Judge — October 27, 1917 — page 3: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

# Analysis of Judge Magazine Cartoon This illustration depicts a domestic scene satirizing attitudes toward education. A well-dressed man sits on a desk while a woman reclines in a chair, discussing schooling. The man's quoted dialogue expresses contempt for returning to school, dismissing fellow students as "pacifists—weak eyes, and flat feet!" The satire targets elitist snobbery about physical fitness and masculinity. The reference to "pacifists" likely dates this to the World War I era (1910s-1920s), when pacifism was politically contentious and associated with perceived weakness. The cartoon mocks the speaker's shallow social prejudices and physical vanity—judging people's worth by superficial characteristics rather than intellect or character. The humor relies on depicting such attitudes as absurd and laughable to Judge's educated readership.