Analysis Of How The Other Half Lives By Jacob Riis

In New York of 1870, various types of people lived differently in the big city. There were three types of living styles that were known as the upper, middle, and lower class. But regarding this the author, Jacob Riis, focused only on the hardships of the poor in his book How The Other Half Lives. Oftentimes poverty was seen as the fault of the poor. In many cases it was not, for they were not given many opportunities because of where they stood in the social rank of society. Ranks were overlooked because it depended on the people’s surroundings and lifestyle. Although rank was often ignored, the lives of women, children, and men were not when you lived in a town of poverty. These people were forced to see similarities and differences between children, women, and men. It was the lifestyle they grew up with and knew how to live. The life of children in poverty was full of hard work. Like Women and men, many were forced to grow up fast and learn to become an adult at a young age. This was because families in poverty were in need of money so they had a choice of either sending their children to work or …show more content…
With men, their many differences was based on gender. Because they were females, they were treated as less compared to a man. Women were seen as weaker human beings for they were not seen to be as strong as a male, the dominant figure in society’s point of view. This was seen in the working force between men and women for "It is a known fact that men's wages cannot fall below a limit upon which they can exist, but women's wages have no limit” (Riis 21). The woman's wage were able to be dropped as low as the payer saw fit. The money they received was barely enough to keep them stable in their economic status. It all paid what was needed and “The rest went to buy food for herself and the children” (Riis 21). Although despite the differences men and women had they both wanted the be able to support a