Life — July 13, 1922 — page 10: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

# Analysis of This Life Magazine Page **The Cartoon:** The illustration depicts a woman in a large hat telling a group of seated women she must leave to work on her Ph.D. thesis. The satire mocks educated women attempting serious academic work while maintaining social obligations—a tension of early 20th-century feminism. **The Articles:** "On the Deplorable Lack of Scholarship in American Humorists" criticizes humor writers for lacking intellectual depth and formal education. The author complains that contemporary humorists rely on entertainment ("Fun") rather than learning from classical sources or academic traditions like Oxford or Heidelberg degrees. "Thoughts in the Street Cars" presents mundane observations from urban transit—an absurdist commentary on modern life's trivialities and social anxieties. Both pieces satirize contemporary American culture's anti-intellectual tendencies.