Portrait of General Lorenzo Thomas and the Lost Arm

From the title page of Harper’s Weekly to the last page, war and domination is a common theme throughout the issue. In Valerie DeBrava’s “The Offending Hand of War in Harper’s Weekly” she argues that there was a widespread fascination with war, dismemberment and soldiers throughout the 1860s as the Civil War was fought in America (49). When looking at the images on page 148 of Harper’s Weekly this idea of glorification of war and dismemberment can be seen. The image shows Adjutant-General Lorenzo Thomas alongside an image paired with the poem “The Lost Arm”. DeBrava goes on to state that “the loss of the hand is apparently a loss of the agency that makes a man the active, capable figure he typically cuts in Victorian ideology” (50).

The image of “The Lost Arm” along with the quote “I gave my right arm gladly” (148) is significant to the narrative of patriotism and ideology. Again, the idea of dismemberment and masculinity is called into question as “[the soldier] is rendered at least partially reliant on his beloved by his amputation, the Union soldier must come to terms with a compromised sense of his independence and an altered conception of female dependence” (49).

The idea of losing something being connected to masculinity is brought to the forefront of The Moonstone as it is connected with the idea of the American ideology and what it means to be a man. While there is no dismemberment in this chapter of The Moonstone the reminder of war and dismemberment does threaten masculinity, much like the character of Franklin’s masculinity is questioned by Rosanna and his masculinity is threatened by the losing of the diamond.

Works Cited

DeBrava, Valerie. “The Offending Hand of War in Harper’s Weekly” American Periodicals, vol.11, 2001, pp.49-64.