Reading his future

1906

In this biting 1906 illustration, a worried young man in a plaid suit consults a hunched, ragged fortune teller under a sign reading 'Madame Democracy Palmist.' The palmist is dressed in a red hood and pants covered in magician's symbols like rabbits and stars, suggesting that democracy is being treated as a cheap parlor trick or a charlatan's game. Frank Arthur Nankivell, a famous cartoonist for *Puck* magazine, used this satirical scene to critique the political uncertainty of the Progressive Era, showing a citizen anxious about what the 'magic' of democracy holds for his future.

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