Jacob Riis How The Other Half Lives Analysis

Jacob Riis
Jacob Riis was a social reformer who used photography to raise awareness for urban poverty. He became a reporter and wrote about individuals facing certain plights in order to garner sympathy for them. His book How the Other Half Lives caused people to try to reform the lives of people who lived in slums. He used vivid photographs and stories about individuals to call people to action. No one could argue with a picture, so his book showed urbanization and the problems that accompanied it very well. He wasn’t a very experienced photographer, so his pictures were relatively objective, and therefore somewhat trustworthy. His pictures were not pretty and did not gloss over the harsh realities of inner city life. His photos captured details of the slum that
Riis’s photographs were selected to show how immigrants were exploited and forced to abandon family values in order to secure a living. They show how they were forced to live in horrible slums in filthy conditions. They also give the message that the families aspire to live a middle class life and prize their families. He elicited sympathy from Christians by portraying the people as aspiring to live the kind of life that his readers would value. His pictures show how children lose their innocence when growing up in such a hostile environment. Riis believed that family values were key to living a good life, so he made his photographs depict people aspiring to live well and support their families. He worked to garner sympathy for the people in order to expedite some type of reform. His photographs revealed that the people were trying to embrace the American culture and live good lives, but the slum conditions and inability to earn enough money to support their families hindered this. He showed just how difficult it was to live in the slums of New York