War is a major theme in the story and the impetus of the events that take place. The story is set during the Spanish–American War, and the characters all have different perspectives and opinions on it. Editha insists that her fiancé, George, fight in order to keep her. She believes that doing so is the right thing and more romantic than not fighting. Only briefly is Editha unsettled by war. Both George’s parents have a distaste for war. She learns that George’s father fought in the Civil War and lost his arm on the field. This troubles her, and marks the extent of her true concern about war’s effect. Ultimately, though, her beau's mother is right. George dies in the war that Editha so idealized.

Patriotism is a particularly important theme here. It's a mix of patriotism and naiveté that drives people like Editha to support the war. Even George, a conscientious objector, agrees to fight after attending a town meeting and getting riled up about the war. The people who support it are largely approaching the war from a patriotic perspective and believe that it will be won easily. George and everyone else in the town join to fight. The media is what drives a lot of Editha's patriotism in the story. The newspapers she reads and what she hears are what inform her beliefs about war. She says it's glorious when she first hears that it's going to begin. She recognizes that a lot of what she says about the war is taken right from the pages of the newspapers. Editha herself grieves for a while over George but ultimately still believes that her perspective on the war was correct. The story might serve as a cautionary tale to have discretion in what we support. If we assume that everything a person, organization, or nation does is good or agreeable, we lack important skills of curiosity. Blind patriotism does more harm than good, even if it goes unrecognized as being “for the cause.”

Throughout the story, Editha stands by the ideal image of how life should be. She romanticizes the concept of her relationship and makes decisions based on these unrealistic notions. The whole reason she wishes George to go to war is that she has an image in her head of how a man should be. She does not approve of George’s timidness; she wishes him to “earn” her as a partner and doing something dangerous—such as going to war for his country—seems to fit that description. Even when Mrs. Gearson lays out the negative aspects of war, such as hurting innocent people and their loved ones, Editha cannot comprehend that war is damaging. Unfortunately, Editha does not learn the lesson that war is not a myriad of romantic ideas: it is physically and emotionally disruptive. She is taken aback by George’s mother’s words, but she does not take them to heart. Instead, she “begins to live again in the ideal.”