Life — April 5, 1917 — page 28: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

This satirical cartoon depicts a medieval castle tower being used as a refuge from debt collection. The humor relies on anachronism: a person appears to be hiding inside a fortified tower to avoid an "installment collector"—a figure who would come demanding payment for goods purchased on credit. The joke critiques modern consumer debt culture by imagining it transplanted to "ye goode olde days" of medieval times. It suggests that avoiding payment obligations is so difficult in contemporary society that one would need castle fortifications to escape creditors. The cartoon satirizes both the aggressive debt-collection practices of the era and consumers' desperation to evade financial responsibilities through any means necessary—even absurdly anachronistic ones.