William Dean Howells

4.2                                                                  William Dean Howells   

William Dean Howells was from a small town in Ohio. He was the son of a printer.  Howells was a novelist, critic, and a magazine editor.  He also was very intelligent with little education?  He became an editor of several magazines and wrote over a hundreds novels.  Howells was a writer that really got into his characters and made them depict real life events. It seems that writers and poets get their interest from some form of literature at a young age. 

Editha is a very beautiful young woman that is engaged to be married.  She wants a hero more than anything in the world. What better way to become a hero than to go to war.  Or that’s what Editha thinks. She wanted Gearson to sign up for the army to come home and be her hero.  But things don’t happen like we always think they will. Only one thing about that is she doesn’t have any idea what war entail and how some people don’t come home.  Gearson doesn’t take to the idea at all and he doesn’t fill that people need to fight. Editha feels so strong about him going that she writes him a letter. Editha seems very spoiled and immature.  Her thoughts on the war seem aloft and ignorant. Editha like other women seems to know exactly what to say to get Gearson to give in to her request. 

After much conversation Gearson still doesn’t understand the reason for fighting.  Editha’s immature actions com e through with the letter she writes him.  After much thought Gearson told her he would go to war. She was so happy that he would come back and be her hero. But that is just what she didn’t think of that was terrible about this story.  Gearson was killed shortly after going to war in the first bunch.  Editha is devastated by the news.

Editha travels to go see Gerason’s mother and tell her the bad news. She being extremely upset due to she knew he went to war for her.  If it hadn’t been for her Gearson wouldn’t have ever went.  It was like Editha had finally understood what she had done. For a moment she had grew up and seen the real world and now it wasn’t very pretty. She had seen what she had ask of him was so selfish and was left with no hero or boyfriend.