Chapter 7 (spoiler alert)

This chapter may very well be the most powerful of them all. But you will have to read the book to know its true power. Ethan calls Zeena and tells her its time for supper and when she responds telling him she cant eat and she's much sicker than he thinks she is, we find him wishing that they were true at last. In other words, he has been waiting long for her death. This erases any doubt that he still has any love for her at all. Of course, he still tries to show sympathy for her, and finds out that she is dying for sure. Then, their first scene of anger toward each other bursts out as they begin yelling at each other in argument! Ethan then discovers that Zeena wants to get rid of Mattie in exchange for a new girl. Ethan begins to get so very angry with her, that he nearly beats her, but he stops himself... Zeena later discovers the broken dish, and Mattie ends up confessing it was her fault, and Zeena is fully filled with hatred for the girl.

Chapter 6 (spoiler alert)

The sixth chapter is the shortest of all. Jotham is present and Ethan believes himself to be irrationally happy. As nothing had happened between him and Mattie the night before, but he believes that he has had a good vision of what life with her would be, and is glad that he didn't do anything to disturb the sweetness of the picture. Ethan tells Jotham to go do something and he and Mattie are alone in the kitchen again. He has to leave too for work, but he tells Mattie he'll try and be home early for dinner. He does make it back for dinner, but he must leave again to continue work. Ethan brings home something later to fix the dish that the cat broke, but he hadn't realized that Zeena was home, luckily Mattie warns him. Then Jotham seems as if he doesn't want to come inside for dinner, as if something happened between him and Zeena when he was driving her to the doctor.

Chapter 5 (spoiler alert)

Chapter 5 is another short one. Ethan and Mattie finish dinner and then just pretty much begin to talk for a while. The cat plays a major role in this chapter, it observes Ethan and Mattie the whole time they are together. "The cat, who had been a puzzled observer of these unusual movements, jumped up into Zeena's chair, rolled itself into a ball, and lay watching them with narrowed eyes." (pg 52 roughly) It's almost as if the cat is Zeena herself, always watching them and observing their movements. And it almost seems that Ethan and Mattie are aware of this. As unlike Ethan was planning, their hands never even touch.

Chapter 4 (spoiler alert)

As soon as Zeena leaves, Ethan says goodbye to Mattie and leaves. He wants to go and finish his work so he can get back to her sooner. Ethan thinks of how much more he likes his home with Zeena's  mere absence. He remembers how he met Zeena, when his mother was sick and dying, and Zeena came to help him take care of her. She was like a light in the darkness to Ethan at the time, so he asked her to stay with him, he told her they could sell the mill and move to the city where he could get a better job. Unfortunately, not many people came to buy the mill. Then, Zeena too fell silent. Now just as Zeena had been Ethan's light in his mother's darkness, Mattie is his light in Zeena's darkness. When Ethan arrives back, Mattie has prepared dinner for them. Then, as they are eating, the cat breaks a very important dish that Ethan gave Zeena when they got married. This broken dish is a very good illustration of the Frome's shattered relationship.

Chapter 3 (spoiler alert)

The third chapter of Ethan Frome is a rather short one. Yet much conflict between Ethan and Zeena arouses here. Ethan wakes up in the morning and goes about his usual routine, and he recalls that the night before as soon as the door closes on them, they don't say another word to each other. And then of course Ethan spends much of the night thinking of Mattie, as well as in the morning. He thinks about how he thought she would hate life here, but she never expressed this feeling. Whereas Zeena had never liked it in Starkfield. All these things Ethan thinks about while he is working down at the wood-lot. And, Zeena must also go to the doctor once again, so she asks if Ethan's friend Jotham can drive her since Ethan has to work, and Zeena somehow takes it as an objection when Ethan doesn't immediately respond. Ethan agrees to Jotham taking her, and the whole time he is thinking of Mattie.

Chapter 2 (spoiler alert)

The dancers (including Mattie) come pouring out of the hall. Ethan hides back to observe what happens. He watches and becomes nervous as Denis Eady offers to give Mattie a ride home. Luckily for Ethan, Mattie refuses to ride with Denis. Ethan walks over to Mattie as soon as Denis is gone and they begin talking. They actually come close to kissing in the cold, dark night. But then the silence and peace is broken and they continue to walk home together. Zeena seems angry when they arrive home together, as if she knows something happened between Ethan and Mattie.

Chapter 1 (spoiler alert)

In the first chapter of this book, Ethan is seemingly in love with Mattie. He is spying on her as she is dancing with Denis Eady and others. Certain things make him upset as he is watching her, certain gestures he thought she kept for him, indicating that maybe she loves him too. A way of throwing her head back when she was amused, and sinking her eyelids lowly whenever something charmed or moved her. This also shows that Ethan tries to charm her a lot. Then the chapter ends with Ethan and his wife, Zeena, talking about Mattie, and Zeena indicates that she may know about Ethan and Mattie's relationship.