Difference Between Ethan Frome's Movie and Book

Ethan Frome is a tragedy of wasted lives and romantic longing. Ethan Frome's movie takes place in Starkfield, Massachusetts in the late 1800s about 25 years ago during winter. Ethan's marriage to Zeena took place during cold winter, after a long period of sorrow when he was devastated owing to the impending death of his mother, overbearing coldness, her silence and the thought of living alone in the farm. If his mother had died in spring instead of winter he would not have married. Thus in a moment of haste and fear of staying all alone in the farm, Ethan asks Zeena to marry him.

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In the book, the narrator, Edith Wharton is an engineer, who gleaned Ethan's tragic story from different sources and figured the sad tale during his visit to Frome farm. The narrator here is not told the entire story by his landlady Ruth unlike when the narrator is a minister. The movie version of the story is a simpler adaptation and takes less time to get into filtration between Ethan and Mattie. In the movie, one expects some action and even in this dreary, somber tale, the writers are able to make it happen.

In the novel Ethan Frome, foreshadowing is used to explain the plot conflict. In the introduction to the story, Ethan is described as a crippled man who had a 'smash-up' foreshadowing his relationship with Mattie will be a tragic end. Ethan's disability is foreshadowing as it shows in his story that he is going to go through some intense physical trauma (Bernard 182). Another example is Ethan and Mattie's sled ride in chapter 9 which foreshadows subsequent failed suicide attempt. Ethan and Mattie are about to share a fun sled ride down the hill. Their tears hint at something unpleasant to come as they both know this might be the last time for them to see each other.

The book/field uses the color red-red pickle dish as a symbol of shuttering death. Red is also used to relate to desire, seduction, passion, and lust. It also symbolizes blood, warning or danger. For example, Ethan's scar-"cherry-coloured fascinator," the notorious pickle dish and Mattie's "cherry-colored scarf. In the story featured in the scarlet letter, a woman is forced to wear a scarlet red on her chest to show she committed adultery. Similarly, in Ethan Frome, Ethan is branded with a red mark.

Ethan complained several times that a fox comes to his henhouse and kills a chicken. It started to happen approximately at the same time as Mattie appeared in their house. She did not kill anybody but was the reason for her broken family, and this is a direct correlation between her and the aforementioned fox. Its impossible to blame her because Ethan was unhappy with Zeena, and Mattie just appeared in the right place the right time. Therefore, Fox continues its raids to the hen-house and Mattie continues to live at her relative's place. The time Zeena understood everything and turned Mattie out, the fox was killed. (Edwin Bjorkman 1915).The conspicuous difference between the two pieces of literature, the novel, and the movie merges at the point in which the two couples consummate their marriage. Ethan and his wife get into an intimate sexual connection in the movie whereby they are locked in a world of their own. The movie vividly narrates the extent of connection and love that exists between the couple, Ethan and Zeena. On the flipside, the novel does not mention any aspect of marriage consummation. In fact, the idea of narrating sexual expedition between couples seems rather unethical to the literary genre. The novel does not even mention touching between the couples even on the day that Zeena is gone. The novel narrates that after Mattie went to bed, Ethan says, "When the door of her room had closed on her he remembered that he had not even touched her hand," this is a clear contrast to the film version. The changes made in the movie makes the relationship between the couples more physical than emotional (Bernard 184). In essence, the choices that Ethan makeover Zeena is not because they are either better or prettier than her, Ethan chooses Mattie because she brings warmth into his life.

The movie massively dilutes the sledding incident. In the movie, Mattie only admits to not wanting to ever leave the mountain. The novel, however, creates a different insight into the sledding scene whereby Mattie seems to want their lives to end while they are together with Ethan. She wants Ethan to go down the mountain with her once more, down to the coastal areas where they will never come up again. The novel narrates, "She put her lips close to his ear to say: Right into the big elm. You said you could. So 't we'd never have to leave each other anymore," (Murad 96). The movie does not clearly present the story in the same light. The movie does not unearth the sinister moves and desires behind Mattie's decision to say that she does not want to leave the mountain. The novel unearths some of the details behind some f the conversations between the characters in the story.

The movie takes a critical component of foreshadowing; an element that is clearly lacking in the novel. In the movie, Ethan sets out poison for the foxes that give him trouble with his chicken. He is a great lover of chicken rearing and believes in eliminating the foxes that seem relentless in depriving him of his hard earned work. The setting of poison in the movie is foreshadowing of the eventual suicide in the story, this never happened in the novel. The movie alludes to some of the scenes that happen in the storyline and gives the audience a visual and literal understanding of some of the underlying factors and elements n the storyline.

The setting of the movie does not give the audience what is going on inside Ethan's head. The viewers are left to fill in the gaps on their own and to make relevant judgments concerning dome scenes and the decisions for some of the actions that happen in the story. The viewers of the movie only get to understand some of the actions that happen in the movie from the dialogues and stories. On the contrary, without reading the book, one would be lost on a number of scenes in the movie and what informs some of the actions and conversations.

The book does not give Mattie much relevance and importance in the storyline. Actually, the book projects her role as secondary to the main characters Ethan and Zeena. She trims hats, plays some notes on the piano, recites shortly whenever she has time for it. on the contrary, the movie elevates the status of Mattie as a heaven come true for Ethan; he is totally blown away by her. Ethan admires her talents and is carried away by her creativity and smartness in one of the steamy scenes. Unlike the novel, the movie projects a rather timid Zeena who is sickly. The move projects her position in a desperate manner to derive pity from the audience. The book projects her in a negative light as the reason they cannot move away. According to the author, her health condition is the reason behind the failure for them to move way to different land; this is because she fears to move away from the land where she enjoys some elevated status. According to the audience's understanding from the book, it is because of Zeena that Ethan is desperately miserable, and not because of her sickness (Marshall 16). The novel, to some extent, gives credibility to Mattie in as much as she comes into Ethan's life and destabilizes the existence of Zeena, she is the source of joy to Ethan.

Conclusion

The book and the movie have so much similarity just as they have numerous differences. However, the glaring difference is the movie capturing the romantic desires which permeate the novel. In essence, the movie tells the audience the romantic side of Ethan while the novel dwells largely on the confused and miserable Ethan caught in between two women. His concern for Zeena has seen him move in with Mattie whom he considers more intelligent and focused persona.

Works Cited

Bernard, Kenneth. "Imagery and symbolism in Ethan Frome." College English 23.3 (1961): 178-184.

Marshall, Scott. "Edith Wharton on Film and Television." Edith Wharton Review 7.1 (1990): 15-17.

Murad, Orlene. "Edith Wharton and Ethan Frome." Modern Language Studies (1983): 90-103.

Strindberg, August, and Edwin August Bjorkman. Master Olof: A Drama in Five Acts. Vol. 4. The American-Scandinavian Foundation, 1915.