Life — January 9, 1908 — page 5: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

# Analysis of Life Magazine Page 49 This satirical page contains several distinct pieces: **"Prehistoric Times"** (left illustration): A caveman's brain depicted as a stone tablet crowded with modern concerns—dinosaurs, football, snow, etc.—satirizing how primitive human cognition struggles with contemporary complexity. **"Music or Morals?"**: Critiques New York's Sunday blue laws restricting activities. The piece argues that requiring musicians to work (rather than rest) on Sundays for pay contradicts the spiritual purpose of the Sabbath, while noting that servants and clergy already work Sundays without protest. **Fashion cartoon** (right): A woman in fashionable dress with the caption "WHY DO THEY CALL HER AN IBSEN GIRL?"—likely mocking women who adopt avant-garde styles while lacking intellectual substance. The page overall satirizes contemporary American social hypocrisy and cultural pretension.