Ethan Frome Project: Psychological Analysis Narrator: The narrator of the story is a simple man who tries to take on an almost futile task. This is an almost futile task because the townspeople such as Ned Hale and Ruth Varnum do not like to talk about Frome. The townspeople do not avoid the subject of Frome due to disapproval, but rather a sense of such extreme sadness that it is difficult to speak about. This task is to find out about Ethan Frome's past. More specifically the narrator wants to discover what events led up to Frome's tragic present condition. "All the dwellers in Starkfield, as in more notable commu