Life — December 14, 1916 — page 7: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

# Analysis This page from *Life* magazine contains a cartoon and essay about accepting life's disappointments. **The Cartoon** ("Locating an Author") depicts a bookstore scene where a customer asks a clerk about the author of "Fifteen Decisive Battles of the World." The clerk responds that he doesn't know the author's name but thinks "it was some married man"—a joke implying that married men are so burdened by domestic responsibilities they have no identity of their own. **The Essay** ("Accepting the Inevitable") philosophically discusses how wise people accept life's inevitable hardships rather than futilely resisting them. It uses the metaphor of gold mining to illustrate acceptance, concluding with a dialogue where someone notes their gold mine is "worth its weight in paper"—a light joke about dubious financial value. Both pieces use gentle humor to comment on practical life realities: marital subordination and financial uncertainty.