Life, 1885-09-24 · page 6 of 16
Life — September 24, 1885 — page 6: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
# Analysis of Life Magazine Page 174 This page satirizes the absurdity of having a tail, using it as a metaphor for social burdens. The text argues that a tail would create endless practical problems: difficulty sitting, needing special pockets for money, becoming a tool for tracking delinquents, and appearing ridiculous in rain. The cartoons illustrate these indignities: a man struggling with a "drag" (tail pulling behind), someone using it to "hold upon the floating population" (controlling crowds), a man awkwardly managing an umbrella with his tail, and another losing dignity removing his hat without dropping his gloves. The underlying satire critiques how inherited or permanent social disadvantages—likely referencing class status or racial identity—force individuals into undignified compromises, despite the dominant culture's expectation that they maintain composure and respectability.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
174 whose life is rendered hardly worth the living through the constant demands upon his pocket for change to the amount of two dollars, would have found a narrative a most useful affair in manning the brakes. And, indeed, in other respects he would have been better off, for the tail could easily have been inserted in the change aperture for the purpose of tap- ping delinquent wayfarers on the back as a reminder. Paterfamilias with a tail would have found his JOYS MORE JOYOUS and his burdens would have become much less of A DRAG upon him. The tender-hearted policeman could have increased his HOLD UPON THE FLOATING POPULATION, - LIFE: The man of business would have been spared much trouble by the survival of the member, and inclement weather would have ceased to possess any terrors to those endowed by nature with a double BACK-ACTION UMBRELLA HOLDER. It is to the long-suffering, much abused dude, however, that the discarded appendage would have proved the greatest luxury. He is forced, as it is, to bear with equanimity veiled hints as to his possible connection with the Simian race, and it is the chief end in life even to the dude to be as perfect a specimen of his being as can be created. Then, too, by force of contrast, HIS LEGS WOULD HAVE APPEARED SHAPELY and he would have been saved the loss of many pairs of trousers and much dignity, because he would have been able to remove his hat in the street without dropping his gloves and having to lean over to pick them up.