harper’s weekly

8/8/2019 Harper’s Weekly

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Annelie Berner

Visual and Environmental Studies 107

Studies of the Built North American Environment Since 1580

John R. Stilgoe

November 15, 2009

Material Culture – Tangible Trace

Flitting Communications

Communications have become constant, obsessive and addictive. In my paper, I

explore the themes and intricacies of communications that we have lost as more and more

people move from tangible letter writing to virtual and hands-free text, email, or Paperless

Post.i I examine a Valentine’s Day cartoon from Harper’s Weekly in 1868, noting the various

facets of how communications were physically made, and their implications for their

significance to makers and receivers. Then, I consider two other aspects of communications

that this cartoon brings to light. Firstly, the experience of receiving communication, as I

analyze in Pride and Prejudice , and then the process of transporting communication, as I

observe in “A City Call,” a story from The Delineator in 1901. These give history and a richer

understanding to communications of our present-day: sending text messages on mobile

devices, using an online interface to channel our desire for personal, stylized cards. In the

end, I find myself on Amook Island, in Larsen Bay, Alaska, and the only flitting ii is that of

the wind in the tissue paper kites my cousins fly on the rocky beach.



Valentine’s Day Cartoon

In this sketch, we see a young man, Higgins, painstakingly writing a Valentine to his

sweetheart, Seraphina, and hoping that the large size of the card will demonstrate his

boundless love for her. We see him using a quill and ink therefore he cannot make a mistake

or say the wrong word because he will have to start over again on a new sheet of enormous

paper. He must think through each phrase, and hope that his poetic abilities are sufficient.

There is a book next to him—perhaps a dictionary, or a book of poems, thus perhaps he has

some outside help on his poetry attempts. This is likely, because in the next scene of the

cartoon, while he seals the letter, the book is closed.

In the next scene, Higgins places a suitcase on the seal of the letter, and even must

jump on the suitcase to make sure that it is closed: if only his sweetheart knew how difficult

it was for him to bind his love for her! He looks quite concerned; as if he wants to make sure

that it is all just right. At this point, the book that was next to him as he wrote is closed, thus

it could be assumed that he used it to write his letter—whether it was a dictionary, a book of

poems or a thesaurus is still difficult to know. In terms of this scene, with a caption of “He

Seals It,” one must wonder what exactly was on his seal, and what that meant for the

receiver, Seraphina. Was it simply a first initial, or all three? Was there any illustration?

Depending on the level of detail of the seal, Seraphina might not immediately know the

identity of her Valentine, though at the same time, the handwriting on the front (that we see

in the next scene) is could be well known to her at this point in their courtship.

We then see him attempt to force the enormous Valentine (about his height and

twice his width) into her letterbox, which seems to be on a pole on a street corner. Though

apparently she lives in walking distance, he has placed seven stamps on the envelope. One



can suppose that Higgins wants to be very sure that Seraphina receives his card. Whatever

the intent, it is relevant how Seraphina will perceive the stamps and the outer cover of the

envelope. Will his scrawling handwriting impress or dissuade her from accepting his love?

Will she find that the amount of postage shows his wealth and ability to pay for the postage,

or will she find the seven stamps to travel just a few steps a display of his ignorance, or

would it be a display of devotion and care? Furthermore, I wonder what the images of the

stamps are, and whether they bear on Valentine’s Day. How might the stamps’ images

change the way the receiver, Seraphina, perceives the inner contents?

After failing to get the envelope into the letterbox, Higgins brings it to the Post

office where the officials refuse to receive it. In this scene, we see the important role of the

men who work in the Post office. Not only are they protected in their seats inside the office,

with only a small window to talk with customers, but also they shape what kind of items can

be mailed as well as what items they will deliver into the small letter boxes. No matter how

angry Higgins might be, he cannot physically threaten the officials. However, perhaps if he

had a personal connection with them, he might be able to cajole them into sending the letter

for him.

Finally, Higgins resorts to delivering the letter by hand and brings it to Seraphina’s

home. In the image, he holds the letter as if it were a key into the door, or as if he would

force it into the small crack between the two doors. The front part of the envelope is partly

displayed alongside his own self, and he has one foot up the stair as if he were about to

enter. The woman’s face—perhaps Seraphina’s maid—looks somewhat surprised, leading us

to believe that it was not common to deliver a Valentine (or perhaps any letter) personally,

but this is complicated by the fact that Higgins’ Valentine is so enormous that she may

simply be surprised at the size of the card rather than at the personal delivery.



Thus achieving access and also satisfaction of personally delivering the Valentine,

Higgins sits with Seraphina, finally looking squarely—somewhat smugly—at the reader as

Seraphina melts to his side with a longing look. The Valentine is nowhere to be seen.

This image identifies several themes that bear on changes in communication over

time. That of the finality of writing a letter: not only must you think carefully about what you

write, but also you must write it carefully for your handwriting reflects your identity to the

reader. Furthermore, it is interesting to consider what kind of access a letter-writer has to

other resources—is it a dictionary to look up spelling, a thesaurus to use other minds’ better

words, a poetry book to replace one’s own voice?

That of a letter’s envelope: its seal, its postage, the address, and how these pieces

may fit together towards a more full picture of the sender. How do they inform the recipient,

and is this information a fair reflection on the sender? Higgins chose to show his love in size,

and the enormous size led him through hoops until he proved his love with his insistence on

delivering the Valentine even if he had to do it himself. This is an interesting twist to the

cartoon that primarily emphasizes the fact that the Valentine is a letter—yet the letter is not

delivered in the mail—so what is it? Furthermore, Seraphina and Higgins are together in the

last scene but we do not see the Valentine.

The question of delivery: the selectiveness of the postal system from the officials to

the physical system itself. In terms of the officials, we see the importance and power of a

relationship and the roadblock of a living intermediary between the person and the delivery.

The officials can be roadblocks, but in their position as a go-between, they also become part

of the flow of knowledge in a town or a city and the things they see from week to week



might form a deeply rich history of a town’s extension to other parts of the world or of a

town’s inner workings.

The physical size of the envelope is important, for it relates to the size of the box to

which it is delivered (or not delivered). Perhaps if Higgins’ letter were at the other end of the

spectrum—so tiny that the amount of care and delicacy he put into making it would be

“boundless” in its own way—it would have gotten lost in the cracks of Seraphina’s postbox.

Higgins’ choice shows a certain obsession with security and physical presence at the same

time as it shows affection and immense love. What difference does it make to receive a

letter of different size than the others? A square letter, when all the others are rectangular, or

vice versa? The weight of a letter, its manner of seal?

Finally, the moment of delivery is particularly notable, and in this cartoon strip, we

are not allowed to see the lady’s reaction to the letter. Are we therefore to assume that the

most important part of the whole process was seeing Seraphina in person? What is the

difference between maintaining a relationship through letters, and meeting in person after a

long time, or immediately delivering a letter? One sees the reaction the other person has to

one’s presence and potentially to the inner letter rather than allowing them the ability to

react naturally and compose a potentially artificial or at least more surface-level response.

While this cartoon brings us through the details of making a letter, in Pride and

Prejudice , by Jane Austen,iii we are allowed to peek into full descriptions of receiving letters

and the world that letters make .

Pride and Prejudice



We see the way that letters shape and develop relationships in Jane Austen’s Pride and

Prejudice . Throughout the book, we read of the expectation and deep reliance on letters. A

letter brings new information, such as Darcy’s explanation of his own character and

relationship with Wickham. A letter maintains a relationship such as that between Elizabeth

and Jane. It allows Darcy to reflect and reveal deeply personal truths that he is not able to

reveal in person, and allows Jane to continue to rely on Elizabeth for support and advice

even when they are not in the same physical location.

After Darcy sends an explanatory letter, Elizabeth is suddenly able to understand,

accept and return Darcy’s love:

“ ‘Did it soon make you think better of me? Did you, on reading it, give any credit to its

contents?’

She explained how gradually all her former prejudices had been removed…”iv

This letter serves as a bridge between the two, covering over countless aborted

conversations, awkward encounters and sharp comments on Elizabeth’s part. Without this

device, Elizabeth might never have let Darcy explain himself, thus it is a crucial level of

communication between them. It is part outward communication, part inner reflection,

bridging the gaping difference between the two levels, a feat that Elizabeth cannot achieve

without the letter’s help.

Austen changes Elizabeth’s mode of analysis changes through the book: at first she

engages in immediate judgment, and a deep criticism that brings to mind Mrs. Bennet’s

changeable sentiment, and Mr. Bennet’s aloof cleverness, but after Darcy’s letter forms a

bridge, she matures and develops into inner questionings. These levels of communication



that we read allow us to create a fully informed picture of Mr. Darcy, and allow us to

understand more of Elizabeth. Furthermore, we see the importance and the flaw of social

constructed identities in Elizabeth’s society, for Elizabeth learns the inadequacy of the light

conversations that she has with her family and friends. Only the deeply personal letter does

justice to the many layers and levels of her interactions and her final reading of Mr. Darcy.

Unlike Darcy and Elizabeth, Jane and Elizabeth are consistently able to fully divulge

and discuss in person. Letters allow them to continue this close relationship of mutual trust

and advice even when distance separates them. At the same time, this same facet of letters

covering distance allows Lydia to elope and send an explanation that would have been much

more difficult, more fraught with emotion, anger and anxiety than sending a letter. Lydia can

tell her own version of a story, and get all of her words out without interruptions from her

parents and siblings who might otherwise immediately express their doubts and dismay.

The delivery and postal system can also heighten expectations and create intense

suspense around letters. This certainly changes people’s perceptions of traveling and cities:

when Lydia elopes to London, an uncle searches for her, and sends an express letter to the

Bennets. It is interesting to consider where this express letter is read, and who gets to read it

first—Mr. Bennet takes it to read in the copse—an example of using nature to soothe the

nerves and set the scene for an important moment.

His City Call

The other aspect that the Valentine’s Day Cartoon does not address is that of

modern transportation, and its significance for letters and the people who receive them.

Reverend Hannibal Lyons receives two letters from different parts of the country requesting

him to deliver a sermon at each parish, on the same day. v



In this image, we see Reverend Hannibal Lyons outside of the post office. In the

story that accompanies it, we read of how he receives two letters, scrutinizing their stamps

and postmarks closely, and reads them as he walks slowly out of the post office. Their

contents seem to whisk him away into another world, the world of the senders, the “City

Call” as the writer puts it. The letters bring much excitement into the Lyons household, for

they are requests to preach at various important events and locations: “No wonder the

simple family felt as if some friendly genie had suddenly lifted them out of their petrified



village existence in Harmony Grove and set them down in the great throbbing heart of the

world.”

Suddenly, the family must consider the transportation to arrange around the events,

for they are on the same day. The “subtle poison” of ambition stealing toward her brain,

Mrs. Lyons urges her husband quite forcefully to give both the sermons, for it will bring

fame to their household. She says, “If there is no train from Middleport, you can drive over;

if you can’t drive, you can walk; if you can’t walk, you can crawl on your hands and knees.”

The image and the accompanying story give light to the changes that the postal

service brought to people’s lives, and the tight link of systems of transportation to the postal

service. Not only are other areas of the country able to contact Reverend Lyons, but also

their contact stupefies him, slows him as he paces out of the post office, surveying the

contents of the emails. The sudden distance from the village streets could be understood as

positive: lifting him out of his “petrified village existence” and into the “great throbbing

heart of the world” in just two letters. However, Lyons finds the opportunities frightening

and invasive, wishing that he could stay home instead of addressing the polished Middleport

congregation. Luckily for his wife, modern transportation allows him to accept these

requests to join the throbbing heart. A throbbing heart sometimes throbs with pain as well

as life or energy.



vi

Paperless Post: within the context of Paper Post

These days, a company named Paperless Post attempts to replace the old paper and

ink stationery practices: “At Paperless Post, we seek to redefine the tradition of paper

stationery so that people can send custom, personalized invitations and announcements with

the same thought and care as previous generations, but the way we communicate today:

online.” However, Paperless Post’s premise of online and paperless is inherently an obstacle to

thought and care. We see this by tracing the themes of the Valentine’s Day cartoon through

Paperless Post’s online scheme.

The finality of a seal, and paper and ink:

As discussed earlier, Higgins had to compose his letter thoughtfully and slowly

because to “delete” it would have meant rewriting the entire letter and purchasing more ink



and paper. Creating a virtual card allows a person to delete words, perfects someone’s

handwriting into various fonts, and the ink never runs out or becomes scratchy or faint. On

one hand, maybe taking away these limitations allows a person to be more creative, try more

colors, and play with the style and size of their letters, enjoying an aesthetic experience that is

missing in email, another form of electronic correspondence.

One can tailor the card to the recipient or to demonstrate one’s individuality in so

many ways: the type of paper, the motif on the paper, the color, font, size, alignment and

spacing of the words. All of these options seem to allow for more creativity, but in fact may

only make up for the disappointment of not being able to sketch one’s own motif, the

frustration of being forced to use colors that the designers thought worked the best. The

semblance of individuality allows a person to believe they have created an invitation or a

card that displays their originality, quirkiness, and artistic sense. However, that same card

may pop up in hundreds of other people’s email inboxes each day. Contrast this with the

paper and ink enormous Valentine that had to be delivered, to one individual, personally.

Furthermore, even if the sender is satisfied with their limited card, what does the recipient

feel without the familiar handwriting, and perhaps a whiff of the perfume sprayed?



The other missing factor is that of the envelope, though as discussed below, there is

a simulation of an envelope’s image in the email message. Again, the writing is a typeface

rather than handwriting. Only the recipient’s name shows on the envelope, rather than their

physical address. Some might claim that this simply makes more sense in a world where

people constantly travel and relocate. However, our contacts’ physical addresses are part of

their identity and our relationship with them, an aspect to which we ought to pay attention.

The stamp on the envelope is the logo of the company, and there are no markings or

signs of transportation. A recipient does not have the pleasure of breaking open the

envelope; instead animation creates the appearance of the envelope gracefully opening and

the letter sliding out. What of Higgins’ joyful, excited jump on the seal, his fingers crossed

that it would stay closed as it traveled through the postal service?



Finally, there is the method of sending and delivering. In Paperless Post, one sends

to a list of names and their respective emails immediately. We do not have to write a

recipients’ full address, during which process we might take a moment to think about their

geographic location, about their road and state, about their physical location rather than a

virtual, pseudo-location. The only intermediary is a small pop-up window that asks if you are

sure you are ready to send. Then, “magically,” an email is delivered to each of your

recipients, and an envelope displays in the email. When you click on the envelope by

pointing your mouse over the envelope, another window pops open in your Internet page,

and the envelope is again displayed. When you put your mouse over it, it instructs you to

“click to open” and then once clicked, it is animated to suddenly open before you and the

card pushes out rapidly.

The entire process desensitizes and downplays our senses: touch thick textured

paper, smell a perfumed letter, hear the crack as a well-sealed envelope pops open, or see the

smudges (maybe tear stains, at the most dramatic!). Sight is made more difficult by the fact

that different computers have different capacities to display colors and also different Internet

abilities to seamlessly open the letter.

The delivery is instantaneous, and the sender can “monitor” the responses. This

means often obsessively looking at whether the recipients have viewed or not viewed the

envelope, when they most recently opened it, and whether they are attending (if the card is

an invitation). The ability to monitor responses heightens expectations and increases

wordless communication rather than allowing space of mind as well as space of people.

The monitoring detracts from enjoying the expectation and patience we build while we wait

for others to respond.



vii

Finally, once a letter on Paperless Post is delivered, it remains in a virtual, Paperless

world of screens and clicking. We cannot hold the letters, and historians probably will not be

able to trace letters that lovers exchange. You must have an account to create a letter, and a

username and password to manage the letters that you have received. No one will stumble

upon dusty old letters tied together with ribbons, locked away in a trunk in your

grandmother’s attic, with musty smells of old perfume and funny pen marks or comments

on the columns perhaps.

Virtual Texts

As opposed to courtship via letters in Pride and Prejudice , technology has changed the

way that courtship happens. Etiquette created rules, and people met within already

established social networks such as churches, neighborhoods, and workplaces, for example.

Cellphones and texting allow for communication in a zone without eye-to-eye contact,

without commitment and accountability of a larger social context. Furthermore, texting



allows people to form relationships and be in contact with more than one possible romantic

attachment at once. viii

This new, so-called addictive form of communication necessitates constant contact,

for many assume that others are as consistently interested in the messages they receive and

checking for new messages as they themselves may be. While texting sometimes leads to

physical, face-to-face interactions, it does not conform to the same expectations as past

similar forms of communications.

The description of how to conduct afternoon teas in “Social Observances,”ix in the

same issue of The Delineator as that of “His City Call” reveals several notable concepts.

Firstly, the formal teas can be used to present a daughter. In this case, a special card and day

are created. This card has the mother’s name, and then the daughter’s beneath it, and “At

Home” with the date receiving. This presentation of the daughter, essentially part of her

coming-of-age links her reputation and circle of friends to that of her mother.

Furthermore, aside from the presentation of the daughter teas, in general the cards

and afternoon teas display a close link between human contact and communication. The

cards are personalized both by the sender and to the receiver. Not only is the invitation

particularly personal, but also, the invitation strongly encourages, expects and almost requites

a meeting in person.

The bookend of the card process is that a visitor will leave a card after the tea, or

send a card if they cannot attend. This tradition records friendships, time spent together, and

represents the changes of a social circle (deaths, coming-of-age) over the years.

Unplugged



Flying in a six-person plane out to Larsen Bay, Alaska. A plane full of groceries and a

few bags of warm clothes. Over miles and miles of seemingly untouched earth, peering out

of the window, looking for grizzly bears among the rich, moist green, refreshed by spiky icy

white peaks. Arriving in sparsely populated but lively Larsen Bay, men wearing bright orange

rubber jackets and pants over enormous rubber boots, stomping around from the general

store to the cannery and out to the skiffs.

We hop through cold water onto one of the skiffs after loading our bags and

groceries into an enormous plastic tub, and motor across, getting closer and closer to a tiny

cabin perched at the top of long stairs. The cabin seems to sit alone on Amook Island,

keeping watch over the circles of nets and the men who spend entire days picking the nets—

scooping up the salmon, cutting off the clumps of seaweed, and gulping down candy bars in

free moments.



We arrive and make our way up the steep stairs and into the warmth of the cabin

room where quiet music plays and my cousin’s husband’s sister has made a batch of fresh

muffins. Coffee and sun on the tiny terrace while the kids start to get to know each other.

Five days of reading, writing, thinking, baking, cooking and hand-washing dishes,

long walks on the rocky beach and prowling through the slightly dangerous woods for

enormous salmonberries.

I opened the computer once to write my parents an email to say I was alive and well,

and found myself immediately taken, kidnapped into a world of emails with people who

were thousands of miles away, requests, questions, stories. This world of communication

brings an odd sense of focused distraction. We focus on browsing through different websites

and responding to emails: a process that has been described as “flitting.”x The term “flitting”

does seem appropriate as it means to shift, or to float, turning us into modern-day ghosts of

ourselves. Thus we flit from glowing interface to glowing interface rather than interacting

with the tangible and surrounding people, plants and sky. Submerged, and then emerged

half an hour later, my head feeling cloudy and far away from the cozy cabin, my good book

and the plan for an afternoon beach bonfire.



To some extent, our reliance on constant communication with our friends, constant

checking of news detracts from our ability to be independent individuals. Furthermore, we

believe that these actions keep us close with our friends and current on our surroundings.

Finally, our use of virtual cards and communication seem to encourage creativity in that we

can form new flitters constantly, but such continual flitting gives rise to less thoughtfulness,

less depth, and less presence. We are stunted and overwhelmed by communications rather

than flourishing in independence, time and a sense of space. While some claim that the

denseness of line communications allows people to form more social ties and tighter

communities, in fact it is an odd, floating community without the complexity of face-to-face

interactions that build trust and understanding.xi Our interactions are so individualized, so

tailored to our own desires and necessities, rather than being open to interactions with

people we may usually avoid by staring at our phone or ipod screens, creating imprisoning

prisms, pseudo-environmentsxii that keep us separate from a sense of solidarity or civil

society.



Flitting

iSee www.paperlesspost.com

iiSee “In defense of Distraction,” p. 7 as well as the final photograph.

iiiAusten, Jane. Pride and Prejudice . Bantam Classic. 1813. New York.

iv Austen, Chapter 58. v

Peake, Elmore. “His City Call.” The Delineator. Butterick Pub. Co. New York.vi

Barlow, Perry. New Yorker Cover. January 1938.vii Steig, William. New Yorker Cover. August 1936.

viiiBrooks, David. “Cellphones, Texts and Lovers.” New York Times. November 2009.

ixLearned, Mrs. Frank. “Social Observances: The Etiquette of Afternoon Teas.” The

Delineator. Butterick Pub. Co. New York.x

Anderson, Sam. “In Defense of Distraction.” New York Magazine. May 2009.xi

Putnam, Robert. Bowling Alone .xii

Lippmann, Walter. Public Opinion . Free Press. 1922. New York.

ALSO: The Postal Age The Death of Distance

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