Life — October 9, 1919 — page 13: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

This is a single-panel cartoon from Life magazine (page 627) depicting a domestic scene. A man and woman sit in a parlor; he holds papers while she reclines on a sofa in a relaxed pose. The caption reads: **He:** "SHALL WE GO TO A COMEDY OR A TRAGEDY? PERSONALLY, I AM TIRED OF COMEDIES." **She:** "THEN WE MIGHT STAY AT HOME." The satire targets marital discord, suggesting the woman views their home life as inherently tragic or unpleasant. The joke implies that staying home with his wife would be more depressing than attending a theater tragedy—a commentary on unhappy domestic relationships and, implicitly, female dissatisfaction in marriage. The cartoon uses theatrical framing (comedy vs. tragedy) to mock both the couple's relationship and broader marriage dynamics of the era.