6. Beyond a shell of a man

  

 Modern day society disregards the struggle of poverty and the rigorous economic situations that others are infested within today. We have a natural tendency to judge simply based upon appearance rather than looking beyond the outer shell and what lies within. Jacob Riis, author of How the Other Half Lives  and the one to shed light on the state of poverty in 1890's New York City. He himself had struggled in his past with his appearance in landing a job as a journalist. Lucky him, rather than receiving money, he was able to receive a suit and a nice set of shoes, allowing him to be presentable and able to land a job. He was the same man, just simply a different change of clothing. The saying "don't judge a book by it's cover" was not applied at all back, as is still the same now. If anything, it's just gotten worse.     

Jacob Riis however, wasn't one to jump to conclusions, having a rough past attempting to make it in America as an immigrant, he himself had sympathy for others. He would look beyond the outer shell of someones physical appearance, and view what was inside. His one true known act of sympathy was through his photography, showcasing the struggles a real live people of all ages, living on the streets and just barely making it alive.

“When nothing seems to help, I go look at a stonecutter hammering away at his rock perhaps a hundred times without as much as a crack showing in it. Yet at the hundred and first blow it will split in two, and I know it was not that blow that did it, but all that had gone before.” - Jacob Riis

      
 Poverty is just like a rock being split in two.It doesn't just all happen at once, it takes many smaller blows to a larger spectrum of it to take it down. Each crack representing an individual whose fallen victim to the word. People have the ability to crack, they themselves are able to break apart, to shatter into two. Jacob Riis was aware of this, maybe having seen it himself in his days, he wanted to help those in need before they completely shattered in two. He was able to see the cracks that they were made up of, able to feel the hits they took, and above all was able to capture such difficult components in a simple of collection of pictures that would change the way society viewed them.