In William Dean Howells “Editha”, Howells uses the characters of Editha Balcom and George Gearson to express his distaste for the Spanish-American War. The allegory is expanded when the complexity of the characters, along with the complexity of their motives, is revealed. “Editha” is not simply a tale about a woman losing her fiancé in war, but more so a reflection of the nature of America as a whole during the time period. Editha Balcom equips her femininity in order to enhance her manipulative nature, George Gearson is representative of America as a whole during the Spanish-American War, and Editha’s selfishness is ultimately her demise. The character if Editha Balcom is often misinterpreted and not analyzed deep enough to truly understand …show more content…
Before leaving for the war, George requested that Editha go see his mother, should something happen to him in battle. When Editha learned the news of his death, she was upset, and sought out to see George’s mother, as requested. At this point, Editha still holds onto her beliefs about the war with tenacity. She has not wavered in her belief that war is a good thing, despite the circumstances. However, as idealized by William J. Free in “Howells' 'Editha' and Pragmatic Belief”, “the meeting with George's mother provides the most serious challenge to the tenacity of Editha's belief and the strongest evidence of the power of that tenacity”. The meeting does not affirm Editha’s beliefs in the way she had hoped. Mrs. Gearson verbally attacks Editha, and when discussing if Editha expected George to be killed, exclaims “No, girls don’t; women don’t, when they give their men up to their country. They think they’ll come marching back, somehow, just as gay as they went, or of it’s an empty sleeve, or even an empty pantaloon, it’s all the more glory, and they’re so much the prouder of them, poor things” (Howells). Mrs. Gearson speaks from experience, for her husband, George’s father, was maimed in war. Mrs. Gearson represents a character who has lived through difficult times and can see through Editha’s false beliefs. The scolding by Mrs. Gearson shook Editha, but she never fully released her tenacious grip on her beliefs. Her selfishness and unwillingness to change her mind is the reason she lost