Jacob A. Riis’s informative book How The Other Half Lives overall summary is the exposing to readers the ignorance and disingenuous conditions endured in New York’s slums. He includes history about the tenements which belonged to the city’s wealthiest families and as industrialization increased it attracted many immigrants in the 19th century and the buildings were divided into overcrowded apartments for arrivals. Additionally, he mentions that cholera epidemics led people to desire reform. Tenements, according to Riis, are home to a cosmopolitan population segregated based on ethnicity, race and between Irish, Chinese, Germans, Italians, Jews, and African-Americans who, in fact, adapt to a color line. Corruption is also evidently present in
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The author directs his message to his public domain, specifically the American middle and upper classes that do not take action against these types of treatments. He states that “And so this task, too, has come to an end...I have aimed to tell the truth as I saw it.” He states that if this book was meant for the harvesting of justice, that it has certainly served its purpose. Riis clear purpose for writing this informative book centers on the argument of reforming the tenements situations and provide help not only to the unfortunate people but all population in general. In many sections of the book, Riis constantly points out and draws attention to the terrible living and working conditions of the population; therefore, his major concern is to propose efficient solutions by first bringing awareness of the discrimination occurring. Moreover, he also suggests throughout the book that aesthetic solutions alone are insufficient in this context matter and such argument is mainly to encourage a more radial change in this tenement issues. Riis also mentioned that an ideal society is envisioned by many Progressive-era reformers, the law would not be an impediment to social change but a key aspect of social reform. The photographs are a apparent evidence for such conditions about starvation and poverty and seek the need for time …show more content…
Once he states that “Half of the world know not how the other half lives” since that was his motivation to begin his decent and honest work. Riis said that his motivation for presenting such a dark circumstances was “that every man’s experience ought to be worth something to the community from which he drew it, no matter what that experience may be.” Being an immigrant from Denmark himself, Riis, felt it was his duty to present to the world the disturbing daily life experiences that many immigrants endured, including children. He was led by his interest in New York City's tenement way of life and the conditions people living there encountered and he took usage of his camera as a tool to bring about change enhanced with his photographic and writing skills. He was astonished by the extremely high levels of crime and disease due to the low socioeconomic status of the population. His goal was to deep dive into the New York’s environment and discover the population’s daily fight to survive and learn about the boundary established in the tenements.With his 1890 book How the Other Half Lives, Riis put in display in paper those living conditions in a package that was not ignored but actually recognized since many people suffered for a period of time. After this major
The author directs his message to his public domain, specifically the American middle and upper classes that do not take action against these types of treatments. He states that “And so this task, too, has come to an end...I have aimed to tell the truth as I saw it.” He states that if this book was meant for the harvesting of justice, that it has certainly served its purpose. Riis clear purpose for writing this informative book centers on the argument of reforming the tenements situations and provide help not only to the unfortunate people but all population in general. In many sections of the book, Riis constantly points out and draws attention to the terrible living and working conditions of the population; therefore, his major concern is to propose efficient solutions by first bringing awareness of the discrimination occurring. Moreover, he also suggests throughout the book that aesthetic solutions alone are insufficient in this context matter and such argument is mainly to encourage a more radial change in this tenement issues. Riis also mentioned that an ideal society is envisioned by many Progressive-era reformers, the law would not be an impediment to social change but a key aspect of social reform. The photographs are a apparent evidence for such conditions about starvation and poverty and seek the need for time …show more content…
Once he states that “Half of the world know not how the other half lives” since that was his motivation to begin his decent and honest work. Riis said that his motivation for presenting such a dark circumstances was “that every man’s experience ought to be worth something to the community from which he drew it, no matter what that experience may be.” Being an immigrant from Denmark himself, Riis, felt it was his duty to present to the world the disturbing daily life experiences that many immigrants endured, including children. He was led by his interest in New York City's tenement way of life and the conditions people living there encountered and he took usage of his camera as a tool to bring about change enhanced with his photographic and writing skills. He was astonished by the extremely high levels of crime and disease due to the low socioeconomic status of the population. His goal was to deep dive into the New York’s environment and discover the population’s daily fight to survive and learn about the boundary established in the tenements.With his 1890 book How the Other Half Lives, Riis put in display in paper those living conditions in a package that was not ignored but actually recognized since many people suffered for a period of time. After this major