Ethan_Frome__An_Examination_Of_The_Human_Mind.

Ethan Frome: An Examination Of The Human Mind. When Nathaniel Hawthorne wrote his novel, The Scarlet Letter, he was praised as being the father of the psychological novel. Since the completion of his pioneering story, numerous other authors have taken their work in similar directions, and have tried to reveal human psychology through their writing. In turn, authors have been attempting to convey truths about human behavior and explain the human psyche, often proving to be unsuccessful. Edith Wharton’s novel, Ethan Frome, is an excellent example of a novel that succeeds in revealing truths. She saturates her characters with nuances that reflect the subconscious while her setting is alive with reflected symbolism. Her greatest attribute is her ability to interpret the characters actions in a way that relates to all of humankind. Each word and phrase appears to be chosen so that it reflects a part of the subconscious within the characters. Therefore, Edith Wharton’s Ethan Frome is a psychological examination of the human mind, based upon her use of setting to reflect emotion, and characterization to show human tendencies towards chaos and other psychological aspects of the human psyche. In Ethan Frome, Wharton uses setting to show the sentiments ethan, frome, characters, novel, setting, zeena, psychological, wharton, life, human, starkfield, chaos, actions, within, wharton’s, through, mattie, house, zeena’s, winter, while, town, snow, psyche, physical, insecurities, gray, example, ethan’s, edith, between, aspect, under, tone, throughout