Chapter 4: The Down Town Back - Alleys
Introduction:
In chapter 4 Jacb Riis goes into details about the mood of the alleys. The author gives us specific names of tenements and events that happend there. Riis also tells us about the origin of "The Bend." He describes the condition of the tenements and the people living in them.
p. 26 - 40
p. 26 - 40
Summary:
Blindman's Alley
Jacob Riis goes into detail about specific alleys, such as Blindman's Alley. Blindman's alley was, just that, an alley that "harbored a colony of blind beggers." This colony had a few tenements and one of the Landlord was called "Old Dan." The Landlord took advantage of the blind and over charged them on their rooms. Ironically, later on in life "Old Dan" became blind as he aged.
"The Bend" "whose name was so long and synonymous with all that was desperately bad"(Riis 31) had been build to rescue the poor from the "rookeries they were then living in." (Riis 31) Though, it was not 10 years after it was built, there were 146 cases of illness in the court, "including all kinds of infectious disease." (Riis 31) It was recorded that 10% of the poor had been sent to a public hospital each year.
"The Bend" "whose name was so long and synonymous with all that was desperately bad"(Riis 31) had been build to rescue the poor from the "rookeries they were then living in." (Riis 31) Though, it was not 10 years after it was built, there were 146 cases of illness in the court, "including all kinds of infectious disease." (Riis 31) It was recorded that 10% of the poor had been sent to a public hospital each year.
Fourth Ward
Now Then
Bibliography
Riis, Jacob. How the Other Half Lives. New York: Penquin Books Ltd., 1890.