Life — October 22, 1914 — page 27: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

This satirical cartoon depicts various types of people a woman might wish to disassociate from socially. The central oval portrait shows an elegant, well-dressed woman with elaborate hair and jewelry—presumably the subject trying to maintain respectability. Surrounding her are figures representing undesirable "relatives": a man in working-class plaid clothing, a sailor or military man at a table with a bottle, a woman in theatrical/revealing costume, a man in formal dress, and a lower-class couple at a table. The cartoon satirizes social climbing and class anxiety—specifically, how people try to distance themselves from relatives of lower social status or questionable professions (performers, laborers, drunkards). It mocks the pretension of aspiring to higher social standing by literally hiding embarrassing family connections.