Literary Realism in Ethan Frome The history of literary realism dates back to the nineteenth century movement in America and European literature. Literary realism accurately represents situations, in an everyday world. In the book Ethan Frome, you can tell that Edith Wharton portrays realistic points of view. She does this by describing the town of Starkfield, its specific shops, and the people who inhabit the town. She also describes the population of Starkfield with great …showed first 75 words of 555 total…

…showed last 75 words of 555 total…effect of the cat knocking over the dish causes Mattie to immediately rush to clean up the broken dish. Her reaction then eventually causes Ethan to hide the evidence of the accident where it could go unnoticed for weeks. In conclusion after evaluating Edith Wharton's book "Ethan Frome", the author has demonstrated literary realism by describing not just realistic locales, but also the people and how they interact with each other in a realistic manner.