Traditional Woman and the \"New

¶ … Traditional Woman and the "New Woman"

The woman's traditional gender roles are changing at the beginning of the twentieth century. The "New Woman" seeks to experience life and express herself beyond the social limitations of being a wife and mother and living solely for her family. The role of the woman in the changing social environment is an important one to writers of the period (West, 1955). Through William Dean Howells's "Editha" (1905) and Edith Wharton's "Roman Fever" (1934), the reader can see the evolution in the social freedom of young women over two generations. While Editha and Mrs. Slade exhibit a tension between falling into more traditional gender roles and desiring freedom from them, the young women of "Roman Fever" suggest that they are indeed experiencing a social liberation their mothers could not enjoy.

A young woman living at the end of the nineteenth century and beginning of the twentieth century, Editha embodies the struggle between being independent and assertive and falling into the traditional role of the young woman looking to get married. When George comes to tell her that the United States is going to war, Editha contemplates her relationship with him and how she came to be with him. She details typical courting of the day: "She had always supposed that the man who won her would have done something to win her; she did not know what, but something" (p. 1080). While love could be a part of courting, there is also the aspect that the man "wins" the woman. While Editha understands the traditional role she plays in the courting process, she is also confused by it because she "did not know what" a man might do to win her over. Editha is strong willed, and she has strong beliefs. Why would she be confused about what she wanted in a husband? Perhaps it is because Editha does not picture herself in the traditional role of a wife, the more submissive in the marital relationship.

Very early in the story, Howells makes it clear that Editha wants to assert herself and her desires; she wants to be in control. As Editha tries to get George to see that the war is a noble cause, George suggests that Editha is probably correct. If he's in disagreement with her, then he's probably in the wrong. This brings out a strong emotional response in Editha: "A generous sob rose in Editha's throat for the humility of a man, so very nearly perfect, who was willing to put himself below her" (p. 1081). George sees Editha as his moral and intellectual superior, and this is not lost on her. The defined gender roles of the time are switched -- Editha is masculine and assertive, and George is yielding and feminine.

However, Editha is a young woman of her time; because of her position in society, she must live out her fantasies vicariously through George. Editha is arrogant and controlling. She's extremely patriotic to the point of obsession, and she manipulates George into enlisting. This does not erase the fact that Editha, as a woman, cannot fight for her country if she desires. When Editha learns of the war, she determines to turn George into an ideal man, someone she would like to be, "her hero" (p. 1080). There's a play on words here. The idea that George can be Editha's hero evokes the "knight in shining armor." On the other hand, Editha contemplates "urging him, by any word or act, to take the part that her whole soul willed him to take, for the completion of her idea of him" (p. 1080). Editha wants to turn George into someone just like herself, who shares her same passion, beliefs, and patriotism -- someone who wouldn't hesitate to go off to war. As Bellamy (1979) states, Editha's commitment to marry him is "contingent upon his enlistment" (p. 283). Unless George becomes like her, she intends to cut of her engagement to him, exhibiting power over the relationship and expressing and asserting her own ideals. Once George commits and enlists, he becomes someone Editha can idolize: "I've been thinking, and worshipping you….I've followed you every step from your old theories and opinions'" (p. 1085). In her letters she includes what "she imagined he could have wished, glorifying and supporting him" (p. 1086). What she imagines are the things she would want to hear about herself. George has become someone she would like to be.

After George's death in battle, his mother tells Editha directly that he died living out Editha's desires: "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" (p. 1087). Although the gender roles of the time are reversed in Editha and George's relationship, there's an irony here. Editha influences George to go to war through her feminine wiles. Editha realizes that something besides her "reasoning" is working on George when she decides to turn him into "her hero": "her nature pulling upon his nature, her womanhood upon his manhood, without her knowing the means she was using to the end she was willing" (p. 1080). She may not consciously understand how she is using her femininity to manipulate George, but this type of behavior is stereotypically female. Without political or economic power, women use their charming personalities and sexuality to achieve their goals. She intuitively falls into this role in some ways. As assertive and "masculine" as she can be, the way she gets what she wants is in acting out a traditional role.