Directions: Thoughtfully and insightfully answer one of the questions below using textual evidence.
1. What does the name Starkfield suggest about the setting? How does Herman Gow corroborate (support this) later in the prologue?
2. How is the narrator/engineer not representative of the other characters in Starkfield? Can the reader trust what he tells us?
3. What is significant about Herman Gow and Mrs. Ned Hale in the story?
1. Starkfield is a place that inhabits strange elements and Harmon Gow is the first person to give information about Ethan.
ReplyDelete2. He sounds pretty bias to the other people among Starkfield and the characters match the vibe of Starkfield itself.
3. They seem to be the base to the whole story.
1) The town is sad, drear, and vacant. Herman Gow says later on,"Guess he's been in Starkfield many winters."
ReplyDelete2) He is just telling it from his point of view so not everything he tells the reader will be accurate.
3)They already tell us a little about Ethan Frome.
2.) The engineer/narrator is in general, a better person than most in Starkfield. He doesn't have much to hide, and is a very positive person. He does not have a cold personality. He is also very curious.
ReplyDelete1) The name of stark field suggest the landscape and also the characteristics of the people living there being barren and well, Stark. Herman Gow corroborates this later when he is talking to the narrator about Ethan; he says that Ethan has seen to many winters in Starkfield, and that all the smart people leave for the cold winter months.
ReplyDelete2) In the time of the book, America was fast becoming more industrialized and to do this, the country needed more and more engineers. Being an engineer was a respected career of which are a symbol of progressive technology and men of science. They are supposedly straight forward and spend their time looking at facts to solve problems. The narrator is a typical character at the time as he represents progress coming to Starkfield. He seems a very straightforward man and is typical as he is trying to figure out the man that is Ethan Frome. From this, I think we can trust the narrator's judgement.
3) Herman Gow and Mrs. Ned Hale are foil characters; they show the town peoples point of view towards Ethan Frome and his story. They are purposely ambiguous and seem to try and forget that Ethan's story ever happened.
The name Starkfield suggests that the setting is in a plain and boring town where nothing happens. Herman supports this later in the prologue by saying "Guess he's been in Starkfield to many winters." The narrator is not a representative of the other characters in Starkfield, because he himself has only been there for a little while.
ReplyDeleteHow is the narrator/engineer not representative of the other characters in Starkfield? Can the reader trust what he tells us?
ReplyDeleteThe narrator isn;t really involved with Starkfield because he is a visiting outsider, and often asks Mr. Gow about people and the history of the town. For example, when Gow said,"Guess he's been in Starkfield too many winters. Most of the smart ones get away." In this quote on pages 2 and 3, Gow is discussing Ethan Frome, to which the narrator asks,"Why hasn't he?" This interaction shows how the narrator is a new set of eyes in Starkfield, with no bias opinions and no past knowledge of anyone there. We can trust what he tells us because it's all he knows.
1. The name of Starkfield implies that the location named must be a bleak and pointless place as derived from the word "Stark," while there are also probably plenty of fields. Herman Gow supports this description by mentioning that Ethan Frome had his ragged expression from spending to many winters in Starkfield.
ReplyDelete2. The narrator is a recently appointed citizen of Starkfield and therefore is unfamiliar with the specific going-on's of the town from his lack of experience, this certainly limits the information that he can give but it also means that he is probably less likely to exaggerate since he is not completely immersed in the gossip circle.
3. Herman Gow and Mrs. Ned Hale are both significant to the story since they are the main sources of information for the narrator in regards to the town and, more specifically, Ethan Frome.
-Dylan Lawson
1. The name Starkfield suggests that the town is an abrupt and harsh place, with many difficulties and obstacles for living. Harmon Gow corroborates this by talking about "the profound accumulated cold of many Starkfield winters".
ReplyDelete-Pablo Guerrero
In the prologue of the novel "Ethan Frome," the narrator meets a man by the aforementioned name, who takes the narrator to a place called Starkfield; a name that suggests a desolate prairie or piece of land. Harmon Gow later supports this in the prologue when the narrator learns that "Gow had to bring his stage round this way... But after the trains begun running nobody ever come by here to speak of."(Wharton, 10) The lands used to have lots of people come through, but now the lands are abandoned, never passed by.
ReplyDelete"Even then he was the most striking figure in Starkfield, though he was but the ruin of a man." (page 36)He is the most striking thing in the town,and hes in ruins so the landscape has to be baren and stark. "I had the story, bit by bit, from various people, and, as generally happens in such cases, each time it was a different story." the narrator got all the different versions and perspectives of the story so they combined them to make it how they wanted it to be. "Guess he's been in Starkfield too many winters." Harmon Gow is the town gossip, who used to have a stagecoach before the railroad was built. Mrs hale is the person who supports everyone during the story.
ReplyDeleteDarian Leonard
ReplyDelete1. The name Starkfeild for a town suggests that the place is very grim. Harmon Gow tells the narrator who is new to the town about Ethan Frome. "Guess he's been in Starkfeild to many winters. Most of the smart ones get away." Said Harmon that suggests that the town is hard on people.
2. The narrator is not from Starkfeild he is still learning about everyone by the evidence he's gathered from other people which is gossip. I think we can trust what he says but what he does say in the begging will set us up for what we think the rest of the book.
3.Harmon Gow gives the narrator and us insight on how he is viewed in the town. Mrs. Hale gossips about the towns people without knowing much about there home life. "A little more education had put just enough distance between herself and her neighbors to enable her to judge them with detachment." this suggests that she thinks to much much of herself and views everyone else in the town as uneducated.
1-
ReplyDelete2- The narrator is not from Starkfield. That mean he is learning the stories of this town. I think we can trust what he says, because he learn those things from people who live there.
3- They give us information about Ethan Frome and how people looks like in this town.
2. How is the narrator/engineer not representative of the other characters in Starkfield? Can the reader trust what he tells us?
ReplyDeleteThe narrator in this story is an outsider, he doesnt really know anyone in the town and is searching for information. All of his information is mostly coming from Harmon Gow, who in himself, is not a very good source. " Though Harmon Gow developed his tale as far as his mental and moral reach permitted.." In my opinion, the narrator is not very trustworthy, at least not yet in this story.
Coleby Mariluch
ReplyDelete3. Herman Gow and Ned Hale are both characters that represent the town of Starkfield's population and the general knowledge of those in the town. To explain: Starkfield is built in the reader's eyes as a small town and these two characters are our gifted proof of this. Both of them seem to be random, almost unnecessary characters (especially so, considering the fact that their place is in the prologue of the book...) and yet they have a suprising understanding of our main character. It's similar to How to Kill a Mockingbird's town of Maycomb. Every person knows eachother in one way or another. The adults are all aware of where to go, where not to, and who to watch out for (for one reason or another.) in the town. None of the adults in Maycomb have to ask "Who is Arthur Radley or "Who are the Ewells?" The same can be said for Ethan Frome's Starkfield. There isn't a need for those that call Starkfield their birthplace and home to ask "Who is Ethan Frome." The people know. That is the purpose of Harmon Gow and Ned Hale. They are tasked with the placing of a general setting of the story.
1-The name "Starkfeild" suggests that the town is very bleak and uninteresting. Herman supports this because he talks of how Starkfeild is not somewhere you would want to be, you just end up there.
ReplyDelete2- The narrator is just learning about Starkfeild and it's people, so he can be trusted to give his unbiased ideas and opinions about the town.
3- Harmon knows all about the town, and thus, is the Narrators source of information. Ned is a person who does, stuff... yah... stuff.
3. Herman Gow is a man that knows everything about people in starkfield. When he tells the narrator stories about Ethan, the narrator notices that there are some gaps that are really important to know the whole truth about Frome. Mrs. Ned Hale is a widow that also knows about Ethan's affairs but her manners are better than Gow's and she is reluctant to talk about him.
ReplyDelete3) Harmon Gow and Ned Hale, are both foil characters. they show the narrator the towns veiw of Ethan Frome's story.
ReplyDelete2. How is the narrator/engineer not representative of the other characters in Starkfield? Can the reader trust what he tells us?
ReplyDeleteThe narrator is an outsider who has just come to Starkfield and can only make assumptions about the other characters based on appearances, which is what drew him to Ethan Frome in the first place. As the story goes on, he talks with other characters and it is clearly shown that he is more educated than the town's inhabitants (while he uses phrases such as "I had come in the day of trolley, bicycle and rural delivery," they say things like "she was the fust one to see 'em after they was picked up"). This also gives the reader an opportunity to learn more about the other characters, specifically Ethen Frome, from a more first-hand point of view, especially when the narrator starts to rely more and more on others to tell the story for him. I don't think we can trust him, because everything he tells us is based on opinions (his own and others) and what he hears from the townspeople (which we have no way of verifying).
1) Starkfield is a place that inhabits abundant amount of sadness and seems like a small entrapping town, Harmon Gow is the first person to give information about Ethan.
ReplyDelete2) it seems as though he is bias in what he knows so i feel as though as a reader hes misleading and he him self doesn't seem to know everything yet as well.
3) they show the narrator what the town thinks of Ethan's story.
1) Starkfield suggests that this fictional place is most likely unexciting in nature and offers very little to the eye. Herman Gow tells the narrator that Starkfiled is not a place anyone wants to be, they just end up there somehow.
ReplyDelete2) The narrator is not from Starkfield. Thus, his insight may be skewed. It could also be more accurate because of this, hard to tell.
3) They are the only other characters presented in the intro that have some knowledge opr relationship with Frome.