An Analysis Of Ethan Frome From The Perspective Of Naturalism

Published in1911, Ethan Frome is considered to be Edith Wharton’s greatesttragic story, which also establishes her status in the history of American literature.This thesis focuses on the analysis of the tragedy of Ethan Frome from the perspectiveof naturalism. Determinism is the key of naturalism, which emphasizes the influenceof natural and social environment, heredity and instinctive desire on man’s fate. In thenovel, the descriptions of the dead and inclement winter, the isolated small town—Starkfield and the lonely and broken farmhouse reflect the severe of the naturalenvironment. Ethan suffered from loneliness and gradually became numb andsluggish. The ruthless social environment slowly push Ethan to the abyss. The rapidchange of the time make Ethan unable to control his own destiny. The brute economicreality and the repressive social ethics confined Ethan in the small town forever. Ethaninherited the depressive temperament like his mother, which made him graduallybecome a marginal person in Starkfield as well as an evader of true love. Through theanalysis, this paper reveals that the tragic destiny of Ethan Frome is due to therestriction of the natural and social environment as well as heredity, which reflectsEdith Wharton’s unique naturalistic thoughts and deterministic consciousness.