Question

need help

use article How The Other Life Lives by Jacob Riis:

1) Review the photograph section at the beginning,

2) Read the Introduction, the concluding chapter XXV and two other chapters of your choice with a review of the key arguments.

3) Describe how the book reflects living conditions of the times and your understanding of how social reform measures sought to improve the lot of the underclass.

Answer 1

1) Review of photographs

Jacob Riis used his photography and writing as a medium to highlight the suffering, deprivation and misery of immigrants which is based on his personal experience.   He tried to create a more accurate representation of his observations personally, and found that he couldn't portray them properly. His photographs depicted lives of the poor in slums. He shows the living conditions in tenements, and streets where the New York's poor lived.

Riis photographed sparsely lit living conditions and provided the audience with a gruesome glimpse of poverty which formed a significant proportion of the city population. Riis book portrayed grim conditions of the town's slums with unseen pictures augmented by vivid and disturbing explanations. His work has created a significant legacy in investigative photojournalism. His work shows that photography can be used to trigger a change in the society by opening the eyes of the audience who are oblivious to the plight of the poor living in their own town/city.

2) Review of key arguments

During the 19th century industrialization increased the immigrant population who began to live in the outskirts of the city. They lived in buildings which are small and without any ventilation. These tenements were overpopulated, dirty and triggered  epidemics. Though diseases spreading in these areas resulted in reforms, the building owners were unwilling to spend on modifications to tenements.

Riis claims that the people living in tenements exist in poverty and misery until they die. Due to lack of money to spend on burial, bodies were dumped into a public grave. Children were vulnerable and subject to dangers from baby-farming in which parents allowed children to die for insurance claims. Even though charities provided services, it was insufficient.

The level of alcoholsim among young people was higher as alcoholic drinks were readily available to teenagers. Riis major concern was that such unattended teenagers tend to become gangsters. Women became prostitutes due to poverty due to the economic conditions as there was no other option for them. However, Riis is found to be disdainful against people who depended on government charity and were unwilling to work even if it is illegal. According to him, work plays a major role to eradicate poverty.

3) The book’s reflection of living conditions and self-understanding of the need for social reform measures.

The main goal of the book was to engage and inspire readers with horrific pictures along with his evocative descriptions of the tenements and streets in which the immigrant New Yorker families worked and to make them respond constructively. He has set Riis has build up a tradition of photojournalism for social reform measures. According to his belief, an individual has to use his earnings from the society by reciprocating with some values. The book showed the tenements of the poor people, their work environments and their standard of living overall.

The book showed that social reform measures are required to improve the living conditions. Poverty induces several social challenges which have further implications on the people such as alcoholism, gangs, prostitution and human trafficking. This shows that social reforms have to focus on improving the living areas as well as offering the people in the neighbourhood with consistent source of income to increase their standard of living.