Life — August 23, 1917 — page 10: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

# Analysis of This Life Magazine Page The illustration shows an angel holding a child in clouds, with a rifle below—clearly satirizing post-WWI morality debates. The caption reads: "She: ARE YOU SURE WE AREN'T DOING WRONG? / 'OH, YES! THIS IS PERMISSIBLE IN THE SEVENTH HEAVEN.'" The accompanying article discusses Dr. John Dewey's observations on how war has disrupted traditional family structures and moral values. It references concerns about increased infidelity, "unauthorized" children, and polygamy resulting from millions of dead soldiers and displaced men. The satire cuts both ways: the angel-and-child imagery ironically suggests that illicit relationships producing children might somehow be "permissible" even in heaven—mocking both religious hypocrisy and society's struggle to reconcile wartime chaos with traditional morality.