Life, 1911-11-02 · page 22 of 56
Life — November 2, 1911 — page 22: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This satirical piece mocks the American tendency to disguise negativity as tradition. The "Pessimists' Club" proclamation exposes Thanksgiving as fundamentally melancholy—a day of "universal melancholy, concealed under the hypocritical guise of merriment." The joke lies in the menu: foods contaminated with toxic substances (typhoid oysters, boracic acid olives, coal tar strawberry jam)—darkly comic imagery suggesting life's poisons. The accompanying cartoons show a dejected man and a woman in distress, visualizing the "utter hopelessness" the club celebrates. The satire targets American optimism as performative hypocrisy. Rather than pretend Thanksgiving brings joy, the club institutionalizes pessimism as honest philosophy. The piece suggests that gathering to acknowledge shared misery is more authentic than family gatherings that force artificial cheer. It's social commentary on American denial and the gap between public celebration and private discontent.
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764 «LIFE « Thanksgiving Dinner for All Pessimists It Will Be Given Under the Auspices of the Pessimists’ Club, and Everybody in America Who Can Come is Expected to Be Present THe Pessimists’ Club will hold its al Thanksgiving dinner this year. The following proclamation has been sent out to all members: Whereas, Everybody understands that Thanksgiving is in reality a day of universal melancholy, concealed under the hypocritical guise of merri- ment; therefore, be it Resolved, That the p America set aside the last of November as an occasion phasizing the hopeless condition which we, as a nation, gotten ourselves to; which inwardly we all recognize, but which we are ashamed to admit outwardly. And, furthermore, let it be under- stood that the great numbers of pessi- mists who will undoubtedly attend this dinner should not lead us to any fee ing of false encouragement; it is really only an additional evidence of the unanimity we all feel with regard to our lamentable state. mists of Thursday 3 for em- The menu of the dinner is as fol- lows: Imported typhoid oysters. Boracic acid olives. Pyroxide celery. Chemically prepared tomato soup. Canned lobsters, tanni ce. Cold storage turkey, cochineal cran- berries. Alum tarts, coal tar strawberry jam. Yellow ochre pumpkin pie. A\fter-dinner chicory demi tasse. icylic soda biscuits. Pittsburg bons. Cokeberry claret, Jersey champagn As a rule, we pay no attention to complaints, as they are so numerous and because nothing be done about them, but in this instance one of our members has written us as follows about this Thanksgiving dinner: “IT see no reason why our club should give a Thanksgiving dinner. Of course, I recognize the fact that at the dinner the traditions of the club will be preserved and that it will be simply a chance to unite us once a year pessimists. But why is this necessary? The object of the average family Thanksgiving dinner is to create as much sadness as possible; why, therefore, is a Pessimists’ Club dinner going to add anything to the gravity of nations? Things couldn't be any worse; why go to all of this bother?” In reply, we will say that it is not the intention of the management of the club to take any member away from a family Thanksgiving dinner—especially if this happens to be a large family affair—if he thinks that he is going cretly to be as unhappy as possible, ‘surrounded in his own home by his own relatives. But it must be remem- bered that in our club we have the at- mosphere and the spirit of pessimism fully developed on scientific principles and we firmly believe that every mem- ber will have a fuller and more complete sense of the utter hopelessness of every- Perfectos. cose bon more firml, thing by attending our dinner than he could possibly have at home. By all means, bring your relatives if you think they will add anything to the melancholy of the occasion. Almost everyone of us has some relative who has the reputation for having a keen sense of humor, and who never fails to vent it on everyone within range; these are the people we are looking for. And if they are in the habit of playing prac- tical jokes, so much the worse; bring them along by all means. Since sending out the preliminary notice about this dinner we have bee receiving acceptances from all over the country. One member writes: “T shall be at the Thanksgiving din- ner, realizing that even at home I prob- ably cannot have a worse time. At Thanksgiving what have we to look forward to? Nothing, indeed, but Christmas shopping and Christmas bills! This is the time also when we should all remember that New Year's is approaching—New Year's, with its awful possibilities. I hope that you have considered these matters, and will have them dwelt upon at the dinner.” This leads us to instruct all our guests who will be present at the Thanksgiving dinner as follows: You will be expected to stuff your- self as full as possible. While this * The object of the average Thanksgiving dinner comicbooks