Life — July 23, 1925 — page 8: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

# Life Magazine "Life Lines" Page Analysis This satirical page combines brief social commentary with a cartoon about Prohibition-era bootlegging. The central illustration shows a monkey in a hat and coat at a window, captioned "Monkey: Am I my keeper's brother?" — likely satirizing how Prohibition drove ordinary people to criminality. The surrounding text snippets mock various 1920s topics: women in business, Detroit's bootlegging operations, British drinking habits during Prohibition, and the Volstead Act's enforcement (noting a New Yorker sentenced 26 times for drunkenness). The right column's "Girls Will Be Boys" section satirizes flappers adopting masculine behaviors—smoking, drinking, swearing, and getting bobbed haircuts—treating these as markers of gender confusion rather than feminist progress. The page reflects Jazz Age anxieties about social upheaval.