“- Isn't he cute like that, Dodore... with a little bit of cleaning up, he is just not the same child any more!...,” plate 37 from Les Bons Bourgeois 1847

Honoré Daumier created “- Isn't he cute like that, Dodore… with a little bit of cleaning up, he is just not the same child any more!...,” a lithograph, as part of his series *Les Bons Bourgeois*. Daumier lived through a period of immense social and political change in France. His work often critiqued the values and behaviors of the bourgeoisie, the rising middle class. Here, we see a father meticulously cleaning his child, while the mother prepares fancy hats. The caption tells us the child is not the same after cleaning up, suggesting a loss of innocence or authenticity. Daumier’s class-based critique touches on anxieties about identity and social mobility. Are they trying to make the child more palatable, more in line with their aspirations? The image makes us question the performance of identity and the price of assimilation. Daumier uses humor to expose uncomfortable truths about social climbing, revealing a poignant commentary on the human condition.