Puck — September 12, 1877 — page 9: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

This Puck cartoon satirizes what appears to be a funeral scene with two panels showing contrasting behavior. The upper section depicts mourners at a funeral maintaining solemn, respectful demeanor. The lower section, labeled "After the Funeral," shows the same figures engaged in rowdy, undignified conduct—fighting, carousing, and behaving badly. The satire likely critiques hypocrisy: the contrast between people's public displays of respectability and grief versus their true, unrestrained character once the formal occasion ends. The figures appear to be wealthy or prominent individuals, suggested by their formal dress, making the commentary on class hypocrisy particularly pointed. This was a common Puck theme—exposing the gap between pretense and reality.