Life — July 14, 1921 — page 23: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

This three-panel comic satirizes the Adam and Eve creation myth. In the first panel, Eve naively accepts the serpent's offer of forbidden fruit for education. In the second, Adam curses the serpent for getting them expelled from Eden but then has an opportunistic idea. The final panel shows Adam has turned the talking snake into a carnival attraction, charging admission to gawk at it—transforming divine punishment into profit. The satire targets American entrepreneurship and hucksterism: even after catastrophic failure, Adam immediately monetizes the source of his downfall. It's a commentary on how quickly people exploit novelty for commercial gain, turning sacred narrative into cheap spectacle.