Based on a book by Jacob A. Riis called “How the Other Half Lives” (Second Edition) ISBN-13: 978-0-312-57401-7
For this short essay, an introductory paragraph is not necessary. A brief introductory statement will do. Your body paragraphs should each begin with a general statement followed by specific, detailed evidence, and example(s) that support the opening line. Your next body paragraph answers another aspect of the question with all supporting detail following its opening statement. Two or three of these paragraphs will suffice. Your conclusion is NOT a restating of your previous answers, but an analysis of these various statements and their supporting evidence that leads the argument, and the reader, in a direction ( a conclusion). When you use the ideas or direct words or ideas of author Jacob Riis and editor David Leviatin cite the page number, for example (p 117). You MUST use quotation marks when directly taking words from the book. Seek help at the Sierra College Writing Center (a proofreader at least).
Choose One question from the following four groups (only 1 question per group) and write a 350-500 word essay. Follow the instructions in the Sierra College writing guide (available at the Sierra College Library). Identify by number/letter each essay that you answer; have your work proofread. [you answer two questions; for example: Sect. I = #2; Sect. II = #3 ].
Answer ONE essay from the following four questions.
Section I: These questions focus on Part I the Introduction by David Leviatin, and Part II chapters I – IV of the original work by Jacob Riis.
Answer ONE essay of the following three from Section I:
1. One of the important aspects of Riiss work as a journalist in the 1870s and with this book was that his methodology encompassed many elements that were found in the era of Progressive reform after 1895. Explain any TWO of the following: (a) his artistic style of realism; (b) his use of scientific findings; (c) his need to expose the worst ills of U.S. society; (d) his criticism of working class urban poor from a middle class set of moral beliefs (though he had spent years as a member of the class he critiqued).
2. Comment about the technologies and innovations Riis embraced in photography and combining them with text. When his subject was delivered as an illustrated lecture Leviatin said it was most effective (in an era just prior to the invention of moving film and long before documentary film). In these lectures, as well as this book, what is the tone of his writing toward his audience? Did you find this tone effective when he employed it?
3. Chapters I through IV focus on his interest in studying and condemning the poor design of tenement housing in NYC. What did he find specifically about rents, sanitation, crowding, mortality rates, and the design of rear-tenements?