Part of the genius of Ethan Frome is
the way that the sledding run works as a metaphor for Ethan’s inability
to make the decisions necessary to solve his dilemma. Sledding is
an activity in which the rider submits to the forces of gravity
and friction: a certain amount of steering can alter the course,
and some riders steer better than others, but the rider can always
choose to give in to momentum and simply coast. Giving in is exactly
what Ethan does in agreeing to Mattie’s suicidal wish: he frees
himself of the burdens of his situation and makes the decision to
coast, putting his life and hers in the hands of fate. In many ways,
this notion of coasting also applies to Ethan’s general approach
to life: believing himself to be imprisoned by external contingencies—by
the landscape, financial circumstances, and social conventions—he
relinquishes responsibility time and again.
So, too, does the sledding run fit perfectly with the
nature of Ethan and Mattie’s love, which is illicit and reckless,
and so seems to call for a reckless conclusion. This ending feels
destined to the characters as well as to the reader: in considering
Mattie’s death wish, Ethan reflects that Mattie seems to be speaking
for fate itself. It is as though he has no other choice but to comply
with her bold proposal. In keeping with his mystical outlook, Ethan
comes to believe that the natural world around him has somehow sanctioned
their decision: as the sled hurtles violently toward the elm, Ethan observes
that the elm seems to be waiting for them, as though it knows what
will happen.
But the sledding run, as it turns out, is not an escape
of any kind. Wharton leaves it ambiguous whether Ethan’s swerve,
brought about by his vision of Zeena, is what prevents them from
dying or whether even a head-on collision is not enough to kill
them. In either case, the world has conspired to prevent Ethan and
Mattie from escaping, and now the book’s dominant themes reemerge
as strongly as ever: the conflict between human desires and the
external circumstances, be they geographical or social.
Wharton had provided the first foreshadowing of the smash-up at
the outset of the story, when the narrator heard vague descriptions
of Ethan’s unfortunate accident from several reluctant village sources.
Combined with the later references to sledding accidents, Ethan’s
pronounced disfigurement in the opening pages of the novel clues
the reader in to Ethan’s impending tragedy. Nevertheless, the grip
of Wharton’s rustic romance is so strong as to fog the memory of
even the most perceptive first-time readers; we read of the disaster in
near disbelief, and no amount of preparation seems adequate to dampen
the emotional impact of the literal collision.
