Life — January 1932 — page 7: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

# "What To Do With The Wolf At The Door" This four-panel comic by T.G. Cooper uses the "wolf at the door" (a metaphor for poverty or financial hardship) as literal imagery. The panels show a starving wolf repeatedly approaching a small house. The final panel reveals the solution: a sign advertising "Police Puppies For Sale Here"—implying the wolf can be dealt with by selling police dogs, or satirically, that law enforcement offers a commercial solution to economic desperation. The accompanying text snippets discuss various social absurdities: competitive activities at prisons, marital disputes, hunting license requirements, and business austerity measures during the Great Depression era. The overall page satirizes American responses to economic hardship and social problems through quirky, darkly humorous anecdotes and visual gags.