Other Genii of the Cave
This article, published alongside The Moonstone in All the Year Round, works as an exposition piece on the Bethnal-Green railway workers employed by the “committee of the Employment and Relief Association” (247). Though it is hard conditions and grueling work, the author attempts to paint the situation in a positive light. He claims these are coveted positions for the poor and impoverished, but he distinguishes between the poverty-stricken members of the working class who experience “temporary pressure and unusual distress” (247), and the “beggars or idlers” which would not be suited to a working job. However, through the article the author still exposes the hard and dreadful conditions of the work. Though written in a positive light, it is clear to see that this is still exploitation and subjugation of the labour class. From the pittance they are paid, to the long hours and physically demanding labour they have to perform, this is not an ideal situation to be in, no matter one’s poverty level. Though at outward appearance this would seem a way to ‘reform’ the working class, it was clearly another way to define and reaffirm the class distinctions of the 19th century, dehumanizing and degrading the lower class, making sure there was no viable way to rise above one’s born station. The article presents an ideology reliant on the class system, validating the notion that one’s social class is dependent on birth and situation. This, alongside The Moonstone, serves to add to the subjugation and dehumanization of the lower class in the novel. The classist tendencies of the novel are amplified alongside such a classist piece of writing.
Collins, Wilkie. The Moonstone. Edited by John Sutherland, Oxford University Press, 2008