It's hard to imagine just how poor this country was (and still is in many parts). But looking at Riis' photographs, I don't think I've ever seen this poverty echoed anywhere else in NY. Children are described as homeless and struggling to feed themselves. In fact, in Riis' day, approximately 100,000 children lived on the streets. That's just not something you see today.
It was fascinating, and extremely heart-breaking at the same time, to read about these conditions and understand them as a non-fictional account. When reading something, even a newspaper article, I can often brush it to the side as just a story, not really part of my reality, not really true...
Riis' "How the Other Half Lives" really hit me though, perhaps in part due to the photographs. As Riis writes, "one half of the world does not know how the other half lives." Indeed, this resonates with the Great Gatsby and the disparity between the two Eggs and the Valley of Ashes, and even the Grapes of Wrath with the workers and the big corporations. It seems it often cut in two halves, with extremes on both sides.
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