The Wasp — 1890 — page 342: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

This satirical cartoon depicts a grotesque muscular figure seated atop a structure made of wooden blocks, elevated above a crowd of working-class men in formal dress below. The figure appears to represent wealthy capitalists or industrial magnates of the Gilded Age period. The composition suggests a hierarchy of power and wealth—the bloated, powerful figure literally elevated above laborers and common citizens, who gesture upward in apparent supplication or protest. The wooden-block "throne" likely symbolizes the constructed, unstable nature of this wealth disparity. The visible text fragment "ITH $20,000!" suggests monetary amounts relevant to the satire, possibly referencing wages, profits, or wealth disparities of the era. This reflects *The Wasp*'s typical critique of industrial capitalism and the stark class divisions of late 19th-century America.