Puck — July 25, 1877 — page 1: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

# Analysis of Puck Magazine, July 25, 1877 **Main Cartoon: "Digging Their Own Graves"** This political satire depicts a skeletal figure labeled "The Belliger[ent] Striker" wielding a scythe in a cemetery. The caption suggests labor strikers are self-destructively harming themselves through their actions. The cartoon references the **1877 railroad strikes**—violent labor unrest that swept across America that summer. The imagery equates strikers with death and destruction, portraying the labor movement as ultimately fatal to strikers themselves rather than to their employers. The skeleton's appearance and graveyard setting convey that Puck's editors viewed strikes as doomed, self-defeating endeavors. This reflects the magazine's apparent anti-labor position during this pivotal moment in American labor history.