The cover for The New Yorker, What So Proudly We Hailed on November 5th, 2001 was heavily influenced by events from that time period. Looking at the date, you’ll realize that November 5th, 2001 is close to two months after the events on September 11th, 2001. More specifically, since the collapse of the twin towers was located right in New York City, New Yorkers were more touched by 9/11 thus it would only make sense for The New Yorker to publish an article about it. The cover targets many issues in America that were present at the time. The first one is the flags all over the taxi. The bright yellow taxi is a symbol of New York City, which is why it was used. Additionally There is a sign that says “God Bless America.” Those two objects as well as the title of the magazine “What So Proudly We Hail,” are references to the patriotism that was widespread throughout the US. The artist of the cover placed these objects there with the intent of showing the national pride people felt.
However, the cover doesn’t point to just positive things going on at the time, it also shows problems within society at the time. The man driving the taxi is clearly Middle Eastern, based on the head scarf he’s wearing. This could either be a reference to a common stereotype that people of middle-Eastern descent drive taxis, but based on the current time of the publication, it’s a reference to the Muslim extremists who orchestrated the attack on 9/11. The artist created binary opposition by putting a Middle-Eastern man in a taxi covered in flags to represent racism in the US towards people of Middle-Eastern descent. He put a positive thing, patriotism, next to a person who happened to be Middle-Eastern, and with the context, anyone looking at the cover would know this is a reference to racism. Also, you can tell the message is about racism because of the horrified look on the man’s face. The purpose of putting that message in the cover was most likely so people would maybe see a different perspective. Additionally, during this time period, many people were interested in war with Afghanistan, which helped promote patriotism, as well as racism towards people of Middle-Eastern descent.
The narrative being pushed by the author seems to be about patriotism and uniting the country but it could also be about the significant racism people of Middle-Eastern descent faced in the aftermath of 9/11. The author shows this by putting American symbols of patriotism next to a Middle-Eastern man, and given the context, the author does this to represent racism towards people of Middle-Eastern descent. For instance, after 9/11 the amount of people joining the military increased significantly, and many politicians from different parties were united by patriotism after 9/11. A famous example of this is the Patriot Act of 2001, in which almost all senators supported the bill which became a law. The government viewed as a way of deterring terrorism, and it’s likely the bill would’ve been split between parties if there was no patriotism.
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