The Wasp — 1888 — page 10: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

# "An Outcast" - The Wasp, January 7, 1888 This satirical cartoon depicts a disheveled musician or street performer being ejected from respectable society. The figure in the center, carrying what appears to be a violin or musical instrument, is being physically expelled from a building marked "Receiving Hospital." On the left, a well-dressed man ejects him from a "Board of Health" establishment, while on the right another gentleman throws him out of the hospital. The scene suggests social rejection and exclusion from civic institutions. The cartoon likely critiques either: public health policy excluding the poor, discrimination against immigrant musicians, or sanitation/vagrancy enforcement that displaced marginalized populations from San Francisco in the 1880s. The title "An Outcast" emphasizes the victim's social status. The specific context remains unclear without additional historical documentation.