As we have been pointing out for the last two weeks, the postcard cartoonists enjoyed a gentle laugh at a romantic couple of contrasting sizes, while at the same time showing that love is not hampered by such concerns. What DOES hamper love? Well, in the view of the cartoonists, the chief obstacle to love is marriage.
Money, of course, is a major sticking point when it comes to maintaining happiness in wedlock. But I’m sure you have noticed another thing those first two postcards have I common.
Yeah, even if the money is flowing the other direction, the put-upon husband is always thinner and usually shorter than his masterful wife.
This holds true even when the issue is some other little chore to be performed.
You’d think the joke would be funnier is the henpecked husband was the tall, round one and a tiny little wife was doing the bossing around. But the joke was standardized early on: the timid little husband and his huge wife were classics in the world of comedy.
It must be noted, of course, that the husband is not always blameless in these little comedies of marital woe. You will note, by the by, that this man has learned no lessons, and is STILL fascinated by women bigger than he.
The large round wife is sometimes just trying to keep order in a marriage where the attention of the man involved is wandering.
Somebody has to maintain a proper system, and sometimes a couple’s personal manner of maintenance can be misread, especially when a rolling pin is involved, as something unhealthy.
Perhaps this is all just an effort by the cartoonists to remind us that we shouldn’t judge a person’s conduct until we have walked a mile in her apron. What seems violent to us may be just another Tuesday to a properly instructed husband.
I mean, just look at the expression of satisfaction and inner joy on the face of a man whose wife keeps order around the house. Yes, this joy is so inner that we can’t see it, bur perhaps the cartoonist is just suggesting….
Okay, no, that is NOT what the cartoonists are suggesting.
I do not have any data on the personal lives of any of these cartoonists, but I THINK they are really suggesting an answer to this question. Or perhaps it’s just a warning to single men to at least pick on someone their own size.
Blogsy Babbles 