Abstract

Charlie expresses his characteristic myopic skepticism. Whereupon Lucy proves her point by behaving, by executing three rudimentary dance-steps. First she extends her right foot, toes pointed, head turned in the same direction. Second, she repeats the same step in obverse, left foot extended, head turned to the left. Finally she brings both feet together, looks straight ahead in a fixity of beady-eyed concentration and, with ostrich-like stiffness, executes a minute, almost imperceptible flexure of both knees. In the last panel of the cartoon, her three-second dance-repertory exhausted, Lucy turns to Charlie (who by this time is glassy-eyed and freaked out) and remarks, That cost my Dad eleven dollars and fifty cents. On the most obvious level, the cartoon is a gentle putdown on the affluent and doting American parent, usually suburban, who is intent on giving his little monster all the advantages. On a deeper level, it is a commentary on the American obsession with cost-account-