There's No Balm for Erasure

            The work of the illustrators within Harper’s Weekly to normalize the marginalized bodies of Rosanna and Ezra could—in an extremely charitable light—be construed as a kindness rendered to each character. This construction, however, is voided by the depictions of Rosanna and Ezra elsewhere within the American serialization. In part 28, “gothic markers [such as] the skull on the bookcase, the anatomical drawings, and the dancing tribal figures suggest exoticism and the grotesque, stressing the fear of racial hybridity in the post war period” (Leighton & Surridge, 234). Elsewhere (part 8), the illustrators subvert the “dominantly realist” (Leighton & Surridge, 227) depictions of the serialization as a whole in favour of a veiled Rosanna, articulated as “little more than a dark shape or series of scribbles,” which are representative of “her criminal past, her disabled body, and her avowed love for a man of much higher class status, [all of which] disturb normative standards” (Leighton & Surridge, 227).

            Aside from artistic intent, a potential justification for the flattened depictions of Rosanna and Ezra in part 23 is the lead advertiser for the June 6th edition. “Moth Patches, Freckles and Tan” helpfully present “Perry’s Moth and Freckle Lotion” as “The only reliable for those brown discolorations on the face”. For the “Disfiguring disease” of Black Worms, consult “Perry’s Comedone”. While the cure offered here is seemingly for what our modern parlance would term “acne”, the reliance on signifiers like “brown” and “black” raises eyebrows, especially in the light of the manipulation of Ezra’s skin tone. The convenience of Rosanna’s normative depiction is also suspect, given that a beauty product is the first item Victorian readers would have seen upon completing their periodical. While the presence of the advertisement is not wholly sufficient as an explanation for the de-emphasized marginalized identities present in part 23, to ignore their presence and potential effect would certainly inspire an indigestion that not even plantation bitters could absolve.

Works Cited: 

Harper's Weekly: A Journal of Civilization 6 Jun. 1868, pp. 366. Print. 

Leighton, Mary Elizabeth and Lisa Surridge. "The Transatlantic Moonstone: A Study of the Illustrated Serial in Harper's Weekly." Victorian Periodicals Review Vol.42 No.3, 2009, pp. 227, 234. Web. 2 Dec. 2019