The idealized images in catalogues contrasted sharply with real life.

Evidence

I first became fascinated with the Sears catalogue because all the people in its pages were perfect. … But the people in the catalogue had no such hurts. — Crews, Harry, A childhood the biography of a place, 301

Categorization

• corroborated: 2 independent passages support this claim — Crews, Harry, A childhood the biography of a place, 301
• XREF: connects to: Mediated images of the world produce a felt smallness that spurs and frustrates writing. — Karl Ove Knausgaard, A Death in the Family, 1204