New York and Abysinian War

The final image from Harper’s Weekly that is showcased in this archive is a two-page spread directly contrasting the lives of upper-class New York Citizens to the refugees fleeing from the destruction of Magdala during the Abyssinian war. The beautiful manicured grounds and sail boats resting in the distance contrast sharply to the open desert and river of war-torn families fleeing for their lives. Upper-class New York women carry parasols over their shoulders, a direct contrast to the sick family members and survival supplies that the people of Ethiopia are depicted as carrying over their own.

By situating them next to one another, Harper’s Weekly uses these images to create a display of Otherness, reinforcing social binaries between the perceived groups of “us” versus “them”. This influence creates new meaning when reading The Moonstone in conjunction with the reinforced binary. Throughout section twenty-eight, Ezra Jennings, an Othered character himself, seeks to reveal how the theft of the moonstone was committed by Franklin Blake, a character designated as part of the “us” group through this publication. By reading this section in conjunction with the reinforced social binaries of Otherness presented by these external images, the American audience receives a version of the text which firmly situates Franklin Blake as the wronged hero to whom a great injustice has been committed. The readers also are encouraged to look upon Ezra Jennings with suspicion, for this doctor is an anomaly within the context of this publication. He is an Othered character who, according to the semiotics of this intertextual reading, is a member of an external and undesirable social caste.

Works Cited 

Collins, Wilkie. The Moonstone. Oxford University Press, 2008, New York.

"THE ABYSSINIAN WAR". Harper's Weekly, vol 12, Harper & Brothers, July 11 1868, New York City.