Life — July 22, 1926 — page 12: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

# Analysis This page from *Life* magazine contains satirical prose poems and humor pieces. The main cartoon shows a bartender and customer discussing Prohibition—the constitutional ban on alcohol (1920-1933). The customer remarks that he'll "bet that promise has the customary renewal clause," sarcastically suggesting that prohibitionists' promises to "dry up the country before Christmas" are as reliable as business renewal clauses (i.e., repeatedly broken). The accompanying prose poems mock various social types: gossiping women ("June Bugs"), argumentative men ("Sining Little Dogs"), and clergy who pontificate without offering new ideas ("Cicadas"). The "Born but to Diet" section jokes about inherited fatness. The overall tone is cynical about political promises and human nature.