Ethan Fromes Psych.

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Ethan Frome's Psych.

Ethan Frome as a Psychological Novel
When Nathaniel Hawthorne wrote his novel, The Scarlet Letter, he was praised as being the father of the psychological novel. Since the completion of his landmark story, many other authors have taken their work in similar directions and have tried to reveal human psychology through their writing. Authors have been trying to convey truths about human behavior and explain the human psyche, often unsuccessfully. Edith Wharton’s novel, Ethan From, is an excellent example of a novel that succeeds in revealing truths. She fills her characters with nuances that reflect the subconscious and her setting is alive with reflected symbolism. She is able to interpret the characters actions in a way that can relate to all humans. Each word and phrase seems to be chosen so that it reflects a part of the subconscious in the characters. Edith Wharton’s Ethan Frome is a psychological examination of the human mind, based on her use of setting to reflect emotion, characterization to reflect human tendencies towards chaos and other psychological aspects of the human mind.
In Ethan Frome, Wharton uses the setting to show the feelings and psychological behavior of the characters. Because the tone of the novel is somber and the characters suffer greatly, Wharton used the gothic technique of matching the scenery to the characters emotions. The principal setting of the novel is Starkfield, which is a small farming based community. The houses are mostly several miles from the “center” of town. Richard Worth, a literary critic, says of Starkville, “…even the name suggests utter desolation” (64). The name of the town gives the initial impression of the mindset of the characters: hopelessness. “The New England winter… the physical landscape can reinforce psychic tensions oppressing the people in the community” (McDowell 85). The narrator, Harmon Gow, describes the setting and says, “…the winter set down on Starkfield, and the village lay under a sheet of snow, perpetually renewed from the pale skies”(7). During the entirety of the novel, the Starkfield weather is brutally cold and snowy. Because winter and coldness are some of the predominant images in the book, it was first published under the title L’Hiver, which means winter in French. The images described in the book are harsh and vivid, clearly showing the tone of the novel. “The village lay under two feet of snow, with drifts at the windy corners. In a sky of iron the poin...

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