The Wasp — 1889 — page 396: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

This page contains **satirical dialogue and humor pieces** rather than visual cartoons. The sections mock various social pretensions and absurdities: - **"No Real Style"**: Mocks an opera attendee who claims artistic appreciation while admitting she attended a "low-down entertainment" featuring glass-eating performers. - **"A Puzzled Witness"**: A judge interrogates a witness about courtroom testimony, satirizing legal obtuseness and bureaucratic stupidity. - **"The Maternal Eye"** and other brief humor pieces: Mock domestic life, religious hypocrisy, and social conventions. The satire targets **class pretension, legal incompetence, and middle-class affectation**—typical targets of American satirical magazines of this era. The humor relies on dialogue exposing contradictions between people's stated values and actual behavior.