Sometimes our writerly approach to reading can cause some confusion with the author’s intent. In starting Ethan’s story, he was described as a young man. Yet his wife seemed awfully crabby and sickly for that age. I suspected she was older. Even with the adjective "young," it is common to believe, based on other readings, that in the time period, work on a farm still took its toll and people aged quickly, as well as dying earlier than current times and diseases such as tuberculosis were common.
Now I find my answer:
Though she was but seven years her husband’s senior, and he was only twenty-eight, she was already an old woman. (p. 64)
However, it does seem like Zeena has a history of illness, if not a hypochondriac, so that I would have thought that she’d been diagnosed in the former case, not as sickly looking as Wharton describes her in the latter. It would also be reasonable to suspect that she hasn’t truly done hard labor–the house is not clean and constantly kept in order–so I’m not sure I buy this whole thing.
The problem here for me is not the "sin" of Ethan’s desire for Mattie, but rather a lack of substantiating groundwork for the situation, not necessarily backstory, but something that makes me feel Ethan’s pain.
The Lost Children: A Charity Anthology