Judge — April 3, 1920 — page 4: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

# Analysis This illustration depicts an elegant interior scene with two figures in formal dress conversing near ornate furniture. The dialogue references "Hemingway's wife" and mentions giving up "kissing" during Lent, followed by the couple's return from the South after Easter. The satire appears to target Ernest Hemingway and his spouse, likely playing on contemporary gossip about their relationship or lifestyle. The Lenten sacrifice reference—jokingly suggesting the wife was given up like a religious observance—suggests marital infidelity or separation rumors circulating in high society. The mention of remaining in the South until Easter implies social absence from New York circles. Without additional context about the specific date and Hemingway's biographical circumstances during this period, the precise scandal remains unclear, but the cartoon mocks aristocratic social pretenses and marital instability among the literary elite.