The Escape Motif In Edith Wharton’s Two Novellas

Edith Wharton (1862-1937) is an eminent American woman writer in the19th century, famous for depicting New York upper class. The stories of Ethan Frome (1911) and Summer (1917) are uncommonly set in New England, giving a vivid and deliberate description of the Poor’s life. They are Wharton’s great works about the marginalized people, which deviates from her creation tradition. Most critics give their comprehension of the novellas from the perspective of feminism, narrative skills, writing techniques and initiation story. Few study the novellas from the angel of "escape motif.Escape is the common motif of Ethan Frome and Summer, in which main characters experience growth. This thesis aims to explore the escape motif of the novellas and dig out the substantial reasons urging protagonists to escape as well as find out the factors that lead to their failure.The thesis consists of five parts:Chapter One briefly introduces the main idea of Ethan Frome and Summer, their literature review home and abroad as well as the outline and innovations of the thesis.Chapter Two introduces the "escape tradition" in American literature. Many American literary works demonstrate escape tendency owing to American’s being an immigrant country. This chapter also analyzes the escape motif in The House of Mirth (1905,) and The Age of Innocence (1920), expounding how main characters escape from marriage and social restrictions and points out the reason why Wharton was fascinated with escape motif.Chapter Three.first gives an explanation towards American social psychologist E. Tory Higgins’self-discrepancy theory. Conflicts among the ideal self, the actual self and the ought self are substantial reasons urging protagonists to escape. Protagonists strive to escape from poverty, marriage and society and they fail to escape due to their passive acceptance of ought selves and their problematic ideal selves.Chapter Four indicates that escape is of great importance to protagonists’growth. Protagonists learn to grow up after their epiphanies and achieve maturity by facing up to reality and looking life in the face after escapes. Chapter Five is the conclusion where escape motifs are summarized. It also points out that protagonists’escapes are not negative ones but their struggles with the brutal life.