Life — November 30, 1922 — page 27: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

This six-panel satirical comic depicts the progressive corruption of a well-dressed gentleman through exposure to subway travel. Each panel is labeled with a day of the week (Monday through Saturday), showing the man's appearance and behavior deteriorating as he commutes. He begins orderly and composed but gradually becomes disheveled, aggressive, and crude—pushing, shoving, and fighting with other passengers. By Saturday, he's entangled in a chaotic brawl at platform level. The satire mocks how urban transit supposedly degrades even refined individuals. It reflects early 20th-century anxieties about how modern city life and crowded public spaces corrupted social manners and civility. The "Old School" gentleman represents traditional gentility, undermined by the rough-and-tumble realities of mass transportation.