Life — August 18, 1921 — page 9: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

# Cartoon Explanation This cartoon depicts a beach scene where a man is being told "Hey, Mister, yer wife's drownin'!" He responds dismissively: "Oh! Nonsense, my boy! Why, I'm not even married!" The satire appears to be a simple joke about a bachelor's indifference to a drowning woman—playing on period attitudes about unmarried men having no responsibility toward unknown women. The humor relies on the absurdist logic of his response: he denies responsibility because she isn't *his* wife, implying he'd only care if she were. The accompanying text discusses hotel and bathing conditions at Armenian resorts, suggesting this cartoon illustrates contemporary beach culture and social attitudes of the era.