The fourth and fifth chapters of The Moonstone appear in England's September 11 1865 issue of All The Year Round, as well as in the January 11 1868 issue of Harper's Weekly in the United States. Within these issues, the chapters are published around other texts, including essays, short stories and advertisements, that can be indicative of social attitudes during this Victorian time period, as well as offer differing readings of the chapter's themselves. This section of the novel involves the introduction of Roseanna to the narrative, and this very introduction, through the representation of her physical differences, provides differing perspectives on disability and the otherness that is linked to it.
In Cindy Lacom's essay ""The Time Is Sick and out of Joint": Physical Disability in Victorian England", otherness is characterized and seen as a force that would "threaten England's national security" (Lacom 548). Attitudes towards Roseanna line up with her notions in this essay, but also allow readings of other publications within each journal that in themselves interact with the chapters of The Moonstone. By reading this section of the novel in relation to the works published around it, insight can be given into how England and the United States hold differing attitudes towards disability, with a more progressive attitude towards disability shown in All The Year Round, and a more problematic, defeating attitude towards it shown in Harper's Weekly.
Works Cited:
Lacom, Cindy. “‘The Time Is Sick and out of Joint’: Physical Disability in Victorian England.” PMLA, vol. 120, no. 2, 2005, pp. 547–552.