Life — October 13, 1887 — page 8: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

# Analysis This page from *Life* magazine contains a satirical illustration about social aspiration and class mobility. The central image depicts a large female figure (representing either ambition or a society matron) presiding over a social scene. Below, a couple discusses their financial prospects, with the man reassuring his companion: "Never mind if we do have burdens now, my dear, we will be at the top of the hill one of these days and take our ease." The cartoon satirizes the American dream and middle-class optimism about upward mobility. The heading references "cards that are" (text cuts off), suggesting the satire concerns how people are "dealt with" socially or financially. The elaborate costume and theatrical staging mock both the pretensions of social climbing and the naive faith in future prosperity.