Ethan frome who is denis eady

Zeena leaves Starkfield to see a doctor in a nearby town. Ethan makes an excuse - getting cash for the lumber they have - not to drive Zeena to the train station. After Zeena leaves, Ethan imagines what it would feel like to be married to Mattie, with just the two of them alone;. This will be the first night Mattie and Ethan can be alone, without any interruptions from Zeena.

Ethan recalls his mother's final illness that led to her death - Zeena had come to the Frome farm to help care for Ethan's mother, and he married her out of loneliness. Their marriage had been rocky from the beginning - mostly due to Zeena's silent and cold manner. Ethan goes to see Andrew Hale to see if Hale can give him money for the lumber, but Hale refuses.

Ethan is even more attracted to Mattie, whose appearance is heightened by the red ribbon in her hair. Mattie has prepared a warm supper for Ethan. They have a nice time until they mention Zeena's name and then Pussy, the cat, accidentally breaks Zeena's cherished pickle-dish, which they were not supposed to use without Zeena's permission. Mattie is inconsolable at the prospect of Zeena finding out about the broken dish.

Ethan comes up with the idea to glue the pieces back together before Zeena can discover the broken dish. Before Ethan can glue the broken dish back together, Zeena returns home. Zeena informs him that her doctor has told her to hire a new girl to do all the housework, for Mattie is not as efficient as Zeena wants her to be.

Ethan is angered and dismayed at the thought of losing Mattie and at the thought of more unnecessary expenses for Zeena's care. Zeena, also enraged, tells him that she became sick from nursing his ill mother. Ethan protests that he has no money to give the new girl, but Zeena asks him shrewdly about the money he supposedly received from the lumber. Ethan looks at Zeena in a new light, as she dismissively sends Mattie, her own relation, away without a care for the poor girl. Ethan tells Mattie that she must go.

When Zeena discovers the broken pieces of the pickle-dish, she yells at Mattie calling her a disgrace like her father. Ethan thinks of running away to the West with Mattie, but his obligation to Zeena prevents him from leaving her in such a terrible position.

The farm does not make much money, and he would not be able to support Mattie on such a small income even if they were to leave. He feels as if he is destined to stay in Starkfield forever; escape is impossible. The next day, the day Mattie is supposed to leave, Ethan tries to ask the Hales for money, but he is unable to lie to people who are truly sympathetic to his fate.

Ethan tells Zeena that he will take Mattie to the station himself. They are very much devastated at the thought of leaving each other. They decide to take the sled ride that they used to talk about. They somehow survive the crash. Ethan ends up crippled and becomes more frail, living with the invalid Mattie and the cruel and bitter Zeena, with no hope of ever regaining the days when he and Mattie were in love.

Zenobia Zeena Pierce Frome: Ethan's sickly wife. She knows about Ethan and Mattie's love for one another and suspects that Ethan wants to be with Mattie rather than her. After a trip to see Dr. Buck, Zeena decides to force Mattie to leave and bring on a new hired girl to oversee the household chores. This will ensure that Mattie and Ethan are apart.

Her discovery of the broken pickle-dish gives her another reason to hate Mattie and throw her out. Mattie and Ethan's sledding crash leaves Mattie more helpless than Zeena and forces Ethan to take care of both Zeena and Mattie. She is the daughter of a poor and disgraced father, who embarrassed the Pierce family. Always associated with the color red, she falls in love with Ethan.

When Zeena deliberately hires a new girl to care for her, Mattie is forced to leave. Mattie and Ethan cannot bear to let each other go, and she tells Ethan, as they sled down a steep hill, to steer in the path of an elm tree. Rather than being killed, Ethan is crippled and Mattie ends up as an invalid with Zeena helping to care for her. He also suggests that the narrator ask Ethan to drive him to the local train station for work every day, an idea that introduces the narrator to Ethan.

Ned Hale: A friend of the Fromes. Ned is engaged to Ruth Varnum. Ned Hale is the son of the town builder. Ruth Varnum Hale Mrs. Ned Hale : A friend of the Fromes. Later, when she and Ned are married and she is a middle-aged woman, she recounts the fates of Ethan and Mattie after they crash into the tree to the narrator. Denis Eady: Denis Eady, the son of the town grocer, likes Mattie and dances with her.

He offers to walk her home. Ethan is jealous of Denis' attention to Mattie. Later, Denis drives the narrator to the local train station for work.

Andrew Hale: The Starkfield builder who refuses to advance Ethan fifty dollars. He asks Ethan if he is destitute and in need of money. Ethan is too proud not to take Andrew's money after that. With no education or job skills, Mattie is forced to rely on the charity of… read analysis of Mattie Silver. The Narrator An engineer who is temporarily residing in Starkfield while assigned to work at a nearby power plant, and who is sympathetic to Ethan 's troubles.

Wharton's use of a narrator who is an outsider in… read analysis of The Narrator. Ned Hale Ruth Varnum. As a young woman, a close friend of Mattie 's. In the frame story, she is the Narrator 's landlady.

Initially reluctant to reveal what she knows about the tragedy, she is nonetheless the source of many important details, and confirms the Narrator's story. A former stagecoach driver. He's the first to provide information about Ethan to the Narrator , and it is he who suggests that the narrator hire Ethan as a driver.

An arrogant young man, the son of Michael Eady , a wealthy Starkfield grocer. Until Ethan learns the true nature of Mattie 's feelings, he feels inferior to Denis and threatened by Denis's romantic pursuit of Mattie.

A hired man at the Frome farm. A quiet fellow who follows Zeena 's orders to get rid of Mattie. A Starkfield builder who buys lumber from Ethan. He has a reputation for never paying until three months after delivery. Andrew Hale 's wife and Ned Hale 's mother. A kindly, sympathetic woman. Andrew Hale.