How the Other Half Lives

by

Jacob A. Riis

How the Other Half Lives Symbols

The Potter’s Field

In chronicling the desperation of the city’s poorest residents, Riis also draws attention to the ways this population attempts to maintain a sense of pride and dignity in the face of squalid conditions. One of…

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Beer

One of the elements of tenement-house life that Riis examines is the high rate of saloons packing the neighborhoods home to the poorest residents of New York. Riis characterizes “stale-beer dives” and other alcohol shops…

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