Chapter 14: The Common Herd
Introduction
This chapter examines the lawfulness and the living standard that tenement residents lived through during ths late 1800s. Extreme heat supplemented by meager wages forced residents to abondon rent payments for the little care they could give their own familes, all while suffering in the uncirculated air. Specific examples are discussed, and it is revealed that the same tortures people experienced in tenement life, were also experienced in tenement death.
Summary
Beginning with the treatment of those unfortunate enough to remain living in the tenements, sickness had begun to spread within the closed walls, infecting many. Combine this with the many other detrimental living conditions, and you have a situation that would cripple any normal person. Yet, as Riis finds, it was not uncommon to find sweet innocent girls that were "untouched by the evil around them." Inner purity, however, did not save residents from the conditions they endured.
Starting with racial inequality, germans had a distinct advantage over Irish because the Irish were, naturally, alcoholic anarchists. This favortism translated into certain races getting different living places. For example, Germans had the ability to grow gardens because their tenement was located on the East Side. Though living was different depending on your race, nobody recieved special treatment from the crippling diseases.
Riis documents three specifc examples of sickness in the tenements. The first is a mother who kills her baby because it was crying for foos and was showing signs of fever. The second is of a truck driver going mad and is luckily stopped before he kills his whole family. Last, Riis tells us about a man who feels that taking his family himself would be better than the city killing the family. Many other cases of sickness were reported, and spread because of the lack of air circulation. To compensate, people slept on the roof, only to fall and die in the middleof the night. The many people who died as a result of tenement living were buried in masses together, which Riis finds ironic because they are cramped in death just as they were in life.
Starting with racial inequality, germans had a distinct advantage over Irish because the Irish were, naturally, alcoholic anarchists. This favortism translated into certain races getting different living places. For example, Germans had the ability to grow gardens because their tenement was located on the East Side. Though living was different depending on your race, nobody recieved special treatment from the crippling diseases.
Riis documents three specifc examples of sickness in the tenements. The first is a mother who kills her baby because it was crying for foos and was showing signs of fever. The second is of a truck driver going mad and is luckily stopped before he kills his whole family. Last, Riis tells us about a man who feels that taking his family himself would be better than the city killing the family. Many other cases of sickness were reported, and spread because of the lack of air circulation. To compensate, people slept on the roof, only to fall and die in the middleof the night. The many people who died as a result of tenement living were buried in masses together, which Riis finds ironic because they are cramped in death just as they were in life.