The World's Wages

This photo comes from All The Year Round magazine which was a British literary magazine in 1868. This article comes before Miss Clack’s narration of Period Two, Chapter One.

The article talks about snakes, which can be related back to the story of Adam and Eve. As Miss. Clack considers herself to be a good Christian woman, her associating with snakes would be unthinkable. Knowing the ending of The Moonstone, the snake in Miss. Clack’s life would be Mr. Godfrey, but Miss. Clack could be a snake herself in a sense. Miss. Clack puts on a show to look as if she does right by her God, but she does a lot of non-Christian like things, including her eavesdropping and lacking sympathy for others.

The World’s Wages also talks about a horse that is about to be killed because of its lack of use, which could also relate back to both Mr. Godfrey and Miss. Clack. Mr. Godfrey is quite an older man that is still working for a family, while Miss. Clack, according to her society, should have been married already and is not as young as the other women and men are now looking past her at younger women, even if she is interested at being courted. The horse in the article shows that once one reaches a certain age, the world looks at you differently. Through this text, it shows that Miss. Clack’s age might play a role in her bitterness towards some of the younger women in the text, as they are younger and will get courted much more often than she would.