Life — February 9, 1922 — page 7: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

# Analysis This page contains an illustration and a short fable. The sketch shows an adult and child at a doorway with a "TO LET" sign, depicting the caption's exchange: "My child, you should not sit there. You will catch cold." / "But I love a cold." The accompanying fable explains the satirical point: a man everyone called "Fool" was tolerated by his community because they believed their mockery would teach him sense. However, he grew comfortable with his foolish status and acquired a dishonest character. When the community finally rejected him as "a rogue and a dishonest fellow," it was too late—he'd internalized their low expectations. This is moral satire about how society enables dysfunction through enabling toleration, and how people can become what others assume them to be.