell us why you chose it!
The passage that you choose will not count toward your word count for this blog. The explanation of why you chose it should be a minimum of 150 words.
This blog is due by 11:59 pm on Sunday, 5 December.
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ReplyDelete“The last stretch had been the hardest part of the way. The bitter cold and the heavy going had nearly knocked the wind out of me, and I could feel the horse’s side ticking like a clock under my hand. ‘Look here, Frome’ I began, ‘there’s no earthly use in your going any farther-’but he interrupted me: ‘Nor you neither. There’s been about enough of this for anybody.’ I understood he was offering me a night’s shelter at the farm, and without answering I turned into the gate at his side, and followed him into the barn, where I helped him to unharness and bed down the tired horse. When this was done he unhooked the lantern from the sleigh, stepped again into the night, and called to me over his shoulder: ‘This way.’” –page 21
ReplyDeleteI picked this quote as my favorite because of the memories it conjured as I was reading it. It even seemed to fit with the weather outside as I sat snuggled under the covers, the snow beating angrily against my bedroom window. It reminded me of a winter several years ago when I was also stranded overnight away from home. My family and I were spending an enjoyable evening at my Grandparent’s house. We had gone sledding down the hill behind her house and had just finished sipping hot chocolate beside the fire when my parents announced it was time to head out. We packed our belongings into the van and exchanged goodbyes. My grandmother, worried about the snow piling up and slippery roads, offered us the guest bedroom overnight, but my parents graciously declined. We only made it about a quarter mile down the old country road before were forced to turn back. The dirt road was covered in so much snow it was difficult to distinguish it from the cornfields on either side. There were no streetlights, but even if there were, the snow was falling so thickly that the light wouldn’t have been able to penetrate it. A few minutes later we knocked on our grandparent’s door and were greeted with a comfortably laid out guest bedroom, towels and extra pajamas already set out on the bed. It was because of this experience that I was able to identify with the engineer’s predicament and felt a special connection with this passage.
“ Frome’s heart was beating fast. He had been straining for a glimpse of the dark head under the cherry-coloured scarf and it vexed him that another eye should have been quicker than his.” - pg 26-27
ReplyDeleteI absolutely love this quote. I think it is so cute that he can’t wait to look at her and catch a glimpse of her. It shows how much he really wants to be with her and that he cares so much about her. I also like is because it shows he is jealous a little. It shows that he really loves her and he doesn’t want anyone else to even look at her. He wants her to be all his and no one else’s. I hope when I get married I have someone who loves me like that and who is jealous of everyone else who looks at me. That is what it is like to be treated like a princess. I hope that is how every man treats their loved ones. The imagery of how she looks and how he describes her is so beautiful. It is very obvious that he would do anything for her.
pg.43-44 They walked on in silence through the blackness of the hemlock-shaded lane, where Ethan's sawmill gloomed through the night, and out again into the comparative clearness of the fields. On the farther side if the hemlock belt the open country rolled before them grey and lonely under the stars. Sometimes their way led them under the shade of an overhanging bank or through the thin obscurity of a clump of leafless trees. Here and there a farmhouse stood far back among the fields, mute and cold as a grave-stone.
ReplyDeleteThis section of the story appealed to me for no deep obscure reason, I just liked the how easily the descriptions of their walk home were painted in my mind. I guess I liked the image of the open fields covered in snow because my grandparents own land similar to this with lots of fields and random barns and what not, and since we don’t visit there very often every time we do visit it seems so pretty because it isn’t what I am used to seeing everyday, and also because it seems so untouched and it is hard to find places that haven’t been mowed down and built on. But this quote also makes me sad because I think the land Ethan lives on kind of represents his life, it is so lonely because even though he is married to Zeena there is nothing between them, just like there is nothing out in those open fields. Except maybe a barn. Or two.
"All the long misery of his baffled past, of his youth of failure, hardship and vain effort, rose up in his soul in bitterness and seemed to take shape before him in the woman who at every turn had barred his way. She had taken everything else from him; and now she meant to take the one thing that made up for all the others." (pg.103)
ReplyDeleteI’m not particularly sure why this quote stuck out to me but I believe it’s because of the imagery used. In the quote Ethan thinks that everything horrendous that could and had happened to him was all encompassed into the form of his wife Zeena. Now facing the fact that his wife wanted to get rid of Mattie this thought comes prevalent to him being that Mattie is what is keeping him sane through everything else he is dealing with. I’m not sure how I feel about the quote though, even though it’s a favorite of mine it makes me confused in who I’m really mad at. All at once the line makes me mad at Ethan for making such a pitiful excuse and also mad at Zeena for just being plain rude. The passage is also cute in the fact that it shows how much Ethan really cares for Mattie and how much she means to him as well. The line is just so eloquently put and it encompasses so many thoughts in one phrase that it’s hard to forget.
“They stood there looking at each other as if they eyes of each were straining to absorb and hold fast the other’s image. There were things he had to say to her before they parted, but he could not say them in that place of summer memories, and he turned and followed her in silence to the sleigh. As they drove away the sun sank behind the hill and the pine-boles turned from red to grey.
ReplyDeleteBy a devious track between the fields they wound back to the Starkfield road. Under the
open sky the light was still clear, with a reflection of cold red on the eastern hills. The clumps of trees in the snow seemed to draw together in ruffled lumps, like birds with their heads under their wings; and the sky, as it paled, rose higher, leaving the earth more alone.” (page 135)
This passage really seemed to stick out to me. In fact, it was the only one throughout the book that I truly felt any sort of connection to. The last line in the first paragraph and the last line in the second paragraph were the most meaningful to me. I think the line, “As they drove away the sun sank behind the hill and the pine-boles turned from red to grey,” is symbolic of their relationship coming to end. The red symbolizes when it was full of color, alive and well. They grey is the relationship fading away to eventually nothing when Mattie’s gone and they won’t see each other or hear from each other any longer. It really is a “dumb melancholy” as Frome describes a few pages earlier. And to think about having to give up the one you truly feel you belong with hurts more than anything. The scene really depicts the mood of the book as well. Winter is oftentimes used in novels when signifying the death or end of something. But overall I really just enjoyed the imagery because it engulfed you in the feeling of loss that both Ethan and Mattie were dreading.
"The cat, unnoticed, had crept up on muffled paws from Zeena's seat to the table, and was stealthily elongating its body in the direction of the milk-jug, which stood between Ethan and Mattie. The two leaned forward at the same moment and their hands met on the handle of the jug. Mattie's hand was underneath, and Ethan kept his clasped on it a moment longer than was necessary. The cat, profiting by this unusual demonstration, tried to effect an unnoticed retreat, and in doing so backed into the pickle-dish, which fell to the floor with a crash." (pg. 74)
ReplyDeleteI believe the most probable reason for picking my favorite piece of imagery as such was that I could relate to the quote. The more I can relate to the words, the more of my own detail I can add to the scene. This is besides what Edith Wharton already has added. Cats have a way in which they can interrupt some of the most intimate of moments. My family and I will be eating dinner together and having a nice conversation when the most horrid noise arises from the other room. We make my mom check on the situation, of course. The cat is throwing up, not just a fur ball, but a mega fur and everything else ball. This happens at least three or four times a week. Calm, civil family dinners happen once in a blue moon, therefore I feel Ethan's pain of just wanting a little more time of perfection before you have to bounce back from the dream. Ethan and Mattie couldn’t have one instance of intimacy alone in his home without the cat ruining any future they might have by breaking the darn pickle-dish. Their luck is even worse than my own.
“He kept his eyes fixed on her, marveling at the way her face changed with each turn of their talk, like a wheat-field under a summer breeze. It was intoxicating to find such magic in his clumsy words, and he longed to try to find new ways of using it, (Pg 79-80).”
ReplyDeleteI selected this quote because of the shift in tone it represents. Previously, Wharton has emphasized the frigid, bleakness of Ethan’s life. The snow and ice are constantly being described, and Ethan even resides in the (ironically named) town of Starkfield. At one point, after having a conversation with Zeena, Ethan states, “It is powerful cold down here.” Not only is he commenting on the temperature of the room, but on his marriage. Zeena and Ethan barely speak to one another, and when they do, it is extremely impersonal and uncaring.
However, Ethan feels quite differently when he is with Mattie. This is evident when he compares her face to a wheat field in the summer breeze. Summer is filled with warmth and sun, a distinct change from chilly winter. This signifies how differently Ethan feels around Mattie. He can freely talk to her, and have a pleasant time. In addition, I think that Mattie’s face is compared to a wheat-field as she is young and full of life- unlike Zeena, who has grown old and sickly. This quote symbolically represents the difference between Mattie and Zeena in Ethan’s eyes.
“The cat, unnoticed, had crept up on muffled paws from Zeena’s seat to the table, and was stealthily elongating its body in the direction of the milk-jug, which stood between Ethan and Mattie. The two leaned forward at the same moment and their hands met on the handle of the jug. Mattie’s hand was underneath, and Ethan kept his clasped on it a moment longer than was necessary. The cat, profiting by this unusual demonstration, tried to effect an unnoticed retreat, and in doing so backed in the pickle-dish, which fell to the floor with a crash.” pg. 74
ReplyDeleteI picked this quote because it shows the affect of Zeena’s presence on Ethan and Mattie. The cat is symbolic of Zeena. It says that the cat jumped on the table from Zeena’s chair. Even though Zeena is not present the thought of her still is. By the cat breaking the pickle dish it hampered Ethan and Mattie from getting closer, just as how it is when Zeena is at home all the time. After the dish was broken Mattie was so distraught over it, just how she is all the time when Zeena is home. Mattie is constantly afraid of Zeena’s disapproval, it is amazing the hold that Zeena has over Mattie and Ethan. Ethan is even too afraid to stand up to Zeena or even tell her about the pickle-dish, he attempts to somehow fix it in hopes that Zeena will never know. In the end Ethan and Mattie even feel it is better for them to try to kill themselves instead of telling Zeena that Ethan loves Mattie and not her. Due to that decision they ended up all living together, miserable.
“They stood there looking at each other as if the eyes of each were straining to absorb and hold fast the other’s image. There were things he had to say to her before they parted, but he could not say them in that place of summer memories, and he turned and followed her in silence to the sleigh." pg 135
ReplyDeleteI picked this quote because of the intensity between Mattie and Ethan. They have so much to say to each other, but no way to express their feelings. It's sad that the place that once held many good memories, or summer memories, now takes the form of separation. Later in the paragraph the narrator says the sky fades from red, the color of love, to grey, it's sister color, black, being the color of death. The sun is setting on their relationship, bringing an end to their love for each other. One can only imagine their pain as they are forced to say goodbye, knowing that they may never see each other again.
"The village lay under two feet of snow, with drifts at the windy corners. In a sky of iron the points of the Dipper hung like icicles and Orion flashed his cold fires. The moon had set, but the night was so transparent that the white house-fronts between the elms looked gray against the snow, clumps of bushes made black stains on it, and the basement windows of the church sent shafts of yellow light far across the endless undulations."
ReplyDeleteI think this passage is so beautiful. I think that if Wharton's use of imagery wasn't what it was in the book, the novel wouldn't have been worth reading. The imagery that dealt with winter makes a season that's so cold, dreary, and dead seem to beautiful and enjoyable. Obviously living in Western New York we know what this weather is like, so I could definitely relate to this. This passage made me think of the tons of times I've looked up at a perfectly clear night sky in the winter. The stars are always so beautiful and bright, and every constellation is so beautiful. Wharton's use of imagery in this novel and especially in this passage were so beautiful that it made the bizarre novel worth reading.
Page 27:
ReplyDeleteThe leader of the reel, who looked as if he had Irish blood in his veins, danced well, and his partner caught his fire. As she passed down the line, her light figure swinging from hand to hand in circles of increasing swiftness, the scarf flew off her head and stood out behind her shoulders, and Frome, at each turn, caught sight of her laughing panting lips, the dark cloud of dark hair about her forehead, and the dark eyes which seemed the only fixed points in a maze of flying lines.
This passage not only conveyed a picture of the party, it also communicated the craziness and fun of the evening. I love the way the dance is described. You feel like you’re part of the crazy dancing and festivities. I can really relate to this passage. There are always those school dances where everything is insane, everything is colored blurs, and you’re just caught up with the frenzy of movement, but somehow, you can pick out that one person that you want to watch or want them to watch you. Even through all the whirling and bodies they stand out in the crowd like a beacon (ok this sounds a little creepy, but you ALL know what I mean). I absolutely love that feeling of being carried along with the current of the party where everyone moves as a whole instead of individuals, just like Mattie felt. Of course there are always those people on the outskirts who just observe or disdain at the party-goers, just like Ethan felt.
“The sled started with a bound, and they flew on through the dusk, gathering smoothness and speed as they went, with the hollow night opening out below them and the air singing by like an organ. Mattie sat perfectly still, but as they reached the bend at the foot of the hill, where the big elm thrust out a deadly elbow, he fancied that she shrank a little closer.” (pg. 146)
ReplyDeleteI chose this quote because the descriptiveness of it appealed to me. Ethan and Mattie are sledding down the hill and at that point it almost seems as though there are no cares in the world, but yet a little fright. It’s an exhilarating feeling to and I can picture times where I felt this way. When I tube with my friends in the winter, it’s always so much fun. I never fail to squeeze the person I’m holding onto though, in fear of falling off. I can just picture Ethan and Mattie flying down the hill in the dark, wintry night. Mattie holds on tighter towards the end of the right because feeling Ethan there, protecting her, gives her comfort. Ethan was clearly pleased by this act and at that point, everything felt so right for him. He knew that he needed Mattie in his life and couldn’t let go of that feeling.
"Her pleadings still came to him between short sobs, but he no longer heard what she was saying. Her hat has slipped back and he was stroking her hair. He wanted to get the feeling of it into his hand, so that it would sleep there like a seed in winter. Once he found her mouth again, and they seemed to be by the pond together in the burning August sun. But his cheek touched hers, and it was cold and full of weeping, and he saw the road to the Flats under the night and heard the whistle of the train up the line." (pg. 150)
ReplyDeleteI really love this quote just for how bittersweet it is. Of course I don't like the fact that he stops listening to her, but since he stops listening just to think of her is okay in my book. The way she describes the scene seems like such young and new love, something that everyone should experience, whether it be before or after marriage, that’s his or her call. This imagery seems almost symbolic in a way. It seems like when he kisses her and thinks of her, he thinks of summer and warmth, which represent happiness, joy and birth. Once he feels the coldness of her cheek, he’s brought back to reality of winter, which represents coldness and death. To go a little further with this symbolism, the winter also represents the death of the love between Zeena and Ethan. I really like this quote for the fact that it says so much beyond the literal.
"I'd like to go over things with you first," Zeena continued in an unperturbed voice. "I know there's a huckabuck towel missing; and I can't take out what you done with that match-safe 't used to stand behind the stuffed owl in the parlour." (page 121)
ReplyDeleteIn the story this quote was a mere few sentences and then the story continued. Still this quote stood out to me more then any other. In the beginning of this story all that's said about Zeena is how ill she is. It made me feel sorry for her and give her sympathy for keeping to herself for no sick person would be lively. She began to come off as rude or even mean when she was telling Ethan that Mattie must leave since a hired girl was coming to take care of her. Still due to her illness it is easy to sympathize with her. This quote for me was the last straw in deciding my feelings toward Zeena. As she's kicking Mattie out into the cold winter with nowhere to go she accuses her of stealing. Not only does she accuse her, but she has no feelings about it. It seems that she is just so evil that she gladly is sending Mattie away and it doesn't even upset her to accuse her of stealing. I love this quote because it truly brings Zeena's character into the light for the first time.
"Here and there a star pricked through, showing behind it a deep blue well of blue, In an hour or two the moon would push over the ridge behind the farm, brn a gold-edged rent in the clonds, nd be swallowed by them. A mournful peace hung on the fields, as though they felt the relaxing grasp of cold and stretchd themselves in their long winter sleep." pg 69
ReplyDeleteI picked this quote because I felt like it was one of the only times in the novel when Ethan actually thought of something other than Mattie. Throughout most of the novel Ethan just feels sorry for himself because he made a stupid and hasty decsion. He chose to marry Zeena even though he didn't love her an then when he discovered someone he did love he couldn't have her. So it was a brath of fresh air to hear him actally appreciate the beauty of soomething istead of wallowing in self-pity. Also, this quote reminded me a lot about the snow we recently got and ow beautiful it looks when I look out my window and see the moon and/or sun shinning on it.
“If I’d a listened to folks, you’d ‘a’ gone before now, and this wouldn’t ‘a’ happened,” she said; and gathering up thee bits of broken glass she went out of the room as if she carried a dead body... pg.111
ReplyDeleteThe reason I liked this specific use of imagery the most was because of how much it said about the character of Zena. Imagining her carrying the broken pieces “like a dead body” helps convey to the reader how seriously Zena took the incident of her precious bowl shattering. The way she treats a bowl with such reverence while she is throwing out her own cousin with nowhere to go also says a lot about her personal values and morals. The passage is part of a crucial scene in the book, where Zena finally comes out into the open about her issues with Mattie, and what she truly thinks about her. The way the author depicts something as trivial as a bowl breaking shows how tense and strained the relationships between the main characters are. And the imagery like the example found in this passage only adds to the growing drama.