Life — November 20, 1931 — page 5: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

# "Life" Magazine - "What To Do With The Wolf At The Door" This four-panel comic satirizes debt collection during economic hardship. The phrase "wolf at the door" is a metaphor for creditors threatening foreclosure or seizure of property. The strip shows a homeowner progressively chaining up an aggressive dog (the "wolf") to keep bill collectors and sheriffs away. The final panel depicts a warning sign: "BILL COLLECTORS AND SHERIFFS BEWARE THE DOG!" The humor relies on inverting the threat—instead of fearing the wolf (debt), the debtor weaponizes a guard dog against creditors themselves. This reflects Depression-era anxieties about losing homes to foreclosure and mocking both creditors' aggressive collection tactics and desperate homeowners' resistance to them.