How the Other Half Lives
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English 11
April 10th, 2014
“How The Other Half Lives” is an article about the more poor side of the streets.
Jacob Riis, a man that understood this way of life, wanted to expose how the poor had to live on the streets. Jacob Riis understood the way these people lived because he had been through much of it himself. Only through his eventual rise to fame was he able to expose this. This article had received very many praises but also very many criticisms.
Jacob Riis was born in Ribe, Denmark. Among his 15 siblings only he and two others survived into the twentieth century. He had a happy childhood but experienced much tragedy when he was eleven years old. His brother, Theodor, had drowned.
Jacob was extremely shaken by his mother’s grief. When Jacob was eleven or twelve years old, he had donated all the money he had to poor family in his town. The only condition was they had to keep the house very clean. When he informed his mother of his actions she went to help the poor family. Jacob’s father wanted him to pursue a literary career but Jacob had the aspirations to be a carpenter instead. When he was sixteen he was doing work as an apprentice carpenter for a company. Jacob had become very fond of the owner of the companies daughter, who was only 12. The owner of the business disapproved of this, and Jacob was forced to complete his apprenticeship in Copenhagen. He returned back home when he was nineteen only to
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find a lack of jobs so he did what anyone else would do during this time; emigrate to the
United States. Jacob went through very many unimaginable hardships in his time in
America, though his break would come. "Jacob Riis." Jacob Riis. N.p., n.d. Web. 11 Apr.
2014.
Riis arrived in New York on June 5, on that day spending half of the money his friends had given him on a revolver. After five days, during which he used almost all his money, Riis got a job as a carpenter at Brady's Bend Iron Works near Pittsburgh. He
English 11
April 10th, 2014
“How The Other Half Lives” is an article about the more poor side of the streets.
Jacob Riis, a man that understood this way of life, wanted to expose how the poor had to live on the streets. Jacob Riis understood the way these people lived because he had been through much of it himself. Only through his eventual rise to fame was he able to expose this. This article had received very many praises but also very many criticisms.
Jacob Riis was born in Ribe, Denmark. Among his 15 siblings only he and two others survived into the twentieth century. He had a happy childhood but experienced much tragedy when he was eleven years old. His brother, Theodor, had drowned.
Jacob was extremely shaken by his mother’s grief. When Jacob was eleven or twelve years old, he had donated all the money he had to poor family in his town. The only condition was they had to keep the house very clean. When he informed his mother of his actions she went to help the poor family. Jacob’s father wanted him to pursue a literary career but Jacob had the aspirations to be a carpenter instead. When he was sixteen he was doing work as an apprentice carpenter for a company. Jacob had become very fond of the owner of the companies daughter, who was only 12. The owner of the business disapproved of this, and Jacob was forced to complete his apprenticeship in Copenhagen. He returned back home when he was nineteen only to
2
find a lack of jobs so he did what anyone else would do during this time; emigrate to the
United States. Jacob went through very many unimaginable hardships in his time in
America, though his break would come. "Jacob Riis." Jacob Riis. N.p., n.d. Web. 11 Apr.
2014.
Riis arrived in New York on June 5, on that day spending half of the money his friends had given him on a revolver. After five days, during which he used almost all his money, Riis got a job as a carpenter at Brady's Bend Iron Works near Pittsburgh. He