Jacob Riis How The Other Half Lives Analysis

In the passage “How the Other Half Lives” Jacob Riis makes a very accurate account of what life is like in tenements of New York City. He describes the challenges facing the mostly immigrant population that inhabited the slums and how the societal view was largely inaccurate. His observations however, are slightly marred by his own preconceived notions and prejudice. Riis gives what he believes to be the cause of the squalor and subsequent effect which was the then current state of affairs. He then ends his book with three primary options for a solution that are in theory very sound ideas.

In “How the Other Half Lives” Jacob Riis begins with a pseudo-history lesson and then progresses into the statistics of the time. Riis explains how overcrowded these environments are and how despite this their populations continue to swell. [1] He explains that the desires of the tenants is to have their living quarters renovated and repaired [2], then goes on the explain the mentality of some of the landlords was primarily to simply collect rent from these people. [3]

Riis explains that the quality of living in these situations has exacerbated things like disease, referring to previous epidemics which in these slums hit much worse than sanitary neighborhoods. [4] Riis then creates a dreadful image for his audience in which this death comes

for you as you sit in the darkness, as these places had minimal light. [5] He gives dimensions for the rooms then proceeds to detail how many individuals are occupying the space and the contrast is both shocking and absurd. [6] Of course these facts are only for those recorded with housing, thus these conditions fail to account for the numerous amount of homeless people living in these areas where things such as proper sewage and garbage collection had not occurred yet. Then finally he shows how the crime and mortality statistics for these areas are much higher than other areas and not primarily due to these tenements being predisposed to crime or disease but rather an unfortunate result stemming from unsanitary conditions and overcrowded along with a police force more focused on these individuals. [7]
Jacob Riis also explains that despite popular belief, the inhabitants are not in these living conditions because of their own apathy, laziness, or any other vice in their work ethic. [8] His viewpoints shed light on the effect of neurasthenia vs laziness, where symptoms such as fatigue and weakness would be described in a poor person as lounging about with no desire to be productive. [9] He explains that the situation has truly gotten this way through a variety of reasons.
He explains that the upper class’ apathy towards those lower than them is a driving factor in this situation. [10] His reasoning is that those who have the ability to make a difference and bring a positive change to the community have a moral obligation to do so. [11] This mindset is not completely alien or foreign as those at the pinnacle of society such as Andrew Carnegie and John D. Rockefeller had similar mindsets and had large investments in philanthropic endeavors.
Although he felt that this was a start, Riis’ ideas for the upheaval of urban living did not stop there. He also felt that the disconnect in desires between the tenants and landlords needed to be addressed. [12] He felt that the tenants’ desires for simple things like ventilation and other necessities were reasonable. Conversely, the landlords who were notoriously unfair needed to be made an example of so that a much more even payment scale can be reached. [13]

Although his argument is weakened by the prejudice established as the cultural norm for upper and middle classes. He has a lot of preconceived notions of the immigrants that live in these areas, and in his book he appropriates a lot of stereotypes. This viewpoint leads him to believe that in order for these individuals to become proper American citizen in through assimilating our culture rather than integrating with it. [14] Though this argument’s clause is still slightly marred as his premise assumes that many of these individuals are actively refusing to join American culture. [15]
For example it is obvious that a predetermined view of the common Italian being nothing more than a vagrant or criminal.

[16] Riis also has the unprecedented hostility toward the Chinese, his view of them is acknowledged by himself as rather harsh and their habit of sticking to their own tradition ran antithetical to his belief of converting them to “proper” Americans. [17] Riis then moves on to the Jews and while not as harsh as he is with the Asians he still believes that this habit of living in an enclave with those of similar ethnicities interferes with your transition to American as well as continuing to propagate stereotypes.

[18]
As he begins the final part of the book he has now given the audience multiple vivid scenarios and presentations detailing life in these slums. Since the reader now knows the situation all that is left is to find out what has been done about it and more importantly what can be done about it. Riis’ message is what to do with the information that he will be divulging and he states that the upper echelon of society have an obligation to improve the living conditions of those in the slums.
One of his key closing points on renovating the tenements is the action of law. This is a recollection on one of his earlier points that at this point in history there needs to be stronger laws and regulation regarding this housing crisis. This comes back to the fact that so far one of the most effective way of dealing with problems in the tenements is through new legislature. [19] His argument is that there isn’t enough and that passing more will help, this premise is very strong in that it does have precedence especially in New York, where prior tenement laws have been passed.
His second plan is to remodel and renovate the existing tenements. Riis understands that the system of tenements is here to stay that in the time period that they are living in the suburban neighborhood is impossible on such a scale. He also justifies this as the tenants in a large part of these areas are paying rent fares high enough to cover building of basic necessities. This goes back to the unfair and greedy landlords portrayed that charge hefty fees and rates for the bare minimum residence being made accountable. [20] This idea while good would be rather hard to enact simply based on the fact that free enterprise is proclamation and regulating things is looked upon with disdain.
His last proposal would probably be the hardest to enact but simultaneously have the most profound impact, which is to build new and improved tenements. This would address the immediate problem of overcrowding in the present tenements and is what served as a solution in the previous laws. The main problem with this would be pitching this to legislators and wealthy citizens. Riis argues that creating ideal locations would be an investment that paid itself back, as his ideal of good American citizens to not come from decrepit environments. [21]
In the end Jacob Riis creates a powerful and vivid image of life in the New York. His detail on the room conditions, the living standards of the people, and other challenges is very accurate. His solutions are very viable, and considering some of them were implemented afterword and worked makes his setup here correct. The most weakening thing in his work is how the cultural disassociation between Riis and the tenants and his own stereotypes weaken his argument, but a lot of this is acknowledged as his own view and makes the text stronger.