Creative Writing: My Impressions Of Editha

Darius Smith
3 September 2015
English 242
Instructor Bonds
My Impressions of Editha
My initial response to having read Editha is that I feel Editha is so blinded by her religiosity towards war that, and so vehement in her defense of said religiosity, that it could be said that she is a zealot. In my view, I feel she represents the humanitarian interventionist/religious imperialist view when, after George tells her that it's come to war after hearing of it, she says to him, “But don't you see, dearest, that it wouldn't have come to this, if it hadn't been in the order of Providence? And I call any war glorious that is for the liberation of people who have been struggling for years against the cruelest oppression” (Howells 127). She suggests

here that it is inevitable that war was going to come, regardless of any opposition or criticism to it coming. She further employs an appeal to his emotions by suggesting that it is for the people oppressed (by Spain, as it is regarding what will then be the Spanish-American War), a la “think of the children”. From the fair complexion she has to the red, white and blue ribbon she used to write her letter to him, she could also be considered another version of Columbia, the female personification of the United States, exemplifying all of the ideals of the nation in feminine form.
This view has not changed much at all since the time this was written (circa 1898), with many wars being fought in the intervening time frame for “freedom” or “liberty” or “the right of people to be self-determining”, even if the facts and realities belie those ostensible intentions. Namely, these goals are usually perpetuated by a select few who wish to influence public opinion for war so as to profit emotionally, as well as financially. This movement towards groupthink commits those who go in that direction to be immune from the consequences of their rabid zealotry to the point that they are condescending to those who disagree.