Life — October 31, 1930 — page 6: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

# Analysis of "A Plea For Miniature Lion Hunting" This is a humorous essay by Tom Sims satirizing the tedious monotony of office work. The accompanying sketch shows two men in an indoor setting, illustrating the piece's central conceit. Sims argues that if miniature golf can be a recreational fad, why not "miniature lion hunting" as office entertainment? He describes an absurd indoor jungle hunt—tracking lions in a small space, with predetermined rules about where elephants and tigers can be positioned. The satire targets the boredom and repetitiveness of modern business life ("hunts at the office. Business is good..."). By proposing an increasingly ridiculous alternative recreation, Sims mocks how office workers seek escape from monotonous routines through fashionable pastimes like miniature golf, suggesting even fabricated danger would be preferable to their actual work environment.