When Ethan goes to his study and lays down on the sofa, a cushion that Zeena made for him—the only piece of needlework that Zeena had ever done—pokes him in the cheek. Ethan throws the cushion across the room. His action is symbolic of his growing rejection of Zeena. He thinks of going West with Mattie and of escaping from Zeena, but realizes that he is a prisoner of circumstance. Wharton uses the image of captivity to convey Ethan’s feeling of despair; “the inexorable facts closed in on him like prison-warders handcuffing a convict,” “he was a prisoner for life.” Ethan is caught in physical and mental darkness. Wharton contrasts Ethan’s gloom with a sudden, mocking illumination of the night sky as the “pure moon” reveals all the natural beauty of the landscape that Ethan associates with Mattie. The moon also foreshadows the sledding accident as Ethan remembers that this is the night when he had promised to take Mattie sledding.
After Mattie finds him and they begin the morning chores, things don't seem so bleak to Ethan. His self-deceptive optimism about Mattie takes over his thoughts, and despite his earlier realization that Zeena’s decision is unchangeable, he decides that things are not hopeless and that he can find a way to keep Mattie at home with him.
At breakfast when Zeena confirms to Jotham that Mattie would definitely be leaving, Ethan’s subservience to her is again evident. He does not mention his thoughts or intentions. He fails, once again, to assert himself over his wife.
Again, Ethan feels defeated. His reaction is to rebel against Zeena. He is determined to do something to change the situation. He decides to go to Andrew Hale once again for the money he is owed, but on the way, he meets Mrs. Hale, who is sympathetic towards him. His conscience prevents him from asking for the money. Wharton makes it clear that Ethan is inescapably bound within the segment of society that he inhabits. Part of his tragedy is that his aspirations and dreams would take him beyond the icy world of Starkfield. His fate, however, is to serve out his life chained to a frigid, quarrelsome wife and to the crippled remains of a once beautiful girl. Wharton makes sure that there is no possible alternative of escape in Ethan’s mind when he is faced with the decision of whether or not to attempt suicide with Mattie. His conscience forces him to turn away from the Hales and to return to the farm.
After Ethan confronts Zeena and insists that he will drive Mattie to the train station, Wharton does not bring Zeena into the action again. Zeena retires, triumphant, to her bedroom. Wharton begins to build the suspense that leads to the climax of the story.
As Mattie and Ethan begin their ride, Ethan feels almost happy. He takes a route that leads them to Shadow Pond. The name “Shadow” is suggestive of the memories that Ethan and Mattie have of the spot; as well, it connotes the inability that Mattie and Ethan have of really communicating their feelings to each other. The incident in which Ethan found Mattie’s locket when they attended a church picnic, soon after Mattie had arrived at the Frome household, is symbolic of the love that he found with it. It is not unreasonable to suppose that the gold trinket represents Mattie’s heart. But, at the time it happened, the incident only foreshadowed what might come to pass. Similarly, their return visit to the spot causes Ethan and Mattie to wonder about their love without speaking about it. It is Mattie who realizes that they must give in to the pressures of time and continue on their trip to the station.
The descriptions Wharton provides of the drive to the pond and the pond itself are rich with images of natural beauty, a contrast to the stark and cold images that are characteristic of most of the novel. The couple reminisces about the picnic the previous summer; Mattie sat looking “pretty as a picture in (her) pink hat,” there was a “pebbly beach,” and they sat together on a tree trunk in the sun.
As time passes, increasing darkness prevails over the imagery as Ethan and Mattie approach their sledding accident. Wharton suggests the mood of the tragic climax and the characters’ thoughts of death when she has the darkness come “dropping down like a black veil from the heavy hemlock boughs.” The black veil is evocative of a funeral and the hemlock of poison.
The theme of entrapment in a loveless marriage due to the unwillingness to violate the rules of society is again evident. Ethan tells Mattie that he is “tied hand and foot,” and “there isn’t a thing I can do.” Mattie understands that it is not possible to escape from the situation.
Mattie reveals that she has the note Ethan wrote to Zeena the previous night, and his love for her is clear. Mattie and Ethan confirm that their love for each other is indeed real. The revelation is also sad because they must part. The couple first voice their feelings that they’d rather be dead than be apart.
