Life — August 30, 1900 — page 7: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

# Analysis This is a satirical cartoon from *Life* magazine (page 167) depicting a street scene where a woman in elaborate dress holding a parasol confronts two men about an apartment lease. The cartoon mocks wealthy women's attitudes toward rental agreements. The woman's ornate clothing and imperious posture suggest she's wealthy or pretentious. She wants to change a lease term from six months to ten years—an unusual and unreasonable request. The joke targets upper-class women's entitlement and their willingness to make arbitrary demands of service providers (the real estate agent), expecting compliance simply due to their social status. The artist is T.K. Hanna (signed lower left). The humor derives from the absurdity of her negotiating position and the agent's polite but bewildered response to her demand.