Introduction Quiz — Ethan Frome

What is Edith Wharton’s main criticism of existing New England fiction?

• It focused too much on tragic endings
• It captured surface details but missed the harsh, granite-like essence of the land
• It was too long and overly complex
• It relied too heavily on frame narratives

What structural challenge did Wharton face when writing Ethan Frome?

• The story had too many characters to manage
• The dramatic climax occurs a generation after the main events
• The setting was too difficult to research accurately
• The protagonist was based on a real person who objected

How does Wharton describe her protagonists in the introduction?

• As delicate wildflowers shaped by seasons
• As sophisticated urbanites trapped in the country
• As granite outcroppings, half-emerged from the soil
• As restless spirits searching for meaning

Why did Wharton reject having a village gossip tell the entire story?

• Village gossips were not common in New England
• It would betray her characters’ reticence and sacrifice narrative roundness
• She wanted the story told entirely from Ethan’s perspective
• Her publisher insisted on a more modern approach

What role does Wharton assign to the narrator of Ethan Frome?

• An unreliable witness who distorts the truth
• A sympathizing intermediary between simple characters and sophisticated readers
• A character who participates directly in the tragedy
• An omniscient voice with no personal identity

Which two works does Wharton cite as precedents for her narrative technique?

• Wuthering Heights and Jane Eyre
• Moby-Dick and The Scarlet Letter
• La Grande Bretèche and The Ring and the Book
• Madame Bovary and Anna Karenina

How did Wharton’s friends respond to her proposed narrative structure?

• They enthusiastically supported it
• They had mixed reactions
• They gave it immediate and unqualified disapproval
• They suggested she use a different setting instead

What metaphor does Wharton use to describe tempting but false story ideas?

• Wolves in sheep’s clothing
• Mirages in the desert
• Siren-subjects luring a cockle-shell to the rocks
• Shadows that disappear at dawn

Which of these statements about the introduction are true?

Which claims does Wharton make in her introduction?

What does "reticence" mean as used in: "the deep-rooted reticence and inarticulateness of the people I was trying to draw"?

• A tendency toward gossip and storytelling
• A habitual reluctance to speak or reveal one’s feelings
• A preference for written over spoken communication
• An inability to understand complex ideas

What does "imponderable" mean as used in: "that imponderable something more which causes life to circulate in it"?

• Extremely heavy and difficult to move
• Impossible to achieve or create
• Something that cannot be precisely measured or evaluated
• Easily understood and predictable

What does "vernacular" mean as used in: "the conscientious reproduction of the vernacular"?

• The formal literary language of published works
• The everyday dialect spoken by ordinary people in a region
• The technical terminology of a specific profession
• The classical language taught in schools