This image shows a sweatshop manufacturing 'kneepants' in a tenement style building, typical of the kinds of businesses owned and worked by Jewish immigrants in New York towards the end of the nineteenth century.
On a superficial level, the image depicts the extremely poor working conditions that characterised the working lives of many immigrants at this time. Analysing the image this way, while completely correct and necessary, is rudimentary and leads to a simple conclusion that immigrant life in New York was unforgiving and perhaps demonstrates the misrepresentation of America to these immigrant groups when compared with reality. Instead, we may choose to contemplate factors which, although not literally represented in the photograph, are integral to our understanding of the social systems that evolved within immigrant societies in America and lead to scenes like these which can easily be captured in an effective way.
Evidently, this image and its real-world social connotations are plagued with irony, the first and most prominent example of which is perhaps the vivid portrayal of the failure of the American dream. Here, we see a small workforce, including two young girls and a young boy (all aged 15), working from daybreak to 9 o' clock at night to earn between 2 and 5 dollars a week (the owner's wife is actually unaware of how much they are paid when interviewed). The profits of their produce go directly to the owning family who use the money to support their own family and pay the rent on the rooms and the hired sewing machines. Clearly then, there is a disconnect here between the cyclical and aimless nature of the work being done by the Jewish immigrants, and Horatio Alger's ideological notion of a rise in social standing through hard work and integrity. In brief, this shows an irony to America's dream and exposes it as an aspiration and not a reality that is attainable in practice, especially not for an immigrant. This simple conclusion would be further enhanced through an understanding of the immigrant's perspective of the American dream, especially before arriving in their new home. In this passage however, Riis did not endeavour to empower the immigrants in question with a voice, in both a literal and metaphorical sense. Perhaps this in itself reinforces our view of American ideology as a facade and provides yet another perspective from which we might critique the vast and omnipresent theme of the American paradox.
The reactionary response to this assertion of American aspiration as false, if there is to be one, would likely revolve around the fact that despite the lack of individual liberty, it is the community as a whole who, through economic gain and mass production, gains power and significance, thus replicating the American dream on a larger scale, albeit at the cost of the archetypal hopeful immigrant. In a society where the majority are condemned to a failure of ideology, there is invariably a minority that will find cause to celebrate victory.
This format of Jewish immigrant society is one that imposed agendas of an almost darwinian nature upon individuals, forcing them to lower their standards of humanity in order to survive through capitalism and incremental financial gain. This is evidenced by Riis' exchange with the guide who, when highlighting the number of deaths caused by starvation and poverty in these communities, explains how "No thought of untimely death disturbs this family" as "In a few years the man will be a prosperous sweater". Essentially, this indifference to human suffering, countered with the comfort of financial security, demonstrates how in order to attempt integration into an American system defined by consumerism, a sacrifice of personal values and integrity is required at some stage. Not only does this betray our human values on a personal level (especially those that are religious-derived in these communities), it betrays the nationally-defined values of this American nation and represents a failure of sorts, just to re-iterate for the sake of a solid argument.
Ultimately, although unknown to Riis at the time, the Jewish communities of Manhattan would go on to become especially successful, culminating in their (semi-)integration into the upper echelons of American society. As the twentieth century progressed, the Jewish communities of New York emerged as being among the most successful, exemplified through celebrated individuals such as Gershwin and Asimov as well as their monopoly of Broadway and by association, the most successful examples of American theatre, the influence and prestige of which is beyond description. Perhaps the lesson here then is that the American dream actually was achievable for these immigrants, many of whom likely arrived in America having fled terror and fear in their home nations. However, if this is indeed the overarching narrative for this immigrant group, then it is certainly not represented on an individual level, and the process is consistently catalysed by immense suffering, sacrifice and loss.
Sources
pp. 125-128 http://www.gutenberg.org/files/45502/45502-h/45502-h.htm
https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2013/nov/20/how-jewish-artists-built-broadway-musical
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