Edith Wharton

1
Edith Wharton
2
Life of Edith Wharton

• She lived from 1862-1937
• Was born in New York City and died in France
• She belonged to an aristocratic family
• Her main role in life was to be a daughter of
  society which she would later rebel against.
• Her father had an extensive library where she
  often read. From this, she made up stories which
  were acted out for her nanny.

3

• In 1885, she married Teddy Wharton
• She continued to live a well-off life with homes
  in New York, Rhode Island, and Massachusetts.
• Her marriage with Teddy was never great, and
  when she found out he had a mistress, she left
  for Paris where she fell in love with Morton
• Fullerton.
• Her lifes circumstances
• often led to the
• creation of her characters.

4

• Unlike many authors, Whartons works were very
  popular during her lifetime and she was able to
  live off of her earnings.
• In 1912, she divorced Teddy.
• After the divorce, she traveled through Paris
  during World War I helping refugees.
• She only returned to the US to receive the
  Pulitzer Prize for her book The Age of Innocence.
• She died in Paris in 1937 from
• a stroke.

5
The Gilded Age

• Mark Twain dubbed the period from 1878-1889 The
  Gilded Age. This meant that there was a thin
  veneer of glitter over something of poor quality.
• It was a time of prosperity for the rich, a time
  for growth in industry and a time when immigrants
  flocked to America.
• Wharton lived and wrote during this time and was
  one of the upper class who
• had a lot of wealth during this time.

6
Ethan Frome

• Ethan Frome is not Whartons most well-known
  work The Age of Innocence is.
• Wharton and her mother had a cold relationship
  which can be seen in Ethan Frome, although not in
  a mother-daughter relationship.
• Her relationship with her mother was
  characterized by a starvation for love.

7

• The majority of Whartons novels are satirical
  ones that poke fun at the rich, luxurious lives
  that she and her friends lived.
• Ethan Frome is very different in that it does not
  look at high society.
• Instead, she chose to look at an actual event
  that happened in 1904 a sledding accident and
  wrote a novella about it.
• The book was published in
• 1911 when society was very
• anxious about women and
• their roles in society.

8

• As you read, notice the roles Zena and Mattie
  take both in life and towards Ethan.
• Ethan Frome moves away from visible social issues
  and instead delves into the prohibitions of one
  man who must hide his feelings towards his wifes
  cousin.
• As you read, consider why Ethan feels the way he
  does about Mattie. How is she different from
  Zeena?

9
The Frame Narrative A frame narrative is a story
within a story (sometimes within yet another
story). The form echoes in structure the thematic
search in the story for something deep, dark, and
secret at the heart of the narrative. As is often
the case, a different individual often narrates
the events of a story in each frame. This
structure of course also leads us to question the
reasons behind each of the narrations since,
unlike an omniscient narrative perspective, the
teller of the story becomes an actual character
with shortcomings, limitations, prejudices, and
motives.
10
Frame Narratives

• This story is told in the form of a frame story.
• Notice how it begins and ends with the narrators
  speculation and revelationswhat does this tell
  you about the reliability of the narrator and his
  tale?
• By the end, try to figure out who the narrator
  gets his final story from.
• Who is telling the story in chapters 1-9?
• Where do the facts come from?

11
Themes

• The difference between doing what makes you happy
  and what is morally right
• What is more important obligation or personal
  happiness?
• Distance associated with the lack of
  communication/silence
• Illusion
• Consequences that are the result of living
  according to the rules of society.