Editha

Howells was openly critical of the Spanish-American War, which he felt exploited Spain and disproved the concept of American exceptionalism. In “Editha,” the war is romanticized in the newspaper, whose sentimental statements are repeated by Editha in her conversations with George. War is depicted as the only alternative to “[t]hat ignoble peace,” which is “no peace at all” as long as “crime and shame [are] at our very gates” (2). It is described by Editha as “a sacred war” and “[a] war for liberty and humanity” (2). When George asks why “this thing [shouldn’t] have been settled reasonably,” Editha responds, “God meant it to be war” (3). To argue, she tells him, is “blasphemy” (3).

George is skeptical of not only this particular war but of all wars. He tells Editha that, though this war “seems peculiarly wanton and needless” (3), in fact “every war” is “stupid,” to the point where it makes him feel “sick” (3). He enlists in the war on a whim after attending a meeting expecting merely to “sprinkle a little cold water” (5) on those enlisting; he is swept away by their enthusiasm and becomes “the first convert to the war” (5). As he did the day they first discuss the war, George suggests he does not actually believe in the war and that he has enlisted only because “[a] man that hasn’t got his own respect intact wants the respect of all the other people he can corner” (7). Just as Editha encourages him to enlist to satisfy her own needs, George enlists not because he believes in the war but because he feels doing so will earn him respect.

Neither George nor Editha’s father believe the war will come to much. George tells Editha that “this isn’t going to be a very protracted struggle” and that they will “just scare the enemy to death before it comes to a fight at all” (7). Similarly, Mr. Balcom assures his wife that “[t]he other fellows will back down as soon as they see we mean it” (6). The romanticizing of the war thus leaves people blind to its realities.

The difference between the romanticized ideal of war and the reality of war is nowhere more clear than in the motif of the empty sleeve. George’s father lost an arm in the war, an injury that left his parents against war in principle. Editha sympathizes with injured soldiers in theory—she tells George that if he returns with an empty sleeve, he can have both of her arms—but cares little for them in reality, as she wonders “why she should always be thinking of the arm his father had lost” (8). Her hypocrisy is criticized by George’s mother, who tells Editha that girls never expect their men to die; rather, “[t]hey think they’ll come marching back, somehow, just as gay as they went” (10). The minimizing of those who suffer in war is evident in the telegraph they receive informing them of George’s death: The first skirmish in which he is killed is “telegraphed as a trifling loss” (9).

The romanticizing of war ignores war’s harsh realities and exploits the lives of the people who fight it for the purpose of glorifying an image—of America, of heroism, and of self. Sentimental platitudes about war therefore entice men into danger under false pretenses. 

Editha encourages George to enlist in the war so that he can “perfect himself” by becoming “a hero” who is “worthy” (1) of having won her. To Editha, his worth is inextricably tied to his participating in the war. This is evident in her reflection that his enlisting would allow “for the completion of her ideal of him” (1). As she says goodbye to him in the train station, she admires his “soldierly” look, and his “manly eyes and the strong voice satisfied her” (8). George’s masculinity, and therefore Editha’s approval, is dependent on his participating in the war.

Editha hopes to accomplish this ideal without appearing to deviate from the role of the ideal woman, who is passive and obedient. Her insistence that he “be allowed to perfect himself” (1) suggests she wants him to enlist of his own volition, without her having to tell him to do so. She words her letter, in which she suggests she cannot marry him until he decides to enlist, so that her feelings are “implied” rather than “expressed” (4); she waits to give him the letter for fear that she is “pushing, threatening, compelling,” which is “not a woman’s part” (5).

After George enlists, Editha’s statement that he hasn’t “simply done it for [her] sake” (7) and that she “couldn’t respect [him] if [he] had” (7) indicates that it is not enough for him to enlist: He must come to the decision himself, without her guidance, to preserve not only her ideal vision of him but also of herself. By leaving him “free, free, free” (5), she ensures that he is the ideal man and she, the ideal woman.