Judge — December 27, 1924 — page 5: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

# Analysis This is a two-panel satirical cartoon about marriage and divorce. The top panel shows a husband literally dragging his wife away while she protests his changed behavior—he's now cruel to animals and treats her poorly. The wife sarcastically notes this contradicts his former kindness. The bottom panel depicts a courtroom verdict: "NOT GUILTY!! AND SOME LOOKER!!" The judge or jury apparently acquitted the husband on charges (likely divorce-related), and someone comments approvingly on the wife's appearance rather than addressing the serious marital misconduct described above. The satire targets how courts and society often dismissed women's complaints about mistreatment while judges and observers reduced women to their physical appearance—a commentary on both judicial bias and the superficiality with which women's grievances were treated in early 20th-century America.