Life, 1891-07-09 · page 7 of 14
Life — July 9, 1891 — page 7: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
# "Chivalry" - Life Magazine Cartoon Analysis This cartoon satirizes outdated Victorian notions of chivalry. A well-dressed man (Tom Dewitt) refuses to allow a woman (Miss Holder) to do work, claiming he's "solicitous for Miss Holder" and can't bear "seeing a woman doing a man's work." The satire targets the hypocrisy of male chivalry—men claim to protect women while simultaneously excluding them from economic participation and opportunity. The accompanying text critiques how "one half the world does not know how the other half lives," suggesting that privileged men remain ignorant of women's actual circumstances and capabilities. The final paragraph mocks railroad companies' similar paternalistic logic, implying that institutional sexism masquerades as protective concern.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
CHIVALRY. ON'T YOU ALLOW ME TO RELIEVE YOU, Miss HOLDER ? ONLY SOLICITOUS FOR Miss HOLDER, I NEVER COULD REAR TO SEE A WOMAN DOING A MAN'S WORK NE half the world d not know how the other half “TH id companies seem to think that man was lives—nor in man: uld the former half be ¢ h willing to have it known 4 with pas the express purpose of furnishing them comicbooks.com