Ethan Frome and the Sins of the Framed Narrative
Edith Wharton’s novel Ethan Frome uses a framed narrative to tell the story of the title character. The Narrator of the story is an unidentified engineer – no name is given – who happens to catch sight of Ethan Frome at the post office in Starkfield, Massachusetts. Frome is described as a “ruin of a man” and the Narrator cannot help but to wonder what this Ethan Frome must have looked like before his horrible disfigurement. The Narrator’s interest only grows after hearing from the stagecoach driver Harmon Gow about the “smashup” that mangled the right side of Frome’s body. ... ” In Ethan Frome, the use of the framed narrative takes away from the credibility of the story because the reader learns only what the Narrator has formulated in his mind. ... ” This statement alone provides that, before ever speaking to Ethan Frome, the Narrator was already forming the story in his mind and, to him, it was a truthful interpretation. ... Gow suggests that Ethan Frome’s horse is still well and that Frome “wouldn’t be sorry to earn a dollar.” At this point, Gow provides a little background on the Frome family. He states, “Sickness and trouble: that’s what Ethan’s had his plate full up with, ever since the very first helping.