Realism and Idealism in "Editha"

Paper Summary:

By examining William Dean Howell's book, "Editha", the paper shows that the battle between George and Editha over whether the Spanish-American war is immoral and should be opposed or is moral and worthy of support is a study of realism and idealism, respectively. The paper shows that by using Editha to demonstrate the beliefs of the American government, the narrator fuses the more "foolish" point of view, idealism, to the "weaker" sex, females, and shows that the American government's idealistic approach to war is "foolish."

From the Paper:

"Perhaps there is no realistic, humane way to solve such a problem, or perhaps the answer is so obvious to George that he does not feel the need to mention it. Whatever the case, George does not idealize the war as "glorious" until he is so physically drunk that his senses break down and he, too, becomes inebriated with the war feeling. George's conversion under the influence of alcohol shows what a foolish state one must be in to accept the idealistic view of war and foreshadows the ending when Editha makes all idealists seem foolish."

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