has written more than one hundred books. Among them is; The Rise of Silas Lapham (1885), A Modern Instance (1882), A Boy’s Town (1890) and My Year in a Log Cabin (1893). Throughout his writings, Howells attempts to make his characters real with faults and fears as are commonly found in reality. Howells utilizes literary realism in his short story Editha to communicate the reality of war and to portray the romanticism Americans had created around the concept of war. While using the realist style in Editha, Howells also adds a humorous edge by commenting on American values. The character George Gearson possesses a trace of sardonic wit, “I never thought I should like to kill a man; but now I shouldn’t care; and the smokeless powder lets you see the man drop that you kill”(Howells 462). Moreover, the irony is not lost in the statement, “What a thing it is to have a country that can’t be wrong, but if it is, is right anyway!” (462). Howells uses these lines to establish George’s feelings about war. At this time in history, men were expected to go to war and like it. The author gives you an idea about this feeling here, “All through their courtship (Editha) had been puzzled by his want of seriousness about it. He seemed to despise it even more than he abhorred it.” (458). Furthermore, Editha felt she had to explain his lack of bloodlust, “That would have been a survival of his old life…” (458). Editha made up George’s mind for him because she felt, “…any man who won her would have done something to win her…if he could do something worthy to have won her…it would be grander”(459). More often than not, what Editha utters reveals her actual character. She describes his tone as “ghastly” when he speaks of testing his courage, yet when presented with the idea of war, she responds, “‘How glorio...
