Life — July 26, 1906 — page 9: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

# "Why They Married" - A Satirical Comic by Cesare Vivoli This two-panel comic uses exaggerated caricature to mock marriage motivations. The left panel depicts a poor, older man with a younger woman and child, captioned with crude reasoning about economic security. The right panel shows a woman with elaborate dress marrying a plain man, with the caption suggesting she married him because he was financially stable ("good fellow") despite being unattractive. The satire targets mercenary attitudes toward marriage prevalent in early 20th-century society—suggesting both genders married for financial rather than romantic reasons. The grotesque facial caricatures emphasize the couples' incompatibility, implying marriage was fundamentally a business transaction rather than a love match.