Ethan Frome Article Summary and Analysis

Article Title: “Edith Wharton’s Dream of Incest: Ethan Frome”
Author: Ferdâ Asya

Asya uses psychologist Sigmund Feud’s theories on dream interpretation and the subconscious will to analyze the thought process behind Edith Wharton writing the novella Ethan Frome. Freud believed that the subconscious mind was responsible for all unrealized feelings, wants, and urges outside of the conscious ability to be understood. Asya uses this to explain the relationships between the characters in the aforementioned novella and Wharton’s relationships between her parents and the subjects of her romantic affairs. She opens the article by citing works by authors Wendy Gimbel, Susan Goodman, Janet Goodwyn, David Holbrook, Candace Waid, and Carol Weshoven along with mentions to other authors who have also criticized Wharton’s work. They made points that rationalized Wharton’s work as her way of explaining the way that she saw the world inside and outside of herself. Asya focuses on the motivation of Wharton’s guilt in writing Ethan Frome. Asya claims that the relationship between Ethan, Mattie, and Zeena is based on “guilt that fueled her need for expression and drove her to explore the deepest levels of dreams and wish-fulfillment” (300). She was unable to show her feelings towards her father because of strict social rules put in place by her mother, so her incestuous feelings festered into a feeling of guilt, which manifested itself into Ethan Frome. Asya also claims that Wharton was unable to realize the source of her creative drive because of its quintessential subconscious state. She also uses the discrepancies between the two known versions of the novella to demonstrate the influence of her current mental states and the fates of the characters. In the original 1911 version, Mattie just leaves and the story ends, but in the 1922 version, Ethan and Mattie are condemned to an eternal uncomfortable life in Starkfield with Zeena. This is explained because “she [Wharton] was unable to fulfill her desire. Indeed throughout the novel, the “censorship” of her guilt-inflicting super-ego thwarted her incestuous desire” (Asya, 302). Asya also speaks of symbols in the book, which do not reflect Freudian principles directly, but add to the novella’s overall theme.
I believe that the points made in the article are valid and well thought out. However, some points made were almost over-analytical. Asya remarks that, “The writer [Wharton] used a remote setting as a means for distancing herself from her own experience through metaphoric enactment of obscure feelings” (300). This makes some sense to me, but I think that it a stretch. I think that the remote setting could have been a reaction to obscure feelings, but I do not believe that it was the primary purpose of choosing Starkfield for the setting of Ethan Frome. Overall the argument that Wharton used her writing to release her subconscious guilt is valid. To my understanding, some therapists highly recommend writing for releasing guilt and other pent up feelings. Using Freud as a lens, the novella has stark comparisons to Wharton’s personal life, which cannot be overlooked.
I thouroughly enjoyed reading the critical analysis of the novella because it aided in finding new meanings for symbols and other elements of the literary work that I had overlooked because I did not know the background of them. For example, the lines about the “L” shaped part of the Frome’s house could symbolize a missing heart or a disjointing factor to the household. I noticed that it was important, but the article helped me to understand the significance.