Symbolism in Ethan Frome

Symbolism can give added meaning to a variety of texts. From music to movies to novels, symbolism creates an even deeper which means than discovered in a surface reading. The symbolism located within Ethan Frome adds to the inherent meaning of the text to give it an even deeper meaning. Edith Wharton uses the pickle dish, the Oak tree, and the cat as symbols to achieve deeper meaning. The pickle dish is of good significance in the novel. It is made use of to represent Zeena’s virginity. Mattie seamed to know a excellent deal extra about the pickle dish than Ethan did. She had to remind him “It was a wedding present never you recall? It came all the way from Philadelphia, from Zeena’s aunt that married a minister”(70). Ethan under no circumstances bothered to spend much focus to the pickle dish. When Zeena returned and noticed that the pickle dish was broken she said, “It requires the step-ladder to get at the prime shelf, and I put Aunt Philura Maple’s pickle-dish up there o’ objective when we was married, and it’s under no circumstances been down given that, ‘cept for the spring cleaning, and then I always lifted it with my personal hands, so’s ‘t should not get broke”(one hundred). The symbolism becomes clear when Zeena explains that the only particular person to touch it is herself and only to clean it. The oak tree is used to symbolize Ethan in the novel. The connection can be seen by comparing the characteristics of every. The Oak tree is noticed by the characters in the novel as a strong, unchanging, and immovable object. The exact same can be mentioned about Ethan. He has usually has and possibly always will reside in Starkfield. According to the narrator, “he was the most striking figure in Starkfield, although he was but the ruin of a man. It was not so substantially his fantastic height that marked him, for the ‘natives’ have been quickly singled out by their lank longitude from the stockier foreign breed: it was the careless strong appear he had, in spite of a lameness checking every single step like the jerk of a chain”(11). Though he wasn’t risky by nature, individuals nonetheless respected and sometimes feared him. He had a commanding air about him that absolutely everyone noticed. The cat is employed to be symbolic of Zeena. Even though Zeena was away, the cat was constantly underfoot and in the way of Ethan and Mattie. The…