In the Kitchen with Ethan Frome

It seems to be that throughout time, family live has been revolved around the kitchen. No matter what culture a person is from, that significant space in a household carries on many conversations and events. In Ethan Frome, many startling and revealing matters seemed to have been uncovered when our characters were placed in the kitchen. Every situation placed in this area unearthed Ethan’s emotional conditions and his dream life.
No matter the length of time spent in the kitchen, each moment has added to Ethan’s state of mind. Since his life began with Zeena, he has felt controlled and withheld from a new world in which he wanted to explore on his own, away from Starkfield. But since his mother’s fallen illness, along with Zeena’s, Ethan had been incarcerated in his quaint home to live an unwanted life. His wife, with her “complications”(78) as an excuse, controlled Ethan by making him, as well as Mattie, feel “fugitive warnings”(39) between the two. By doing so,...