Report On How The Other Half Lives Essays - Five Points, Manhattan

Report On How The Other Half Lives The novel How the Other Half Lives by Jacob Riis shocked middle and upper class Americans when it was published in 1890. Riis created a sensation when he revealed to the world, combining detailed written descriptions with graphic photographs, the horrific conditions of New York City's tenement housing. How the Other Half Lives raised many questions, such as how and why the poor are subjected to such terrible living conditions and how that environment affects them. Riis also reveals his fears and prejudices toward certain ethnic groups as he investigates each tenement in order to find some kind of solution. The miserable surroundings Riis discusses throughout the length of his entire document focus on the tenement. The tenement is a building, which due to the immigration boom was modified by its landlord to create as many rooms as possible, therefore sacrificing the human necessities of air and light. Riis says, ?Large rooms were partitioned into several smaller ones, without regard to light or ventilation.?(Pg. 69) These rooms were too small to house one family and too dark and stagnant too live in, yet it was common to have as many as three or four families in one ?apartment?! Tenements are the pit of filth, hot, dank and disease ridden. It was very common for a whole building to be wiped out by a disease such as cholera. The tenants were so cramped that many babies died of ?foul air?, the cause of which was no ventilation. Deaths due to the poor condition of the tenement houses were so great the first year tenements were instituted that the death rate in the city nearly doubled. Yet the tenement population kept growing and growing, until one third of New York City's population lived in the tenements. Population was so concentrated and overcrowded in the tenements that New York's East side (where the tenements were located) had the highest population density in the world! Jacob Riis recognized that the ever-increasing lower class was a major problem and would only get worse if the tenement sit uation was not remedied. The tenant's behavior and characteristics reflected those of their surrounding conditions. Their housing was dark and filthy, as were their habits. The most popular hangout of the average tenant was the saloon, and conveniently enough it was usually located on the first floor of the tenement buildings. They hardly bathed or cleaned, and basically lived like animals. Riis was convinced that the nature of the poor's environment was the major factor in the development of their morals and personalities, Riis states: ?An individuals future was shaped ultimately by environmental factors.?(Pg. 29) Although Riis does admit some unfavorable hereditary characteristics also might attribute to keeping a man from success. The tenement was the biggest hindrance to achieving the American myth of rags to riches. It becomes impossible for one to rise up in the social structure when it can be considered a miracle to live passed the age of five. Children under the age of five living in tenements had a death rate of 139.83 compared to the city's overall death rate of 26.67. Even if one did live past the age of five it was highly probable he'd become a criminal, since virtually all of them originate from the tenements. They are forced to steal and murder, they'll do anything to survive, Riis appropriately calls it the ?survival of the unfittest?. (Pg. 40) Riis believed that the tenants had no choice but to behave as they did. The persons Riis holds responsible instead are the landlords. Riis believed the landlord dictated the tenement environment. Riis claimed landlords: ?Frequently urged the filthy habits of the tenants as an excuse for the condition of their property, utterly losing sight of the fact that it was the tolerance of those habits which was the real evil, and that for this they themselves were alone responsible.?(Pg. 64) The tenements were growing worse, their populations increased and their conditions decreased. Riis feared the number of unhappy lower class because of their potential to revolt. Riis believed that a revolt was very probable and offered some solutions to help improve the tenements and keep the poor satisfied. Riis believed that to avoid this possible