Lewis Vs Riis

Babbitt, a historical fiction novel by Sinclair Lewis set in the 1920s, depicts the life of a middle-aged man, George Babbitt, and his relationship with his family, friends, and society in post-war America. How the Other Half Lives, a non-fiction novel set in 1890, by Jacob Riis describes the situations that Riis encountered while helping people in the slums. Both Riis and Lewis depict the hypocrisy of the middle class and injustice to the poor at the turn of the century. However, Riss causes the reader to be able to empathize with the plight of the poor, whereas Lewis allows to critique society as a whole during this period. Set in the 1920s, Babbitt captures both political and personal unrest, as well as social rebellion. Written in third-person

The book recounts Riis’s life after immigrating to the United States from Denmark in 1870. When Riis first immigrated to the United States, he took low-paying jobs and during this time, experienced utter poverty in New York City. After rising in social standing, Riis found work as a police reporter for the New York Tribune; his work frequently brought him to the most dangerous slums in New York City. Using journalism as a platform, Riis tried to show his readers what life was like in these dangerous and poverty-stricken urban areas. While Riis tried to expose the harsh condition of the slums, he often succumbed to prejudice and stereotypes. Both books have the biased view that immigrants and those of lower social status are less than human, which present a harrowingly realistic portrait of post-war life in America. However, where Babbitt depicts the average middle-class man in society through the character George Babbitt and his relationships with politics, work, and family, How the Other Half Lives focuses on how society treats its impoverished

As he visited the slum of New York, Riis made an effort to learn more about the various issues the poor faced— from the spread of disease to crime and overcrowding. He believed that “‘one half of the world does not know how the other half lives.’… It did not know because it did not care. The half that was on top cared little for the struggles, and less for the fate of those who were underneath, so long as it was able to hold them there and keep its own seat” (1). Both books establish the weary relationship between social classes and how they, respectably, are viewed by society; however, Babbitt was written to critique society as a whole during the 1920s, and How the Other Half Lives causes the reader to be able to empathize with the plight of the poor. In this way through the use of different explanatory techniques, Babbitt and How the Other Half Lives have different goals in informing the reader of the social situations of both