Imitation Gold Watches

A page of ads within this issue of Harper's Weekly is revealing in regards to the role they play in societal perceptions towards 'items'. The most effective ad here is the ad for "Superior Imitation Gold Hunting Watches", from the Oriode Watch Factory. Being imitations of gold watches, that are "precisely like gold in appearance"(Collins 31), priority is placed on the surface fashion and overall functionality of these items, rather than authenticity. An acceptance of difference through a disinterst and ignorance of that difference is present here, and ties closely to this issues visual depiction of Roseanna. Her difference is hidden in a similar fashion to how the watches have no revealing differences that label them as an imitation.

This ignorance of difference here is a reaction to otherness in the same way that the visual of Roseanna is. Difference is not blatantly looked down upon in Harper's Weekly, but it is not embraced either, and a melting pot mentality is seemingly implied with these ads and the image, an American mentality that is still prevalent in today's 21st century. Roseanna's difference is not visualized seemingly in an attempt to suppress those differences, in the same fashion that the inherent differences in the imitation gold watches are not shown or advertised. The 'mimicry' that Lacom describes in her essay is therefore emphasized even further with the imitation watches, as their selling point is the literal mimicry of real gold watches. In such a way, Roseanna is characterized as an 'item', and an 'imitation' of an ideal individual, rather than her own unique individual.

Works Cited:

C.E Collins and Co. "Superior Imitation Gold Hunting Watches: The Oriode Watch Factory." Harper's Weekly 11 January 1868.