Ethan Frome, the protaganist in the book entitled Ethan Frome, by Edith Wharton, has many complex problems going on at the same time. His family has died and he has a wife that is continually sick, and the only form of happiness he has is from his wife's cousin Mattie. This, however, at times, proves to be hard because of his wife’s interference. Nothing seems to be going in Ethan's favor. The main theme of the book is failure, and this is shown through marrying his wife, not being able to stand up to his wife, and his involvement concerning the "smash up."

The first way failure is shown in the book is through the marriage of Ethan and his wife. He married her because she had tried to help his mother recover from an illness and once his mother died he could not bear the thought of being alone. His wife was seven years his senior and always seemed to have some kind of illness. It seemed that all she ever did was complain, and he resented this because it stifled his growing soul. Since his wife was continuously ill, and her cousin needed a place to stay, they took her in to help around the house. Ethan took an immediate liking to her cousin, Mattie, because she brought a bright light upon his dismal day. He seemed to have found someone that cared for him, was always happy, and could share his youth, unlike his sickly wife who always nagged him. He longed to be with Mattie, however he had to be loyal to his wife. Being married to the wrong person proved to be Ethan's first failure.

Ethan's second failure was not being able to stand up for himself against his wife. Zeena claimed that a new doctor said that she was extremely sick, and needed more help around the house. She told him, without any discussion, that Mattie had to go. Ethan could not find the words to make her alter her decision. His wife also decided that Mattie had to leave the next day itself and Ethan could not do anything about it. “ Now she [his wife] had mastered him [Ethan]….” provides proof of this. Ethan just could not find the right things to say and it was because of not being able to stand up to his wife that he was going to lose the only thing that made him happy, Mattie.

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