The Introduction and the first chapter of the Riis’s book “How the Other Lives”, seem to vividly depict drastic changes in New York City’s demographic structure, which happened during the vast immigration wave of 1880’s. His photograph projections intrigued and shocked the opulent class, since it was not aware of the struggles of those underneath. Riis’s life’s work has only gained in relevance as the time was passing, since overcrowded tenements persisted in modified forms and shapes to this day.
It is for this reason that Riis’s works has occupied my attention – being an immigrant and living in the same city he wrote about a century ago, I can see remnants of the doomed legacy of those who pursued their freedom or escaped prosecution and …show more content…
Menacing by landlords Riis’s talks about in his works is still very much and issue due to landlords’ awareness of their tenants’ monetary situations, so the tenants would not have means to sue their landlords although they might have firm grounds to do so. Like the tenants of tenements were usually victims of landlords’ self-will, it also happened to me that my deposit was retained in full by landlords under the excuse that the apartment was damaged. The truth is that I found both apartments in filthy state, and cleaned up both of them. I even painted one room because the walls had not been painted for years. However, now as then, the money rules and it is hard to exercise some of the basic rights if you are not economically well situated.
In chapter three, Riis observes the New York’s phenomenon of the city being divided into small distinct communities of settlers from all around the world. While one of the greatest characteristics of this country is that its immigrants relatively quickly assimilate and adopt the most prominent American norms and values, New York City has been always holding out. Here, as the author mentions, it is hard to hear someone call himself an American. It is more likely …show more content…
What other Americans may find to be unbearable living conditions loaded with stench, filth, contagion, and swarms of people who step over each other, New Yorkers have accepted as the price they have to pay to have a better tomorrow.
Riis wrote the book to show the rich how those less fortunate go through their lives, and
how their rights are often not the same rights the rich enjoy. The author’s earliest publications and exhibits enticed the interest of the well-off population because they were willing to get to know more about something that was so distant and implausible, and something that was amusing for the moments. But his persistence and familiarity with the matter he himself experienced, started rolling a snowball of questions about serious dwelling issues in one of the greatest conurbations in the history of the human race. Some of the issues still exist today, but they are being discussed and they are presented to the broader, which is a great step forward to resolving any issue. Riis bridged the pioneering stage in this process, while his works also remind us that such fundamental questions as enabling everyone to have humane accommodation must not be neglected in any
It is for this reason that Riis’s works has occupied my attention – being an immigrant and living in the same city he wrote about a century ago, I can see remnants of the doomed legacy of those who pursued their freedom or escaped prosecution and …show more content…
Menacing by landlords Riis’s talks about in his works is still very much and issue due to landlords’ awareness of their tenants’ monetary situations, so the tenants would not have means to sue their landlords although they might have firm grounds to do so. Like the tenants of tenements were usually victims of landlords’ self-will, it also happened to me that my deposit was retained in full by landlords under the excuse that the apartment was damaged. The truth is that I found both apartments in filthy state, and cleaned up both of them. I even painted one room because the walls had not been painted for years. However, now as then, the money rules and it is hard to exercise some of the basic rights if you are not economically well situated.
In chapter three, Riis observes the New York’s phenomenon of the city being divided into small distinct communities of settlers from all around the world. While one of the greatest characteristics of this country is that its immigrants relatively quickly assimilate and adopt the most prominent American norms and values, New York City has been always holding out. Here, as the author mentions, it is hard to hear someone call himself an American. It is more likely …show more content…
What other Americans may find to be unbearable living conditions loaded with stench, filth, contagion, and swarms of people who step over each other, New Yorkers have accepted as the price they have to pay to have a better tomorrow.
Riis wrote the book to show the rich how those less fortunate go through their lives, and
how their rights are often not the same rights the rich enjoy. The author’s earliest publications and exhibits enticed the interest of the well-off population because they were willing to get to know more about something that was so distant and implausible, and something that was amusing for the moments. But his persistence and familiarity with the matter he himself experienced, started rolling a snowball of questions about serious dwelling issues in one of the greatest conurbations in the history of the human race. Some of the issues still exist today, but they are being discussed and they are presented to the broader, which is a great step forward to resolving any issue. Riis bridged the pioneering stage in this process, while his works also remind us that such fundamental questions as enabling everyone to have humane accommodation must not be neglected in any