Life — May 17, 1928 — page 17: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

This seven-panel comic tells a humorous story about occupational change during what appears to be an agricultural period in American history. The narrative follows a barber who abandons his urban trade to return to farming. The sequence shows: the barber leaving barber work, attempting farm labor (cutting grain), struggling with physical farm tasks, performing household chores, and ultimately working the land. The satire likely mocks either the romanticization of farm life or the difficulty urbanites face attempting agricultural work—a commentary on the appeal versus reality of returning to rural occupations. The comic reflects early-20th-century tensions between urban and rural American life, when such career transitions were culturally noteworthy enough to merit satirical treatment in *Life* magazine.