How The Other Half Lives Summary

How the Other Half Lives In How the Other Half Lives, Riis startles readers with the following statement “Long ago it was said that ‘one half of the world does not know how the other half lives.’ That was true then. It did not know because it did not care. The half that was on top cared little for the struggles, and less for the fate of those who were underneath, so long as it was able to hold them there and keep its own seat”(Riis, 5). This book definitely changes history in a material way affecting the lives of millions of people, Jacob Riis exact purpose for writing it. This introduction is merely a tidbit of information that immigrants in New York City had to face through the working and living conditions at the turn of the century. As New York City grew in population, immigrants came mostly from Germany and Ireland and later from Eastern Europe and Italy. Most families were receiving little income which narrowed their choices of living. These dark, cramped, unsanitary homes that nearly 500,000 immigrants were living in were called tenements. They were pieces of old buildings and some new all brought together and built up to a great
These houses were not cared for by the proprietors, therefore is gave the tenants and excuse to not care either for their own filthy property. The landlord was simply after one thing, rent. The more people that were stuck in a room the more risk of spreading disease and sickness occurred. The rooms of the tenements were dark and wet and full of foul odors. It was almost impossible to keep a sanitary life living in such conditions. Diseases such as smallpox and the plague spread like wildfire. The air these occupants took in was polluted and filthy. If readers were to consider the overcrowding and dirty living circumstances that these immigrants endured it should have created a visualization of a very harsh reality that these people