Volu m e II - Purdue University Calumet

Aaron is not unaware of the feelings between his wife and brother. It is that tension that first shows
the fissures Ethan’s presence causes in the family. When Martha takes Ethan’s coat from him to put away,
he stares after her, lost in thought, completely ignoring his brother speaking to him until prompted to
reply. He brings further discontent to the household during his first dinner with the family. When Martha
and Aaron’s adopted son, Martin, enters the house Ethan is quick to point out that the boy is part Indian,
implying that this clearly separates Martin from his adoptive family. Where there was once complete
acceptance for Martin in the Edwards family, there is now discord. Ethan’s presence makes for a tense meal
that Martha struggles to keep peaceful. Even when Martin, the outsider, is relegated to the porch and Ethan
makes a full effort to fit into the family by bonding with his nieces and nephews, Ethan is incapable of
belonging. Angered by the looks between Martha and Ethan, Aaron asks how long Ethan intends to stay.
Martha goes to her room while Ethan looks on after her. He cannot enter the bedroom. Since there is
nowhere for him in the Edwards house, he spends the night outside on the porch. The society of the home
is rejecting him. Ethan is a renegade guerilla fighter, working against the United States government and still
fighting the Civil War, by definition dangerous and un-American. He is an intruder, and not welcome
there.
The Edwards home represents civilization in the film, standing firmly against nature, settlers
cutting out a place for themselves in the wilderness. Martha embodies that civilization. She is something
that Ethan desires but cannot have. Ethan cannot find peace inside the constraints of society, and through his
desire for Martha and a home he destroys both.
Ethan is the threat that can bring about the society’s destruction. He is not around to protect the
women he loves when Indians attack. Instead he is out in the Valley. He returns to find the Edwards home
burning, and Martha raped and killed. While the physical destruction of the home was Scar’s doing,
Ethan’s failure to protect the society Aaron and Martha created in their home makes him culpable in his
own mind.
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