Off to the Races

I believe that this photo is meant to demonstrate the race that everyone is in when trying to figure the entire mystery of the moonstone. Both photos depict two separate types of races. Leighton and Surridge suggest that “… the illustration American Moonstone as they call for and model a scholarship that explores the interplay of visual and verbal text …” (Leighton and Surridge 210), these photos represent the “race against time” for Franklin to try and prove to Rachel that he did not steal the actual diamond. The “race” here being those involved in the crime trying to prove what happened to the diamond. For Franklin it is him attempting to prove to Rachel he is innocent before she finds someone new to marry. The top photo of the boat race could represent the race that the Indians in the novel are competing in while trying to retrieve the diamond and return it to its rightful place. The water being the representation of them coming from overseas. Whereas the horse races represent the higher-class people that are in the story. Having the illustration of the races also implements betting on a winner giving the readers a sense of competition which is seen throughout The Moonstone when each character is trying to solve the mystery.   

Collins, Wilkie “Chapter VIII” The Moonstone. Oxford University Press, 2008. pp 351- 364. Print.  

Leighton, Mary Elizabeth and Lisa Surridge. "The Transatlantic Moonstone: A Study of the Illustrated Serial   in Harper's Weekly." Victorian Periodicals Review, vol. 42 no. 3, 2009, p. 207-243. Project                  MUSE, doi:10.1353/vpr.0.0083