Dear Class,
Many of you have already posted insights in your study groups about themes and symbols from the text. I love what I am reading so far. If you're confused about this assignment, read the instructions on the
Week 5.02 Themes and Symbols Instructions page and then click on the
Week 5.02 Lesson 11 discussion board. You'll see your group number posted there, and you'll address the corresponding prompt for that number. Be sure to offer feedback on your study group mates' posts on that board per instructions.
Also, as you draft Essay #1 for our class (remember that the draft is due this Saturday!), review the rubric posted on the
Week 5.10 Peer Review Discussion Board. For every small assignment you submit, and for all your major assignments, I use this rubric. I am always looking for content, organization, language, and source integration. Each category is worth 25 points in Essay #1. Please make sure you meet the following requirements:
- sufficient content (5-6 pages of textual support and analysis, excluding the Works cited page)
- great organization (including a thesis in the last sentence of your introductory paragraph that serves as a road map for the rest of your essay and topic sentences that stem from the thesis in order)
- beautiful, clear writing, wherein every word counts
- MLA formatting used throughout the piece.
I am attaching a student sample essay to help you see how one student worked to honor the rubric requirements and how I interacted with the text and scored it. I hope this all helps; email me if you have any questions or concerns.
Sincerely,
Sister Bowen
(post Amy's Essay 1 with Sister Bowen's Feedback 1-1)
Amy
Carpenter
Sister
Bowen
ENG
335
4
June 2016
War Deglamorized: The Story of Editha
William Dean Howells’ “Editha” is a short story that exposes not only
the realities of war, but also the false sentiments that were held by many
people of the early 20th century, the time period in which Editha
was written and set, that war is glamorous. It brilliantly challenges the notion
that war is glorious and unveils the suffering, pain, and devastation that war
leaves in its path. While Editha, the story’s title character, naively believes
that participation in war is the duty of every upstanding young man, the text
reveals that perhaps war is not always necessary, let alone anyone’s duty. Throughout
“Editha” war is deglamorized through each of Howell’s symbolic characters:
Editha embodies the falsely romanticized view of war; George, her fiancé,
represents the questionable nature of war; and George’s mother illustrates the
pain and destruction caused by war.
It becomes apparent almost immediately in
the text that Editha is an immature, impressionable young girl. With these qualities, she becomes
characterized as someone foolish and simultaneously disqualifies herself as a
credible character in the story. She is naive and rash,;
two characteristics that make for a dangerous combination. Barely after the
opening of the text, George simply mentions war and then kisses Editha. “She kissed him back intensely, but
irrelevantly, as to their passion, and uttered from deep in her throat. ‘“How
glorious!’”” (54). It
is entirely evident that Editha is impulsive and
immature as she kisses George “irrelevantly.” Her naivety is likewise
acknowledged as she claims that war is “glorious”; ”, an idea that she has no basis for aside
from the “war feeling” in the air (54).
As the text continues, Editha’s romanticized view of war becomes
even more apparent and even more foolish. Her melodramatic nature becomes clear
very early on: “But making light of a cause so high and noble seemed to show a
want of earnestness at the core of [George’s] being” (54). She also later shows
herself to be thoughtless and insensitive regarding war and George. She feels
that she must “sacrifice anything to the high ideal she had for him” (54-55).
This passage blatantly shows Editha’s thoughtlessness as well as her
romanticized view of war, given that she considers a soldier the “ideal.”
Because of the idyllic picture she has conjured in her mind, she makes it clear
that if George refrains from going to war, he will be a disappointment to her.
She further proves herself insensitive when after George’s death and her
subsequent encounter with George’s mother, she relates to the woman sketching
her that George’s mother “wasn’t quite in her right mind” (66), simply because
she was grieving and upset with Editha for pushing George into a war that he did
not even support.
George’s character deglamorizes war from the start as he calls
its necessity into question. The first thing that George says about war is that
it “breaks the peace of the world” (55). This idea is one that has not been examined
until this point in the text, since Editha has continuously reflected upon the
necessity of war. This question itself becomes a theme for the text — is war
necessary? George further establishes this idea as he sardonically notes that
their country must be supported “right or wrong” (55). This is an idea that
Editha fervently agrees with, but it also blatantly suggests that perhaps what their
country is doing is wrong.
George later reasons, “I suppose that at the bottom of his
heart every man would like at times to have his courage tested, to see how he
would act” (56). He informs Editha that this would be the only reason he would
go to war, because even though she believes it is a “holy war,” (56) he does
not. He even proclaims that it is not this particular war that he has a problem
with, “though this [war] seems peculiarly wanton and needless; but it's every
war --so stupid; it makes me sick. Why shouldn't this thing have been settled
reasonably?” (57). This logic again penetrates the very question of the work
itself as to whether war is ever necessary. George is a striking contrast to
the senseless Editha, who says things such as “God meant it to be war,” with
absolutely no foundation for her argument (57). While Editha seems inane and
frivolous, George seems significant and insightful. As George provides this
contrast, he establishes himself as a highly credible character. He asks
heartfelt and thought-provoking questions, and he becomes the voice of reason
throughout this short work.
In spite of this, George does
eventually succumb to Editha’s
request to go to war only in an effort to secure her heart and their future. He
does this much to the chagrin of his adoring mother, whose fears for her son
are confirmed when she receives word shortly thereafter that he has been
killed. Editha goes to visit her, as she promised George she would if he passed
away at war (62), and her visit with Mrs. Gearson is far from pleasant. It is
clear that Editha realizes that she is at least partly at fault for George’s
death. (Unfortunately, as mentioned earlier, she later proves to be too
immature to take responsibility for her part in George’s death when she is speaking
to the woman sketching her.) Editha speaks to Mrs. Gearson “more like a culprit
than a comforter” (65), acknowledging the guilt that she feels. Mrs. Gearson is
devastated at the loss of her son. It is obvious that at least on some level,
Editha realizes that George’s death is because of her hasty and foolish behavior.
The pain that Mrs. Gearson feels is
evidenced through her anger at Editha. She has lost one of her sons and she
knows that he would not have
gone to war if it had not been for his foolish fiancé. “I suppose you would
have been glad to die, such a brave person as you! I don't believe he was glad
to die. He was always a timid boy, that way; he was afraid of a good many
things; but if he was afraid he did what he made up his mind to” (65). Her
sarcasm in calling Editha “a brave person” is an illustration of the
frustration and heartbreak that George’s mother feels. Mrs. Gearson becomes an
even more poignant representation of the destruction and pain caused by war
when she exclaims, “I had already been through one war before” (65).
This suggests that war had already affected George’s mother’s life in a
negative way, and she blames Editha for the pain that she is feeling this
second time. Mrs. Gearson points out on a larger scale the pain felt by
everyone who has lost a loved one at war — “You thought it would be alright 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 faces of” (66). The text again beautifully illustrates her indignation
toward Editha as Mrs. Gearson asks her, “What
you got that black on for?” She continues, "Take it off, take it off,
before I tear it from your back!” (66). Her emotional demand depicts the pain
and anguish she has felt at the loss of her son, as well as the wrath she feels
toward the person whom she feels has caused his death and is thereby unworthy
to mourn his loss.
Each character in “Editha” plays a vital role. Editha
portrays to the reader that her view of war was is unfounded
through her negative qualities and lack of credibility as a main character.
George’s thoughtfulness, on the other hand, provides a powerful contrast to her
thoughtlessness and inspires the idea that war is not, or at least
not always, essential. Mrs. Gearson further solidifies this concept through her
anger that is a result of much pain and suffering. Each of these characters
works together to tear down the romanticized and glamorous view of war as noble
and God-inspired, and builds the idea that war does a great deal more bad than
it does good.
Works Cited
Howells, William Dean. “Editha." American Literature. Vol. II. William
E. Cain. New York: Penguin Academics, 2004. 54-66. Print.
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AREA
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AUDIENCE NEEDS
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POINTS
AWARDED
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POINTS
POSSIBLE
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CONTENT
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FOCUS: Can the
audience restate the document's main idea? Will the audience consider the
document’s scope to be neither too broad nor too narrow?
DEVELOPMENT: Is the
audience satisfied with how thoroughly the subject has been explored?
LOGIC: Does the
audience see the reasoning as sound, sensible, and free of fallacies?
EVIDENCE: Is the
audience satisfied with the amount of direct support provided (i.e., details,
examples, surveys, statistics, quotations, textual references, etc)?
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24
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25
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ORGANIZATION
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STRUCTURE: Can the
audience follow and recall the document's organization?
UNITY: Can the
audience see how each detail, paragraph, and section contribute to the
document's main idea?
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25
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25
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LANGUAGE
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CLARITY: Does the
audience understand the document without having to re-read sentences or guess
at intended meaning?
STYLE: Is the
audience comfortable with the way sentence structure, tone, and vocabulary
convey meaning?
MECHANICS: Is the
audience comfortable with the level of grammatical and mechanical control?
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23
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25
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SOURCE INTEGRATION
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INTEGRATION: Is the
audience comfortable with how needed source material is worked into the
document?
DOCUMENTATION: Is the
audience satisfied with how needed sources are documented?
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25
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25
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GRAND TOTAL =
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___97____ /100
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ADDITIONAL COMMENTS: This
is an incredibly strong piece, and I’d love to use it as a sample. For an
additional point or two, I’d love to see you submit a revision that addresses
my feedback. It’s your choice. I would really like to see you include a
powerful “so what” at the end.
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