William Dean Howells

The exceptional author, William Dean Howells, constructs a powerful topic of both the ideal and real aspects of war in the short story, “Editha”. This powerful story shows us the ideal versus the real. Some would like to think that when soldiers are sent to war they will return, and everything that they must do is “Holy”. Editha calls any war that occurs a glorious war (Howells 1492). This allows both the soldiers and their loved ones to be proud of what was done during the war. Howells develops a connection between the real world and the world within his story. What makes this realistic is the reality of what war brings forth and in particularly, the draft. After reading the story, we could describe Editha as a realistic character living…

“The action is best that secures the greatest happiness for the greatest number.” -William D. Howells. Those were just a few of the many wise words that author William D. Howells had said. William Dean Howells was the most influential 19th-20th century novelist, author, editor, literary critic, and playwright. He was an American realist, and was nicknamed, “The Dean of American Letters". Howells is well known for authoring stories, such as "Christmas Every Day", and novels like The Rise of Silas…

William Dean Howells was an advocate in writing of realism; William Dean believed that art literary should reflected in a way that reality of the common man and demonst our the truth of everyday issues currently in the world. William Dean believed in writing truthful and William accepted the small little at head value. William Dean practiced this beliefly writing on his own, and called his story “Editha” which was a good example of this of the ironic tragedy. William Dean Howells showed of war…

In the short story,” Editha” by William Dean Howells, we witness two lovers and their conflicting views on war take place. Editha feels it is a man’s duty to defend his country and the rights of its citizens. Her lover, George, has a different opinion of war, which is due somewhat to his father losing an arm during a prior war. Editha will stop at nothing to persuade George to enlist and is willing to let him go if he want see things her way. In,” Editha” two sides and viewpoints to war is…

“Editha” by William Dean Howells is a historical fiction short story written to emphasize the romanticism the main character holds towards war. Young Editha Balcom is engaged to a conscientious objector, George Gearson, who aspires to be a pastor. However, with war on the horizon, she believes he should join in the war effort to bring honor to their country. Through much persistence on her part, she persuades George to join and he becomes a captain. To the despair of Editha, George dies in the…

within American literature is a debated topic to this day. Some academics believe that realism and naturalism are so closely related that they must be inclusive of the same movement; indeed, these academics argue that naturalism is part of the realism movement. On the other hand, others argue that naturalism has enough distinction from realism that it is deserving of its own movement, and considering the purpose in categorizing a movement is for one to be able to see the approaches an author…

William Dean Howells wrote The Rise of Silas Lapham in 1885, at the height of the Gilded Age. It was a time of great industrial expansion in the United States. For the first time, the majority of workers had jobs outside of agriculture. It saw the rise of massive companies, led by robber barons like Carnegie and Rockefeller. The economic gap in the U.S. began to increase: the richest one percent received the same total income as the bottom half of the population. With this gap in wealth came…

The short story “A Mere interlude” written by Thomas Hardy makes effective use of narrative voice to reveal the intentions of Hardy in crafting such a story. The irony of the title, as what was supposed to be “A Mere Interlude”, Baptista’s short and tragic marriage to her ex-lover Charles Stow, eventually takes form as a major turning point in her life. It subjects her to much emotional turmoil and eventually leads her back to the one thing she hoped to escape from through her marriage to…

Children’s stories have an immense impact on the upcoming generations as they show what is valued within a particular culture in order to effectively teach children societal norms. Such normalities can be seen through the lessons taught through such stories as the next generation learns about the world with the aid of them. Within William Dean Howells’s “Christmas Every Day” describes a lesson that many children learned through reading the story. Howells describes the danger of having Christmas…

about abortions and what the aborting mother will never experience both during and after birth with the fetuses she’s aborted. It’s sad, and quite heartbreaking, but very real. Another good and pretty fun one is “Homage to My Hips” by Lucille Clifton. It discusses mainly bigger and more voluptuous hips that don’t seem to fit within societies “perfect” expectations. Not all hips are tiny, slender and dainty, but as long as you’ve got the confidence to be comfortable in your own skin, no…