Copyrighted by the city of Washington on Jan. 26 1885
The author M. Marques wanted the reader to see how much of an impact alcoholic beverages had on men and their families. He/She was really against alcohol consumption during the 1800's. You can tell because the there is not one hint of a good thing happening in this image. This drawing is very believable because it is stamped with a copyright for the city of Washington on Jan. 26 1885. This must of been put into a newspaper of a promotional article.
When this article was produced, there was a lot of trouble with men getting drunk to often. When they got drunk, they often committed crimes. A very frequent crime that happened was domestic violence toward their wives or kids. This was a huge problem during the 1800's. This drawing gives a good representation of the problem. It shows a man about to punch his wife with an empty mug on the ground. His son and o daughter are trying to stop him and his other daughter has just come through the door with a scared face on. The words below the picture say "Through the constant use of liquor he loses, at all times, all control of himself and in one of these moments kills his wife." This teaches us that when men constantly drinks, they lose control of themselves and could easily kill their wife. The picture pretty much sums up the problem of drinking during the 1800's.
M. Marques is claiming that while men are under the influence of alcohol, they will be very violent because they lose all control of themselves. The author is really just trying to convince the reader that obsessive consumption of alcohol leads to horrible domestic violence which could lead to your wife's death.
