AP Language & Composition
Miss Coppola
Ethan Frome Socratic Seminar
DUE DATE:
Choose five of the following questions from the list below. For each topic, you must have two
short, written paragraphs in response to the prompt. YOU MUST PROVIDE TEXTUAL
EVIDENCE WITH PAGE NUMBERS (MINIMUM OF TWO). In addition, you should
develop TWO open-ended questions for each question you choose (yes, that means a total of
TEN questions).
1. How does the frame of the novel support the narrator’s authenticity? How reliable is the
narrator? Why?
2. The novel is filled with odd names: Zenobia, Mattie Silver, Harmon Gow, etc. What
significance can be attributed to their names? What do they symbolize and reveal about the
novel.
3. Numerous characters fall ill or have other physical, psychological problems. What function
does illness play? Is there hope for health? What would good health mean?
4. Trace the word “pure” throughout the novel; how is it used? Notice also the colors gray,
yellow, and white. Do you see any patterns?
5. What is the significance of the moon? What color is used to describe it and why?
6. Who are the town insiders? Outsiders? What does the reader become?
7. Present evidence that Ethan will never be free.
8. The theme of deprivation is sounded in Ethan’s cry that Zeena has taken everything from him.
How do Mattie and Zeena express their own pain at losing what little they have?
9. Ethan is seldom by himself indoors in the story. What does the setting of Ethan’s little
“study” reveal about his inner life and his private yearnings?
10. Critics have called Ethan Frome “an inverted fairy tale.” What evidence is there to support
this?
11. Some reviewers have objected to the cruel resolution of Ethan and Mattie’s dilemma, seeing
no justification for such a relentlessly tragic tale. Discuss whether you think all literary works
should offer a positive message or whether tales of defeat like Ethan Frome are also necessary
and important.
12. Explain who causes Ethan more turmoil - Mattie or Zeena?
13. How powerful a force is the setting (time and place) in determining the livings of the
characters? Think about Starkfield’s climate, geography, resources, and economy. Think also
about the choices available to the characters in that time period compared to the choices
available to people today.
14. Why were both Harmon Gow and Ruth Hale necessary as sources of information? How did
their contributions essentially differ?
15. Who or what is most responsible for the tragic events of the novel? Think about the choices
that each character makes and the external circumstances that limit the character’s choices.
16. What effect does the point of view of the narration have on your reading and understanding
of the novel? Think about the first-person narration of the prologue and the epilogue, the use of
third-person limited narration in Chapters 1-9, and the advantages and disadvantages of using
two points of view. Does the story gain or lose by having it abstracted bit by bit from different
persons?
17. What purpose does the cat serve? Could the author have achieved the same effect without
the cat’s presence? Defend your answer.
18. What roles do silence, listening, failure to listen, and inability to communicate play in the
novel? Relate these ideas to each of the three main characters.
19. Discuss Mattie either as a basically weak or a basically strong character: support your
opinion with evidence. Why does the author make the initial contrast between her and Zeena so
great?
20. Think about the three main characters in the novel. Discuss how much power each one has
to change his or her life for the better, regardless of whether that character actually uses--or even
recognizes--that power.
21. Analyze Zeena’s and Mattie’s techniques for getting their own way. Which methods or
techniques are more obvious to the reader; which are less obvious? Which were more obvious to
Ethan, which, less?
22. Ethan has two experiences away from Starkfield. Describe each of these events and explain
why the author chose these particular experiences as the two that take Ethan from Starkfield.
23. Why when something goes wrong, does life make it hard to cover up what you’ve done? Be
sure to make connections to the novel, not just personal knowledge.