Characters
What character in Ethan Frome is 21?
Mattie Silver
What type of tree did Mattie and Ethan sled into?
Elm Tree
Who does Ethan fall in love with?
Mattie Silver
What is the result of the primary conflict in the story?
Ethan and Mattie are crippled after crashing into a tree when choosing to die together rather than be apart.
What does the broken pickle jar symbolize?
Ethan and Zeena's broken marriage.
What is the Narrator’s profession?
Engineer
Where does the narrator first see Ethan Frome?
The post office
What towns person does Ethan see as family?
Andrew Hale
What is Ethan's main internal conflict?
His love for Mattie vs. his marriage to Zeena
What does the color of Mattie's scarf symbolize?
Her brightness compared to the bleak Starkfield.
What is Mattie’s relation to Zeena?
Cousin
Who first tells the narrator about Ethan Frome?
Harmon Gow
How does Zeena feel about Mattie breaking the pickle dish?
She is severely upset, and angry
What external factor prevents Ethan from leaving Starkfield?
Him being poor.
What does the snowy landscape of Starkfeild represent?
The characters are isolated emotionally and trapped in Starkfield.
Who is described as more refined and educated than most of their neighbors?
Mr. Ned Hale
What does Ethan do the morning after the dance?
Hauls wood
How does Mattie feel about dying?
Indifferent, wants to not live without Ethan
What expectation does society have that makes Ethan stay in his marriage?
His job to care for his wife especially when she is sick.
What does the farmhouse represent?
Ethan isolated and ramshackle life.
What character helps Ethan on the Farm?
Jotham Powell
When Mattie sits in Zeena's chair, what does Ethan imagine that makes him uneasy?
A ghost; Zeena's face; The future;
How does Mrs. Ned Hale think of the situation Ethan, Mattie, and Zeena are in?
Even though she is best friends with Mattie, she thinks she is better off dead, for Mattie's suffering and Ethans
What is Mattie's internal conflict with Ethan?
What does Jotham Powell represent?
Ethan's work and life standing in the way of him and his dream.