Thursday, March 25, 2010
Guest Blogger - Martin C.
Recently, we finished reading Ethan Frome. While this story may have seemed slightly unexciting, the ending sure added an interesting twist. Ethan and Mattie's crippling injuries were debatably worse than death. As the narrator put it, "I don’t see’s there’s much difference between the Fromes up at the farm and the Fromes down in the graveyard." Instead of finally freeing himself from Zeena and from the responsibilities of life, Ethan was forced to spend the rest of his life with her, and with Mattie who had turned into almost a clone of Zeena. But you already know all this. I was wondering what people's opinions were when it came to this debate. Would it have been better for Ethan if he died? Or did he get lucky by surviving?Forgetting for a second, the seemingly obvious point that there are probably better ways to kill yourself than sledding into a tree, I think both answers were slightly correct. While actually dying would've been the easy way out, and he wouldn't have to live the rest of his life against his dreams, surviving it may have done one thing for him. It forced him to live up to his responsibilities and realize that one cannot run away from their problems. Whether or not this was easy, hopefully it did something for his character.Thoughts?
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In my opinion, when one is given a second chance at life that is much better than dying! However, that also depends on the person and what they do with that second chance. In Ethan Frome, when Ethan is given his second chance he doesn't seem to really appreciate it.. his character does not seem to change much, and he's still the same guy going through the motions of life whilte dreaming of better things. So maybe it would have been better if Ethan had died, i don't know, I don't think he tried to make his life any better though.
ReplyDeleteI believe that having another chance at life is better than dying. Although, Ethan must be reminded of the life he could have had if he had run away with Mattie, he is better off that way then dead. Ethan Frome is somewhat of an ancient mariner; his purpose is to tell his story so others can learn from it.
ReplyDeleteDuncan Gichimu
ReplyDeletethink he got what he deserves. He tried to run away from his responsibilities by killing himself, instead of just taking a train. It is better for him to live his life miserable and die miserable.
But whether or not it's better for Ethan to have died or remain alive all depends on the afterlife, therefore if he died he would have gone to hell, disappeared, or reincarnated into a toilet bowl, who knows. There are pros and cons to both, but they vary due to different beliefs.
The fact that Ethan did not die is almost a sort of poetic justice to his actions. He knew that he was poor and he was miserable living with Zeena and basically hated his life. By trying to escape all of this he ended up making more permanent the manner of life he was trying to escape by being force to live as he always had before. Ethan's quality of life wasn't great to begin with, but instead of trying to be mature about it and take a logical way of changing, he tried to take the "easy way out" and it ended up making his life even worse than before. It definitely would have been easier for him to die, as horrible as that sounds. But think of it, he was with the person that he loved the most, doing one of his favorite things (sledding) and he didn't have a care in the word. He had just found out that the girl of his dreams loved him as much as he loved her, if he died, he would have died a happy man. By living, he is force to face the consequences.
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