Life — June 1, 1922 — page 9: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

This cartoon by W.J. Enright satirizes modern urban chaos by imagining Sir Walter Raleigh attempting his legendary stunt of laying his cloak over a puddle for Queen Elizabeth I—but in a contemporary bustling city street. The humor contrasts the chivalrous, orderly past with present-day pandemonium: a crowded street filled with automobiles, pedestrians, and general commotion. Multiple figures slip and fall; people scatter chaotically. The implication is that modern city life offers no room for courtly gestures—attempting such a gallant act would be swallowed up in traffic and confusion. The cartoon mocks both modern urban disorder and the impossibility of maintaining historical civility in the contemporary world.