Ethan Frome Study Guide - portnet.org

1 Name_____ Date_____ Foundations of Literature Mr. Corbo Ethan Frome Study Guide Prologue Please answer in complete sentences. Cite specific references from the text to support your answers. 1. Who is the Narrator? 2. Why is he in Starkfield? 3. Describe Starkfield. 4. Who is Harmon Gow? 5. Who is Mrs. Ned Hale , aka Ruth Varnum? 6. Who is Zenobia Frome ? 7. How does the Narrator know Ethan Frome ? 8. What happened to Ethan s parents? 9. What circumstances lead the narrator to spend the night at Ethan s home? 10. What is the L of Ethan s farmhouse? 11. Speculate as to why Ethan has never left Starkfield. What possible reasons could have kept him there? Chapter 1 1. Who is Mattie Silver? 2. What is her relation to Ethan and zeena ? 3. Why is her presence so important to Ethan ?

2 4. Why is zeena s opinion of Mattie? 5. How does zeena treat Mattie? Name_____ Date_____ Foundations of Literature Mr. Corbo 6. How does Ethan feel about Mattie? Why? Cite from the text to support your answer. 7. Does zeena know about Ethan 's feelings for Mattie? If so, how can you tell? Cite from text. Chapter 2 8. At the beginning of chapter 2, Ethan waits outside of the dance for Mattie. How does Ethan react to seeing Mattie at the dance? 9. What details from the text indicate that he feels this way? 10. What does zeena fail to do when Ethan brings Mattie home from the dance? 11. What might have been her motive for doing it? 12. How does Ethan react to this situation? 13. How would you characterize zeena based on her description? 14. What does the exchange between Ethan and zeena at the end of chapter 2 tell us about their relationship?

3 Cite from text. Chapter 3 Please answer in complete sentences. Cite specific references to support your answers. 1. What specific circumstances have brought Mattie to Starkfield? 2. How old is she? 3. Why is she "indentured" to Ethan & zeena ? 4. Where does zeena decide to go? How does Ethan react to her announcement? 5. Who is Andrew Hale, and what is his relationship to Ethan ? Chapter 4 1. How does Ethan picture his evening alone with Mattie? Cite specifically from the text. 2. In what way did zeena change after marriage? Name_____ Date_____ Foundations of Literature Mr. Corbo 3. What effect did zeena 's behavior have on Ethan 's future plans? 4. What two sights does Ethan see on his way home? What is his response to each? Cite specifically from the text. 5. Describe Mattie's outfit for her dinner with Ethan .

4 How does her appearance, especially the color of her garments, symbolically represent her character? 6. What does Mattie prepare for dinner? 7. What gets broken at dinner? How does it break?What might this symbolize? Chapter 5 1. Describe Ethan s attitude after dinner. 2. Why is the cat described as a puzzled observer (page 74)? 3. Ethan and Mattie discuss coasting . Why is this significant? What might this possibly represent or foreshadow? 4. How does the following quote convey an important element of Ethan s feelings toward Mattie? He luxuriated in the sense of protection and authority which his words conveyed. (p. 75) 5. How does Ethan express his feelings for Mattie physically? How does she react? Chapter 6 1. How does Ethan feel the morning after his dinner with Mattie? 2. Why might he feel this way?

5 3. Why is it vaguely ominous when Jotham Powell refuses Ethan s dinner invitation? Name_____ Date_____ Foundations of Literature Mr. Corbo Chapter 7 1. How does zeena explain the doctor s diagnosis of her complications ? 2. What is zeena s plan upon returning from her trip to the doctor? Explain possible motivations for this decision. 3. How does Ethan react to zeena s news? How does zeena s decision affect Mattie? Ethan ? 4. What is the significance of zeena making Ethan tell Mattie the news? 5. What does Ethan do before he tells Mattie? Explain its significance. 6. What discovery does zeena make? How does she react? 7. How do Ethan and Mattie explain their role in this discovery? 8. zeena finally reveals her true feelings about Mattie. Explain this scene and its significance.

6 Chapter 8 1. Where does Ethan spend the night after zeena fires Mattie? Choose a passage from the text to describe this part of the setting. 2. What is Ethan s plan for the future? What makes him think it is possible? 3. What forces or circumstances make this decision difficult? 4. Why does Ethan decide to visit Mr. Hale? 5. How does Hale respond to Ethan s proposal? 6. How does this affect Ethan s decision to leave or stay with zeena ? 7. On page 107, Ethan s situation is described as: The inexorable facts closed in on him like prison-warders handcuffing a convict. Explain what this means. Is Ethan s situation inexorable ? Why or why not? 8. Mrs. Hale says to Ethan , You ve had an awful mean time, Ethan Frome . How is he affected by this statement? Name_____ Date_____ Foundations of Literature Mr.

7 Corbo Chapter 9 1. What decision does Ethan make regarding Mattie s departure? 2. How does coasting play a role in the final chapter? Think of the act on a metaphorical level. What idea might be conveyed through this metaphor? Explain your answer. 3. Mattie finds the letter that Ethan wrote to zeena . How does Ethan respond to this? What does he ask her? 4. Comment on Ethan s statement on page 125: I don t know how it is you make me feel, Matt. I d almost rather have you dead than [married]! 5. What influences Ethan & Mattie s final decision ? Who influences whom? Do they both agree? 6. What is Ethan s first reaction after the smash-up ? What does this show us about him? 7. What is the final outcome of the story? With whom do our sympathies lie? 8. Is Ethan a tragic figure ? What about zeena or Mattie?

8 Do their individual traits lead to a tragic outcome? Explain why or why not?