Editha

“She was conscious of parroting the current phrases of the newspapers, but it was no time to pick and choose her words. She must sacrifice anything to the high ideal she had for him.” 

Editha tells George that any war is glorious if it is “for the liberation of people who have been struggling for years against the cruelest oppression” (2). In response to George’s questioning whether it is “glorious to break the peace of the world,” she says that “[i]t was no peace at all, with that crime and shame at our very gates” (2). In trying to convince George to enlist, Editha repeats the platitudes reported in newspapers, which suggests her motivations are equally self-serving: Just as the sentimentalizing of the war helps sell newspapers, it helps Editha achieve being engaged to a hero. This passage also suggests that the government, by emphasizing that the war will free oppressed people, similarly romanticizes war to encourage men to enlist.

“‘It isn’t this war alone; though this seems peculiarly wanton and needless; but it’s every war—so stupid; it makes me sick. Why shouldn’t this thing have been settled reasonably?’” 

George is wary of enlisting and wonders if there are other, more peaceable ways of reaching agreement. He is skeptical of the newspapers’ reports of the necessity for war and seems to recognize that higher powers are invested in contriving war where diplomacy would be just as effective. While Editha has accepted and absorbed cultural constructs—about both America and masculinity—George questions what he is told. However, his implicit trust in Editha makes him doubt his own judgment.

“‘I’ll try to believe in your pocket Providence.’” 

George questions Editha’s statement that “God meant it be war,” wondering whether God “put this world into men’s keeping to work it as they pleased” (3). Throughout this scene, George tries to understand Editha’s belief in the war so that he may be convinced himself. He seems to want to impress her, asking, “Do you wish me to feel as you do?” (3). He also tells her he wishes he had her “undoubting spirit” and that he’d “like to believe as [she] do[es]” (3). George’s comment that he knows Editha believes it to be “a holy war” and that he “know[s] how sincere [she is]” (3) show that he does not understand that Editha’s “Providence” is as empty as her patriotism.

“In the heart of the packet she enshrined her engagement ring which she had restored to the pretty box he had brought it her in.” 

After George tells her he will think about enlisting, Editha packs up the letters and gifts he has given her and writes a letter in which she tells him she cannot accept them until he makes his decision. In the center of this package is her engagement ring. Howells’s careful use of the word “enshrined” suggests the ring represents not just their engagement but also Editha’s worship of the ideal. Editha carefully constructs the package, with her ring at the center, just as she constructs what she sees as her ideal romance.

“‘There is no honor above America with me. In this great hour there is no other honor.’” 

Editha’s patriotism is like her belief in Providence in that it is hollow, exploitative, and self-serving. She is using the war as a means to achieve what she sees as the ideal fiancé; her encouraging George to enlist is her way of helping him “perfect himself” (1) for her. This passage of her letter to George echoes her comment that they must support their country “right or wrong” (2). In advocating for blind support of country, she once again mimics propaganda in newspapers. George’s later statement that it is wonderful “to have a country that can’t be wrong, but if it is, is right, anyway” (6) shows not only that he is susceptible to Editha’s manipulation but also that young American men are susceptible to propaganda.

“She was pushing, threatening, compelling. That was not a woman’s part. She must leave him free, free, free. She could not accept for her country or herself a forced sacrifice.” 

In wanting George to be a hero, Editha demonstrates her belief in ideal masculinity. In this passage, Editha shows her belief in ideal femininity. Despite blatantly encouraging George to enlist, Editha yearns to meet feminine standards, which dictate she be passive, obedient, and deferential. It is not enough for George to enlist—he must enlist of his own volition, or his gesture is meaningless. Editha thus manipulates George not only into enlisting but also into believing she is not actually encouraging him to do so. This manipulation is seen earlier when, as they discuss the merits of the war, she tells him, “George, I wish you to believe whatever you think is true, at any and every cost. If I’ve tried to talk you into anything, I take it all back” (3).

“‘I guess it won’t be much of a war, and I guess Gearson don’t think so, either. The other fellows will back down as soon as they see we mean it. I wouldn’t lose any sleep over it.’”

After George enlists, Editha’s father makes a lighthearted joke and is reprimanded by Editha’s mother. Mr. Balcom then says he has caught his enthusiasm from George and that surely, the American soldiers will intimidate the enemy before fighting can even begin. This passage shows not only people’s naiveté regarding the war but also the ease with which they believe the narrative offered by the newspapers. Just as Editha professes that America is “right” whether it is right or wrong, Americans believe their army to be so invincible as to disband opposing armies by a mere show of power. This passage reinforces the dangers of blind patriotism and of romanticizing war.

“‘And you haven’t simply done it for my sake. I couldn’t respect you if you had.’” 

As they discuss his having enlisted the previous day, Editha reminds George that he has come to the decision to enlist because he believes it is right rather than to win her love. Despite her earlier reflections that she desires for George to have done something to have “won her” (1), here, Editha asserts that she values patriotism rather than romantic gestures. Editha wants a man to earn her love by doing something heroic of his own volition and works to contrive such a situation. Her comment here seems to serve more to convince herself than to remind George. Interestingly, when Editha tells him he has not enlisted for her, George replies, “Well, then we’ll say I haven’t” (7). This response shows that George has, in fact, enlisted for her, and it shows his continued skepticism.

“‘I am yours, for time and eternity—time and eternity.’ She liked the words; they satisfied her famine for phrases.” 

Just as she has tried to contrive the ideal romance and to mold George into the ideal man, Editha he attempts to say the ideal words. Editha’s melodramatic statement is hollow because she is trying to find the words she feels are appropriate for such a serious situation. As she has elsewhere, Editha behaves in a way that fits her romanticized vision. In doing so, she minimizes the very real danger into which she sends George.

“If with an empty sleeve, then he should have three arms instead of two, for both of hers should be his for life. She did not see, though, why she should always be thinking of the arm his father had lost.”

At the train station, as George’s train pulls away, Editha reflects that “[w]hat she called her God […] would watch over him and keep him and bring him back to her” (8). If he should lose an arm, she will use both of hers to help him. This passage is another example of Editha’s reliance on romantic platitudes. It goes further, however, in demonstrating the emptiness of this platitude by contrasting it with her callousness in regards to the reality of losing an arm. This passage suggests Editha is weary of hearing about George’s father, who lost an arm in the Civil War. Editha is fixated on the glory of having lost an arm to the exclusion of those who have actually done so. Editha yearns for the ideal of self-sacrifice but is incapable of self-sacrifice herself. In this way, she exploits war and those it affects.

“Before it seemed as if she could have written, there came news of the first skirmish, and in the list of the killed, which was telegraphed as a trifling loss on our side, was Gearson’s name.”

The loss of the men in this skirmish may be “trifling” to the government or the newspapers, but it is important to the families the soldiers leave behind. The coldness of these reports suggests that those in power see the soldiers as expendable, and it echoes Editha’s exploitation of the war and of George. It reiterates the callousness of romanticism, which magnifies the glory of war without considering the sacrifices of real people.

“Editha, if she had done what she expected of herself, would have gone down on her knees at the feet of the seated figure and said, ‘I am George’s Editha,’ for answer.”

This quotation describes what Editha imagines herself doing upon meeting George’s mother. Even when visiting the mother of the man she sent to be killed in war, Editha clings to the ideal, romanticizing their meeting. She is prevented from doing so when Mrs. Gearson speaks first. That Editha’s melodramatic gesture is interrupted by Mrs. Gearson foreshadows Mrs. Gearson’s criticizing Editha. While Editha sees nothing but romance and glory in the war, Mrs. Gearson, whose late husband lost an arm in the Civil War, knows the reality of suffering. She is unable, or unwilling, to indulge Editha in her fantasy. 

“‘What you got that black on for?’ She lifted herself by her powerful arms so high that her helpless body seemed to hang limp its full length. ‘Take it off, take it off, before I tear it from your back!’”

Mrs. Gearson acknowledges that Editha did not expect George to die in the war and notes that girls never do; rather, they expect their men will “come marching back, somehow, just as gay as they went” and that if their men lose a limb, “it’s all the more glory” (10). She then bitterly points out that Editha merely “expected him to kill someone else” (10) and expresses relief that George was killed before he had a chance to do so. Mrs. Gearson thus blatantly reveals to Editha the reality she has failed to consider. In a surprising show of physical strength, Mrs. Gearson lifts herself from the chair and chastises Editha for wearing black, for Editha did not truly respect George in life. To Mrs. Gearson, Editha’s wearing black is shallow and hypocritical given that George only enlisted at her insistence.