Is there any symbolism in "Editha"?

Two symbols stand out in “Editha.” The first opens the
story and sets the symbolic mood of "Editha," a rather idealistically self-centered and
unrealistic young woman. The opening line provides both the implied metaphor of the
story and the major symbol:

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The air was thick with the war feeling, like the
electricity of a storm which had not yet
burst.

It is conventional to
symbolize war as a storm, and Howells does
just that with "electricity of a storm." However, this symbol represents other, deeper
dimensions. It also symbolizes George Gearson's personal experiences. In the first
place, it symbolizes his exposure to Editha's emotional and physic manipulation as a
storm:

She had
decided that she could not let him stay ...
in mystical response to her
mystical urgency ...
her nature pulling upon his nature, her womanhood upon
his manhood, ...

Edith's
unrealistic beliefs and unfounded idealism compelled her to manipulatively insist upon
George's agreement with her perspective on the "glory" of war. This caused turbulent
conflict in his own psyche and doubt of his own perceptions: "When I differ from you I
ought to doubt myself."

It further symbolizes the community's response
to the announcement of World War I (Howells first published in Harper's Monthly in 1905)
as a storm:

I
thought it would [be good] to sprinkle a little cold water … . But you can't do that
with a crowd ... I was sprinkling hell-fire … . "Cry havoc, and let slip the dogs of
war."

The emotional reaction
of the community as each became a "convert to the war" tore through the town meeting
creating a frenzy of patriotic thought that ironically echoed Editha's speeches to
George and must have been part of his stormy "hell-fire."

Finally, it
represents the aftermath of George's part of the war as a
storm:

[There]
was Gearson's name....Then there was a lapse into depths ... then a lift into clouds ...
black clouds, that blotted out the sun, [and] the fever that she expected of herself,
...

Though George's storm was
ended, the families and beloved of those dead or wounded in "the first skirmish" faced
their own stormy turmoil as witnessed by Editha's reaction and confirmed by George's
mother's reaction, full of blame and bitterness at Editha (one wonders if that is what
he expected; if that is why he sent her in person to his mother).

The
second symbol is "pocket Providence," which symbolizes Editha's and others', as depicted
by Howells, unrealistic vision of war as glory and divine
ordination:

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[Editha] "God meant it to be
war."

[George] "You think it was God? Yes, I suppose that is what
people will say."

[Editha] "Do you suppose it would have been war if
God hadn't meant it?"