Essay on Themes of The Age of Innocence and Ethan Frome :: comparison compare contrast essays

The Underlying Themes of The Age of Innocence and Ethan Frome Two of Edith Whartons greatest saucys, The Age of Innocence and Ethan Frome can be hearn to have similarities in the situations the characters go through and themes that are used. Each of these novels has its own themes and traits that makes it great, nonwithstandingafter examining each novel it is evident thatthere are underlying themes that tie-in the two stories together. Perhaps the most obvious is the weakness that both Ethan Frome and Newland bowman seem to have in there lives. The feeling of being trapped, and scatty that sense of freedom is also an important part of both novels. Of go there are themes and symbolisms within each that contribute to the great differences in the midst of the two. In The Age of Innocence, mortality and immortality is unrivaled of the greatest aspects or themes and in Ethan Frome the weakness of Ethans character can be seen as one of the main focus. To understand the backgrou nd on either of these novels, it is outstrip to understand a little of Whartons biographical background (this helps to see why similar situations are portrayed in both novels). Wharton lived in New York city and was raised to be a daughter of decree, always putting forth her best manners and showing note to the rituals of society. This attributed greatly to The Age of Innocence which has been described as a skilled portrait of desire and betrayal set in New York urban center of her youth. Her marriage to Teddy Wharton is said to be where the basis of thought came from for the novel Ethan Frome. She discovered that her husband had been cheating on her and supporting a working girl living in Boston, and she soon met and fell in love with mortal else too. In Ethan Frome the book is viewed by many battalion as a novel about an affair and the love that Ethan finds in another woman, not his wife. Ethan Frome takes place in the small New England village of Starkfield Massachusett s and the tantrum and natural surroundings are great aspects of the book. It is just a slow cold farm town, and often enough the harsh winters cause the people there to become very ill. The eerie cold helped to create the life-threatening and tragic mood of this novel, and was a part of the symbolism.