Upon realizing that George has been killed, Editha rushes to see Mrs. Gearson, his mother as she promised she would. However, she finds no sympathy for the death of the lover who she sent off to war, claiming she could only love a man who loved her country, America. Mrs. Gearson declares, “No, you didn’t expect him to get killed,” Mrs. Gearson repeated in a voice which was startlingly like George’s again. “You just expected him to kill someone else, some of those foreigners, that weren’t there because they had any say about it, but because they had to be there, poor wretches–conscripts, or whatever they call ‘em. You thought it would be all right for my George, your George, to kill the sons of those miserable mothers and the husbands of those girls that you would never see the face of” (Adams 362).
Many interesting points are raised in this speech that contradict the readings prior over-enunciated patriotic tone, that went so far as to claim Editha could only love a soldier of her country, a hero. Mrs. Gearson accuses Editha of attempting to force George to become a murder to men who would be just as complacent or resistant even to the war as he. She claims that Editha’s pressures would have led to the downfall of George’s character, and that she is glad that he died, for at least being murdered he was not forced to murder. In addition to critiquing the intense war-mongering in the United States prior to the Spanish-American War, this speech also attributes much of said war-mongering to women. The story “Editha” contains no blood thirsty men, but rather Editha pushing her partner to go to war so she can have the pride of him being a hero when he returns. The story critiques the role of women, who would not personally be sent to a war-front, for their roles in persuading and pressuring men into the turmoils of war. I would be curious to know if there was an actual discrepancy between the level of support for the war between men and women at this time. Was there a valid reason to attribute the blame for the deaths of men to women, or did the writer simply dislike women? Was this an isolated incident to this family or was it a wide-spread phenomenon to blame women for the deaths of men that they encouraged to go to war.
I find this particularly interesting because it shifts the blame from the government that declared the war to the women, who at this point in time had little to no say on how a war progressed. The story almost seems to treat Editha as a scape-goat. And while I disagree with Editha’s actions, I believe this representation that women receive in 19th century America is interesting enough to examine further.
Hi Aubrey! I found myself curious about the representation of women in this story as well, and I wondered if the tension between Editha and Mrs. Gearson also factors into the idea of younger women being naive to the feelings of motherhood. Whether it implies that Editha, as young and impressionable to the patriotism of her nation and engages in war-mongering for the glory of her country and her lover, could not fathom the true pain of losing a child or husband or other “official” (?) relation in the eyes of Mrs. Gearson. That speech by Mrs. Gearson definitely plays upon the idea of American exceptionalism influencing the war effort as well, emphasizing the difference between the choice of fighting in war vs the “conscripts” of other nations. Perhaps there is an underlying idea of naïveté, both in relationships and opinion of one’s country, affecting the actions and reactions of Editha as she fails to consider the consequences beyond the romantic idea of glory for one’s lover and nation.
Hi Aubrey,
I also thought this was a really interesting shift from the tone of the stories we’ve read recently. We’ve seen a lot of women acting as the moral center of the novel. Howells shows Editha trying to be the moral center, but it feels like he uses her to call those morals into question. Editha has a very black and white/naive view of war, but Howells argues through Mrs. Gearson that war is not as black and white as Editha would like to believe. I believe this story emphasizes the dangers of overzealous patriotism. I also really liked your point about how Editha becomes a scapegoat for the government. The government isn’t mentioned much at all in the story, as you pointed out, and the blame falls to Editha. I wonder if this is a way Howells is arguing its not just governments but also people that cause wars.
I agree! I also found myself surprised by the fact that while Editha is so passionate about the war effort and the cause of the war, the story does not offer any specifics about that “Cause.” It’s interesting that we do not hear any specific reflections on what she thought the war would be fighting for. Even further, we do not see any evidence of her contributing to the war effort. Although at that time, women probably were not able to contribute a lot, we still do not see her trying to find her place in the war effort besides encouraging Gearson to enlist.