Howell's “Editha“

3 Pages 844 Words

In William Dean Howells’ "Editha", the title character is responsible for George’s death through her persistent and forceful support of war and his involvement in it. Editha’s ideals of war were very different than George’s, in many ways. They had different beliefs on the righteousness of war, and how it connects to their families’ values, God, and the very idea of killing another man. However, Editha influenced George enough to join the war effort, which winded up killing him after only a few weeks later.
Editha had a very particular feeling toward war and she wanted greatly for her husband to be a part of the war effort, however, George did not agree with how Editha saw war and their feelings clash. The story opens with Editha sitting on her porch pondering weather to let George go to war. When she sees him approaching her house, she "decided that she could not let him stay"(Howells 268). She had an ideal of her husband being a hero, and if George were to go to war, he would fulfill that ideal. Editha explains, "she must put a guard upon herself against urging him to take, for the completion of her ideal of him" (Howells 268). Although she insisted that she did not want to influence him, she boosted the war in every way to show how much it meant to her. She inferred, rather than stated her opinion of what his position in the war should be. Editha described the war as "glorious"(Howells 268). George’s answer questioned her choice of words, and he explained the war as breaking "the peace of the world" (Howells 268). The couple also discussed how God fit into the idea of war. Editha believed "God meant it to be war’ (Howells 270), while George seems unsure on God’s involvement. Before George left Editha’s porch to go home and think about it, he stated how he felt about war as of that moment: "I’d like to believe as you do. But, I don’t, now; I don’t, indeed. It isn’t th...