Life — September 9, 1920 — page 12: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

# "Why Wigglums and I Are Bachelors" - Life Magazine Satire This article satirizes married life through the narrator's observations of his friend Mrs. Josephs. The cartoon illustrates a man asking an office boy, "Yes, I need an office boy. Is your son trustworthy?" The boy responds, "Oh, yes, sir! But of course he understands business is business." The satire targets how marriage and domestic life trap men through constant financial demands—wives acquiring possessions (household gadgets, improved bread-making devices, furnaces) that require endless maintenance and expense. The narrator suggests marriage forces men into slavery to pay for their wives' acquisitions. The cartoon's dialogue ironically jokes about business integrity while the article argues marriage itself is the worst "business" for a man, justifying bachelor status.