The quiet town of Starkfield, Massachusetts, silently and solemnly watches the story of Ethan Frome, his loathsome wife Zeena, the vivacious Mattie Silver, and their tragic love triangle unfold . When Mattie Silver, a cousin of Zeena, comes to live at the ruined Frome farm to care for Zeena and her constant illnesses, Ethan begins to realize what true love can do to a person. Mattie begins to bring light and meaning to Ethan's life, appearing to him as "a fairy maiden, a princess of nature" in Ethan's dark and boring world (Ammons 2). The dilemmas Ethan faces over whether or not he should choose duty over personal desire occur frequently, causing Ethan to undergo many abrupt changes of heart. One minute, Ethan speculates about “what he and Mattie were going to live on when they reached the West” (Wharton 116). The next minute, he returns to a life with Zeena due to a new financial or obligatory obstacle, continuing the internal cycle of arguments he has over his future. The reader knows from the beginning that Ethan is revealed to be desperate and "a man's ruin" through the thoughts and relationships of a newcomer engineer (Wharton 3). However, the spark of hope that remains in the reader for the happiness of Ethan - or one of the characters - throughout the book, is annihilated as the end comes. The two lovers' sledding suicide attempt, ironically thwarted by Zeena's loathsome face appearing in Ethan's mind and disrupting his concentration, has transformed Mattie "into a mirror image of Zeena" and forces her to remain in the Frome house until his death (Ammons 2). . Ethan Frome's final chapter reveals the horrific situation that "traps all three" and forces them to despise each other and relive their past vigil...... middle of paper ...... n is “You” are crazy” (Wharton 143). However, Ethan is non-confrontational and does not like to challenge others, which seems to be his fatal flaw. It seems that “the very heart of the novel is Frome’s weakness of character, his negation of life” (Bernard 6). Ethan's situation could be seen as a challenge to his character, to see if he could overcome his flaws in order to emerge a happy man. Ultimately, Ethan fails in the challenge Starkfield presented to him, choosing instead to "merge with winter forever" (Bernard 6). Works Cited Ammons, Elizabeth. “Edith Wharton’s Ethan Frome and the Question of Meaning.” Studies in American Fiction, Vol. 7, no. 2, 1979, pp. 127-140. Bernard, Kenneth. “Imagery and Symbolism in Ethan Frome.” Academic English, Vol. 23, no. 1, October 1961, pp. 178-284. Wharton, Edith. Ethan Frome. New York: Classic Bookmark, 1911.