Editha, By William Dean Howells

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The short story, Editha, by William Dean Howells conveys the ignorance of the common people by highlighting the unrealistic ideas that one woman has about war. Editha, a young, engaged woman, is informed of an ongoing war. Due to the biased press and her lack of knowledge, she believes that her fiance, George, must fight for America. To her surprise, her fiance is reluctant about the war and has no desire to take part, but she convinces him to think over his options. After he leaves, she writes a letter to him explaining that if he chooses to not participate in the war, she will break off their engagement, as there is no greater honor than America. That same night, George returns to Editha with the news that he has decided to join the army and that he has been chosen as captain. The next morning, George comes to Editha with one last request, for Editha to inform his mother is something was to …show more content…

One of my biggest pet peeves is people blindly supporting issues that they have no real knowledge on; therefore, Editha’s character severely annoyed me. War is heartbreaking, so it is unsettling that Editha chose to ignore the consequences just because George is fighting under the American flag. By romanticizing war, it almost makes the lives taken during war seem less valuable, and for me, that is unacceptable. I was left speechless when George’s mom told Editha that she was grateful that George had been killed before he could kill anyone else’s son. This was heartbreaking to hear come out of a mother’s mouth, as I knew it was a terrible thing to say, but it was how she honestly felt. I enjoyed how the story ended because it was almost unsatisfactory, but I believe that is how it needed to end. Having Editha return to her foolish ways demonstrated the never ending circle some people are stuck in and left me feeling satisfied, even though I probably should not

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