The Wasp — 1894 — page 473: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

This cartoon satirizes upper-class social pretension through a dinner scene. Three wealthy diners are shown, with the caption identifying them as Miss Octavia Streete, Dr. Joinville, and Mr. de Joinville. The joke appears to center on affected speech and social climbing: when Miss Streete asks what they're eating, Dr. Joinville responds with deliberately obscure language about "one owes, something to one's position in society"—suggesting he's using pretentious terminology to describe what is apparently common food, thereby mocking how the wealthy use elaborate language to elevate themselves socially. The cartoon critiques artificial gentility and class affectation typical of Gilded Age satire.