Mirror Mirror

Mossman, in his article, “Representations of the Abnormal Body in The Moonstone,” makes a point of comparing Betteredge to Ezra Jennings as a character mirror/contrast. “Ezra Jennings’ body is primarily defined or understood through its disruptive strangeness, and through a comparison with Betteredge, who, with Robinson Crusoe in hand, is so often emblematic of the norm” (492). With Betteredge placed as the foil to Ezra in appearances, a reader of The Moonstone in Harper’s Weekly sees the cover page of this particular issue to reflect what Ezra Jennings should look like in a normalized spectrum. The image here depicts what one ought to look like at the time of The Moonstone and reinforces the white supremacy of the time. Harper’s Weekly is using the images surrounding The Moonstone to superimpose the idea of otherness in relation to the narrator of this section, Ezra Jennings, onto their readers.