Life — March 22, 1929 — page 5: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

This cover cartoon illustrates a divorce settlement, showing a man and woman embracing outside a "Divorce Court" as a hat lies discarded on the ground—suggesting hasty departure or emotional turbulence. The caption "Settled out of court" is a legal pun: divorce cases could be resolved through settlement agreements rather than full court proceedings. The satire appears to mock the ease and emotional casualness of divorce in 1920s America, particularly among the wealthy classes Life's readership represented. The intimate embrace suggests either reconciliation or relief at avoiding public court proceedings. The cartoon likely critiques both the prevalence of divorce and the tendency to treat serious marital dissolution as a transactional matter rather than a moral issue—reflecting contemporary anxiety about changing social values.