"Editha" Howells

The story “Editha” by William Dean Howells was a good story. After I read it though the biggest emotion I felt was anger. How dare Editha use George’s love for her to make him do something he didn’t feel was right. He didn’t really want to go to war, and even though she did not give him the letter before he had decided to do it he could still tell in the way she acted. But the letter itself that really made me angry and I’m sure that is what his mother felt two. She said she wanted him to be free, I think she meant that she wanted him to make his own decision, but she really did not want that at all. It was like she was saying: do this, go to war or we can never be married. What a bunch of crap. I really liked the way Mr. Howell wrote the part when George came to Editha’s house after being named Captain. I felt like George was in hysteria, asking himself “what have I done”, but portraying to everyone else how glad he was of the honor. I believe in the story he was really conflicted. Wanting to be the hero Editha wanted and wanting to do what was ingrained in him from his family and what he felt was right. His mother was my favorite character, truly a wise woman. I liked the way she put Editha in her place. She was right Editha did not deserve to wear black she did not deserve to mourn George she was the reason he had gone in the first place (If this was something that George had decided to do on his own and not been pushed into it, that would be a different story). I really wish that before he went to war he would have confided in his mother first instead of waiting until after. All in all I think it was a well written story and the language wasn’t very hard to follow like in the other stories.