Editha - Whether the Author Harbored Misogynist Emotions - Essay Example

 Editha - Whether or Not the Author Harbored Misogynist Emotions The reader should be quite careful when seeking to equate the author of a given piece with the viewpoints and/or character types that he/she seeks to represent. It is this author’s understanding that the representation of Edith the within howls short story by the same name does not necessarily indicate in any way shape or form that Powell himself is a misogynist and/or a feature of women. Accordingly, the following analysis will present what this author deems to be a fair and balanced justification for the fact that Powell is merely representing one particular type of woman and one particular type of man within the short story in question. Naturally, artistic liberty dictates that different authors will need to engage with a litany of different characters which engender a litany of different characteristics and personalities throughout the course of their career. If one seeks to continually understand a writer based upon the types or personalities of characters that they write about, one falls into the very clear and apparent danger of overly simplifying the subject matter and missing the artistic creativity and liberty that writers and authors should necessarily espouse. Within such a faulty line of reasoning, the reader may come to the understanding that Stephen King must necessarily be a bloodthirsty maniacal sociopath that tortures and kills people within his own basement. However, common sense and knowledge tells the reader that this particular author is merely a gifted and talented suspense writer that generally targets morbid, mysterious, or overly gruesome subject matter with regards to the topics he writes. In much the same way, Howell cannot and should not be understood as a misogynist merely the fact that subject matter engaged within the short story “Edith of” represents a stupid, uninformed, selfish, controlling, and narcissistic woman. What are the most clear and obvious ways that Howell proved himself not to be a misogynist is due to the fact that the man within the story is not represented as the ideal creature of manliness, integrity, honor, bravery, and many of the other stereotypical qualities that men are supposed to engender. Rather, he presents this flawed character as a rather whimsical and effeminate individual who is unsure of his actions and must rely upon Editha to convince him of whether or not the choices he makes are indeed correct. Conversely, if Howell was in fact a misogynist, it is highly likely that he would have chosen to represent the male character as the paragon of all manliness and virtue whereas the woman would have been represented as the epitome of foolish, stupid, shortsighted, vindictive, and jealous. However, both of these characters are ultimately flawed; as the reader can quickly denote from the fact that George requires continual affirmation that he is on the right path and continual direction with regards to what he should be doing. By much the same token, a reader that might wish to associate Howell as a misogynist would find it difficult to approach such a flawed understanding due to the fact that they must also consider the incomplete and failed manhood of the character of George. By the same token, if one did notes that Howell is a misogynist due to his representation of Editha, they must by the very same token understand and appreciate that he must be a misandrist due to his representation of George (Wray 159). However, notwithstanding this fact, a brief analysis and discussion with regards the way to the rest of the story goal is necessary to denote that Howell does not represent any misogynistic tendencies with regards to his own worldview within this particular short story. Such a traditional and stereotypical gender role would have more appropriately been suited to the woman; however, due to the fact that this was not represented within Editha’s character and instead represented within George’s, the possibility of Powell himself being a misogynist represented utilizing the vehicle of this particular story fades to a miniscule chance. One could argue that a misogynist would be most interested in the interactions with men and how Editha proved herself to somehow be at fault throughout the entire text; however, only the first part of the story reveals her interactions with men. The rest reveals her interactions with other women and the way through which the same character flaws that were exhibited within the first part of the story continued well into the remainder of howls brief short story. Yet another factor that must be considered is with respect to the fact that if in fact Howell was a misogynist, he would take each and every opportunity to disparage the image of the woman and present her as wholly selfish, and unworthy of general sympathy. Yet, instead, foul even invokes a measure of pity with regards to Editha’s character as she learns that George has been killed on the battlefield. Rather than expressing a level of narcissistic joy due to the fact that her design of “getting rid of him” had come to fruition, Howell shows that remorse, sadness, and emotion were present within the character of Editha (Bryant 56). This nuanced discussion and analysis of the way in which Editha’s character was multifaceted allows the reader to come to a firm understanding of the fact that had Howell in fact in a misogynist, he likely would not have taken such a great deal of concerned with presenting the reader with such a nuanced and multidimensional character; capable of grief, sadness, lust, anger, desire, and selfishness all in the same human being. Once again, seeking to delineate whether or not an authors of worldview can somehow be delineated with respect to the way in which the character development of one of their characters occurs places the individual reader at a distinct disadvantage. Whereas it cannot be fundamentally and absolutely stated that Howell was not a misogynist by nature, there is no extent proof with regards to the story that was represented that this is indeed true. The integration of a specific topic and relating the way that a character behaves is not in and of itself indicative of the misogynistic attitudes. However, that being said, if a compendium of Howell’s works were published and it came to be noted by researchers that a common thread that could be associated between all of them was with respect to the way in which women were generally viewed as stupid, dim witted, incompetent, controlling, and selfish, this fact could be utilized as a means of making a more effective generalization with regards to the attitude that the author may espouse. Just as within the sciences, one instance does not create a trend. Notwithstanding this, the situation that is been discussed with regards to misogyny within the short story “Editha” is not even represent a single occurrence; due to the fact that Editha is represented not in a misogynistic way but in a way that denotes the fact that she is a flawed character (not dissimilar to George) and will ultimately experience little if any character development notwithstanding the hardships and suffering that occur around her throughout the course of the short story. Works Cited Bryant, John. Pearson Custom Library of American Literature. 3rd ed. New York, New York: Pearson Publishers, 2009. Print. Wray, Sarah. "Light And Darkness In Howells's Editha: A Feminist Critique." Explicator 65.3 (2007): 157-159. Academic Search Complete. Web. 4 Oct. 2013. Read More