Life — June 3, 1897 — page 7: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

# Analysis This page presents a single illustration with accompanying dialogue, appearing to satirize changing social attitudes toward courtship and engagement. The cartoon depicts two women in Edwardian-era dress. The left figure, wearing a striped dress and hat, holds a riding crop and appears animated or exasperated. The right figure stands more formally in dark clothing. The quoted dialogue critiques modern dating practices: the speaker (likely an older woman, possibly "Grandma" based on the text) complains that contemporary girls' behavior regarding engagements is "positively awful," contrasting it with her youth when women "didn't do that." She then asks if times have improved since then. The satire targets generational anxiety about changing courtship norms—specifically, women's increasingly active role in romantic pursuits and engagement decisions, which older generations viewed as improper. The illustration mocks both the older woman's nostalgia and implicit disapproval of female independence.