"The Dance of Death"


This file appears in: The Reservation
"The Dance of Death"

Published in the January 31, 1912 edition of the American satirical magazine Puck, this illustration pokes fun at those who believed new dances such as the grizzly bear and the turkey trot would lead female participants to fall into the vice of prostitution. Although it is a parody, the crude caricature of the hellish landscape of the red-light district reveals many of the popularly held perceptions concerning “fallen women” and their unfavorable environments filled with darkness, disease, and poverty.


This file appears in: The Reservation