Puck — February 27, 1878 — page 3: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

# Analysis of Puck Page 3 This page contains two distinct pieces: **"The Deserter"** (a dramatic scene set in Bohemia) and **"The Arion Ball"** (a humorous account of a lavish social event). "The Deserter" appears to be a serialized play or story about romantic entanglement, featuring dialogue between characters in Paris and a husband-wife conflict—typical melodramatic fare of the era. **"The Arion Ball,"** more clearly satirical, mocks an elaborate masquerade ball at Gilmore's Garden. The author ridicules the excessive spectacle: overwrought costumes, pretentious "processions," and social climbing. The satire targets upper-class pretension—critiquing how attendees waste money on garish displays while believing themselves cultured. The complaint that the ball "represented Folly in many forms" suggests mockery of gilded-age excess and artificial sophistication among New York's wealthy.