Down in Starkfield, Massachusetts, lives “a man's ruin” (Wharton 3). Starkfield slowly shows itself as a sleepy town of monotony and trouble with “perpetual pale skies” (Wharton 7). Smothered in a blanket of snow for more than half the year, it claims its inhabitants one by one as they slowly succumb to its hypnotic powers. One in particular suffers more than anyone else, Ethan Frome. His future once brightened with the prospect of escaping Starkfield through university, which he attended. He then leads a difficult life after his father's death and leaving him with the responsibility of taking care of his mother. After seeking help on the farm, he sends for Zenobia, a cousin, to take care of his mother. Zeena, now the light and sound of the farm, becomes Ethan's wife after her mother's death. He often believes that his marriage “…would not have happened if his mother had died in the spring instead of the winter…” (Wharton 62). They intended to move but "within a year of their marriage she developed the 'disease'..." (Wharton 63). She becomes a bedridden witch, draining Ethan's inheritance for his medicines and healings. It becomes apparent that "[hurting] the young and robbing them of their hope and joy..." is Zeena's new hobby (Ammons 2). Since he had once hired Zeena for his mother, he now hires Mattie Silver, a cousin of Zeena. Mattie “…was more than the brilliant and helpful creature he had thought” (Wharton 29). Mattie is lively, intelligent as well as beautiful, the light of a dark, dank hole called Starkfield. It brings to life the squalid existence Ethan lived in for seven years during his marriage to Zeena. He often longs for Mattie's love and assumes that she loves him too. The only woman... middle of paper... takes away his pain and hers. Their life together, however, has just begun. Ethan and Mattie survive the crash; however, Ethan gets the worst part of the deal. He has to deal with "Mattie Silver [becoming] Zeena's stand-in rather than Ethan's compliment" (Ammons 2). Mattie becomes just like Zeena, whining and complaining after becoming an invalid following the accident. Ethan must now take care of both of them and “the witch triumphs” by transforming Ethan's old life into a living nightmare foreshadowed by ironic symbolism throughout the tale (Ammons 2). Works CitedAmmons, Elizabeth. "Edith Wharton's Ethan Frome and the Questions of Meaning." Studies in American Fiction 7.2 (1979): 127-40. Print.Bernard, Kenneth. “Imagery and Symbolism in Ethan Frome.” College English 23.1 (1961): 178-84. Print.Wharton, Edith. Ethan Frome. New York, NY, USA: Signet Classic, 2000. Print.