With special reference to Edith Wharton’s use of language, s

The town in which the novella is set is appropriately named Starkfield, instantly insinuating a bare, barren and desolate landscape. An early interpretation given by a native, " Guess he's been in Starkfield too many winters. Most of the smart ones get away”, makes the narrator experience " the sinister force of the town". Wharton uses and then repeats this phrase to pose questions about Starkfield, Ethan Frome, and the significance of winter. This results in an initial reaction, which subconsciously causes the reader to judge the town before any actual evidence has been given. Wharton uses this device to intensify the findings about the town as the first impression of a “stark” community is correct.

Here, Wharton also allows the narrator to explore possible explanations, "Before my own time there was up I had learned to know what that meant". This sounds very negative, as though the narrator is trapped in a prison-like environment where "Most of the smart ones get away". This provides a possible explanation to Starkfield's effect on people. Evidence

Wharton’s manipulation of language creates vivid imagery of the landscape. Through the illustration of Starkfield she portrays the characters and their emotions effectively. Overall proving “the profound accumulated cold of many Starkfield winters” as there’s not “much difference between the Fromes up at the farm and the Fromes down in the graveyard”.

This leads to further evidence possibly illustrating Zeena’s presence and therefore the constant obstruction surrounding the forbidden love. In Zeena’s absence, “the cat” which “jumped between them into Zeena’s empty chair” is used symbolically to mark her presence. Although this is not a direct link with the landscape, it adds to the effect Zeena has on the house and subsequently their environment. Throughout, indications such as this are used to build-up and intensify the final tragedy, where Zeena’s oppression results in eternal affliction, especially for Ethan as “his wife’s face, with twisted monstrous lineaments, thrust itself between him and his goal”.

Wharton illustrates Ethan’s importance from the outset as “if you know the post-office you must have seen Ethan Frome”. Wharton incorporates repetition of the strong verb, “must” in addition to engaging the reader directly, “you”. This statement provokes curiosity, again, enabling the reader to relate to the character. This establishes his significance by depicting a strong visual image of his “striking figure” within the community, emphasised by Wharton’s inclusion of “seen”. Perhaps Wharton is insinuating that he is “seen” physically among the community as opposed to emotionally, especially as Starkfield is oblivious to his feelings for Mattie.

Wharton personifies the house to highlight “the contrast between the vitality of the climate and the deadness of the community” shown by “a square of light trembled through the screen of snow”.

Wharton reinforces this concept by conveying the isolation and “loneliness” of Ethan’s surroundings as “the loneliness of the house grew more oppressive”, combined with “lonely New England farm-houses that make the landscape lonelier”. Therefore suggesting that as Ethan has been permanently affected by the landscape into “an incarnation of its frozen woe” , he now influences the landscape by making it equally as lonely.

This is a negative comment as though Starkfield has no control and is dominated by this overwhelming force. Wharton also provides us with a metaphorical image to highlight Starkfield as a vulnerable town constantly under “siege” from the “wild cavalry of March”. Military language emphasises the idea of a war between the elements and Starkfield, to the extent “Starkfield emerged f

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