Ethan Frome: An Example of "The Mass of Men Leading Lives of Quiet Desperation"

The story of Ethan Frome is one that deals with the harsh and cruel realities of life. His is a story that is often repeated and reflected in many other peoples lives through out the world, but very seldom heard. Seldom heard because most of these people, like Ethan, bare this anguish in quiet solitude. In the words of the American transcendentalist Henry David Thoreau, "The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation." Ethan Frome is the epitome of this statement in numerous ways.

Ethan is a man who started his early adulthood full of dreams and grand ideas. Going to college exposed Ethan to thoughts and philosophies that he never would have come into contact with had he remained in Starkfield. These thoughts and new awakenings lead Ethan into a world of deep thought and to an awareness of a world that was more alive and full of possibilities than the small desolate town of Starkfield could ever offer. This knowledge alone, of a larger and grander world, was enough to make it impossible for Ethan to ever truly be happy in Starkfield. Sadly, this understanding of his lack of knowledge was the least of Ethan's desperation.

Ethan has spent his entire life; from the time he came home from school to take care of his mother and father to the time we as the reader leave him, in quiet desperation. He gave up his education to take care of his parents who were crippled and losing their sanity. Ethan never complained. After his parents died Ethan, lacking the funds to return to school, stayed in Starkfield marring the talkative and knowledgeable Zeena, who had helped care for his mother. The marriage was not out of love, and Zeena needing to be a center of attention, soon began to deteriorate in health. Ethan never complained. Zeena became irritable and distant to Ethan forcing him to look for comfort and companionship elsewhere. Ethan found his companionship, and in time love, in Mattie Silver.

Ethan fell in love with Mattie, and when Zeena said that Mattie had to leave Ethan desperately wanted to take Mattie and leave with her. Ethan was bound by his honor; even when he realized that "He was a poor man, the husband of a sickly woman, whom his desertion would leave alone and destitute."(143). Ethan still could not abandon his duty. However, Ethan not wanting to part with Mattie decides that it would be better to die with Mattie than to go on living without her. This thought causes Ethan to join Mattie in her romantic thought and attempt suicide. This act though, just like so many other things in Ethan's life, goes terribly wrong. The attempt leaves Mattie and Ethan both seriously injured but still alive. Ethan can now move only with difficulty and he is scarred in many ways for life. Still Ethan doesn't complain. Ethan, Mattie, and Zeena now all live out the remainder of their lives in their own "quiet desperation." Living only because they're too proud to die. Mrs. Hale describes the Frome's current state with clarity "and the way they are now, I don't see's there's much difference between the Fromes up at the farm and the Fromes down in the graveyard..."(181). Ethan never complained.