How the Other Half Lives

During the late nineteenth century as industrialization boomed in the West, immigrants from Europe had begun to migrate to the United States. Although living in the United States gave them a better opportunity to succeed, life was not glorious for the European immigrants. Fighting for a better life their were many barriers to their success. Whether it was not being able to speak English, living in the terrible conditions of tenements, or the limitations of being an immigrant life was difficult for the immigrants. Many Americans were oblivious to the conditions that the immigrants had dealt with until the publishing of How the Other Half Lives by Jacob Riis. How the Other Half Lives was a book that documented the hardships that immigrants faced living in American cities through pictures and observations. Riis gave Americans an opportunity to see what life was really like for an immigrant in living in America. In How the Other Half Lives, Riis showed how immigrants were not entirely different from Americans and he talked about which groups of immigrants were more suited to succeed by assimilating to the American lifestyle. Even with his limits as an observer, Riis was able to accurately depict the lives of immigrants and give a plausible solution on how they can better their situations by becoming true American citizens. Jacob Riis was born in 1849 in a small rural town in Denmark. In order to marry the love of his life Riis need to improve is financial value so he moved to the United States to find work. Riis had spent time living and roaming around New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Illinois and in doing so he was able to see many different kinds of Americans. In Riis’ opinion the average American is a hard working Christian, who ultimately ends up living in the suburbs, and is on a quest for truth. All Americans ultimately want to better their situation by receiving better jobs. Riis agrees with the notion that, “Americans were fascinated by the objective