The cold, bitter snow of Starkfield has fallen and blankets the entire town. The town's inhabitants are constantly pummeled by the wintry storms and some are forced into submission. Although they are living physically, their souls and emotions are buried and frozen under the snow. However, throughout the novel, Ethan Frome keeps high hopes for an improved life, but each one of his bright rays of hope is crushed, again and again, by the stifling forces of winter. In Ethan Frome, Edith Wharton parallels the wintry forces that overcome Starkfield to Ethan's oppressed life. By doing this, the author connects how a depressing setting can confine peoples' soul.

To show how poor Ethan's falls victim to the snow, Wharton illustrates layers of cold weather outside of the Frome house, which suppress Ethan's emotions. The story begins with a very clear and simple scene: "The village lay...