Life — December 7, 1916 — page 57: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

This is a twelve-panel comic strip titled "Christmas Life" that satirizes the theatrical performance of Christmas sentiment. It depicts the "stages" of experiencing Christmas as if orchestrating a play: 1. **"The Audience"** - ordinary people watching 2. **"The Entrance"** - a dramatic character arrival 3. **"The Loss of Memory"** - forced forgetfulness of past grievances 4. **"The Stage Wait"** - anticipatory tension 5. **"The Sinking Feeling"** - emotional descent 6. **"The Prompt"** - a character delivering false reassurance ("Scorn his not, fair one—I am yours!") 7. **"The Exit"** - departure from the performance 8. **"The Congratulations"** - false celebration The satire suggests Christmas goodwill is performative theater—people artificially adopt cheerfulness and forgiveness, suppress negative memories, and congratulate themselves on the charade. The exaggerated caricatures and stage directions emphasize the artificiality of seasonal sentiment.