Chapters 5-9 Discussion Guide Ethan Frome Chapters 5-9 Discussion Guide

Chapter 5 Ethan and Mattie spend their evening alone together. What is it like? Explain the cat’s presence and actions What happens when Ethan mentions Ned and Ruth kissing? Is the evening what Ethan had in mind? How do you know? Note Ethan’s inability to act on emotion (esp with Mattie’s sewing)

Chapter 6 Why was Ethan so happy at the beginning of chapter 6? What is Ethan's plan for the day? How does the day actually progress? How much is under Ethan's control?

Chapter 6 Describe the change in mood when Zeena comes home. Find a quote that shows this shift. Predict why Jotham doesn't stay for dinner. The chapter ends with a scene similar to the night before. What has changed?

Chapter 7 Zeena's "complications" "Ethan's heart was jerking to and fro between two extremities of feeling, but for the moment compassion prevailed." How does Zeena feel about operations?

Chapter 7 What did the doctor tell Zeena to do? How does Ethan react? "It was the first scene of open anger between the couple in their seven years together."

Chapter 7 Zeena catches Ethan in a lie about the money "She was no longer the listless creature who had lived at his side in a state of sullen self-absorption..."

Chapter 7 Zeena takes the one thing that makes Ethan happy How is she described at dinner? Describe Zeena's reaction to the broken pickle dish...

Chapter 8 Where does Ethan retreat to in his home? "Confused emotions of rebellion stormed in him. He was too young, too strong, too full of the sap of living, to submit so easily to the destruction of his hopes." Explain the "case of a man over the mountain"

Chapter 8 What does Ethan consider doing? Why does he change his mind? How does this tie to the themes we are looking at? Describe the next morning. Is Ethan still hopeful? Why?

Chapter 8 "He was a poor man, the husband of a sickly woman, whom his desertion would leave alone and destitute; and even if he had had the heart to desert her he could have done so only by deceiving two kindly people who had pitied him. He turned and walked slowly back to the farm."

Chapter 9 Mattie cries when she believes she will never see Ethan again. Her "soft yet springy" hair contrasts with Zeena's "pinched face" Who drives Mattie to the train station? How does Zeena feel about this?

Memory lane What do Ethan and Mattie remember about the picnic the year before? As they drive away the scene darkens (leaving the good memories behind...) Mattie found the letter and reciprocates Ethan's feelings

Coasting Do they have time for this? Whose idea is it to take a second trip? Individualism vs. conformity! That horse... Why does Ethan swerve? Does he hit the tree? What happens at the end of the chapter?