Foretelling the crashing of hopes and dreams|
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Jxxx Nxxxx
For Mrs. Barrows, Eng. 232-700|
4/8/2011|
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Wharton fills the pages of Ethan Frome with attri b arelye and meaning through layers of symbolism and imagery. The most predominant, lying at the heart of the story, is the red pickle-dish. It symbolizes life and vitality through the likeness and ceremonial use by be kept on the shelf. It is through the breaking of this dish that Wharton foretells the crashing of Ethans hopes and dreams.
Ethan went away to college for a year to escape the boredom of Starkfield, but his incurs illness and subsequent death reined him in. He marries Zeena, his cousin and mothers care-taker, out of a need to not be alone. Ethan planned to sell the family farm soon after the union and move to a large city to become an engineer, but there were no prospects of a sale and it was mortgaged to the hilt and thence Zeena became ill. When Zeenas cousin, the impoverished and delightful Mattie Silver comes to care for Zeena, it is through Mattie, Ethans hopes and dreams are rekindled. Mattie offers him a glimpse of what could be.
She symbolizes life, vitality, warmth, and security while Zeena is a slew of repression, sickliness, and distance (Review).
When Zeena goes overnight to visit the doctor, Ethans illusions of he and Mattie being married and their first dinner and evening alone are continually interrupted by thoughts and conversation of Zeena. Mattie, wanting to invest up the table for Ethan, takes down Zeenas most prized conjugal union gift, the red pickle-dish that has been kept on a shelf because Zeena had never found the occasion for it (Review). According to Bernard, its place on the shelf, unused, signifies the emotional and sexual deadness of Zeenas and Ethans marriage. It has ceremonial entertain but no real use. The color red is to a fault important; it symbolizes...If you want to get a full essay, frame it on our website: Orderessay
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