Please follow these steps.
1) Do not read your classmates comments.
2) Choose a photo from the slideshow Italian Immigrants. Add your comment explaining why you chose that particular photo.
4) Return here and read your classmates' comment. Write a reply to the comments you liked the most.
I struggled between two pictures, but decided I'd choose picture number 22.
ReplyDeleteThis is of a young boy sitting in what seems to be a bath of water(in clearly, not a tub but maybe a sink of some sort).
This picture amongst all stood out to me because of his facial expression. The innocence behind his smile is priceless. It's a revelation of what really matters. It doesn't phase him that he doesn't own a tub to shower in but rather, he's smiling because he's showering regardless of the situation.
It offers a different meaning to, "the way they lived".
I liked this picture too for the same reasons. He is too young to realize the harsh truth of his situation.
DeleteThe pictures that stood out to me were number 24 and 25. They are both similar pictures but different angles. These pictures show a group of children sleeping close together on a fire escape. The description describes that is a hot summer night. They are sleeping close together for comfort or because they have no other room to sleep. I can't picture myself sleeping in this type of condition. I wouldn't be able to do it, although they seem just fine. In one of the pictures two of the girls seem to be smiling or laughing together. They have no choice or know what it's like sleeping otherwise. This is they're way of living and what they're use to, its sad.
ReplyDeleteI think it's humbling to see that they can be happy together even in these conditions.
DeleteI chose the picture of the children sleeping out on the fire escape because to me this picture was the most emotional picture of all. It is incomprehensible for any of us to imagine what these children were going through, to sleep outdoors because of the heat, and through all of it somehow the two girls manage to smile. I found it amazing how through all the hardships the kids were still able to be kids and smile.
ReplyDeleteI agree! I can not imagine having to do that as a child.
DeleteI agree!!
DeleteI agree, thinking back there was no air conditions or fans back then, they had to make do with what they had even if that meant sleeping on the fire escape in hot conditions.
DeleteI chose the picture of all the men in one room together. The room looks small and there is over eight men in that room. They have to share beds but none of them look upset. They look happy and I am sure they were as long as they had work the next morning.
ReplyDeleteI agree, they had no choice but to do the best they could with what they had available to them; it's great that they were able to stick together.
DeleteI agree, it reminded me of the living conditions Pascal lived in.
DeleteI chose picture number 6 because it reminded me of Pascal (Son of Italy) when he was describing his poor house. In the picture there was two or three people sleeping on one bed in a tiny room and pascal and his family also slept on one tiny bed.
ReplyDeleteAgree I also pictured that too! I thought I could of been the only one that saw it like that. Gave me a better view of the living conditions.
DeleteI agree with you. Reading about it rather than actually seeing it, is more painful.
DeleteThat picture is exactly what I imagined when I read the opening scenes of Son of Italy.
DeletePicture 24 shows multiple children sleeping on a fire escape in the Lower East Side of Manhattan. The weather was very hot and six children and sleeping as closely as possible. It is saddening for me to see this but at the same time, I wonder if these children were aware of their horrible living situation.
ReplyDeleteSyeda Jafri
DeleteI also felt saddened by looking at this picture.The condition's were absolutely horrible. It's hard to see kid's having to live like this.
I chose Picture 21, it reminded me of when I was a kid. I had a fire escape in the back of my apartment building and me and my older brothers and sisters used to play on it and go from one building to the next. I resonated with the fact that there was so many kids on the fire escape and I come from a big family as the youngest of nine.
ReplyDeleteThe picture that stood out to me was picture 21 with the children on the fire escape and women sitting by the window with her husband behind her. The reason why this picture stood out to me is when looking closely I see the American flag outside the home: Is this a way of showing that the Italian are embracing being an American?
ReplyDeleteI questioned this too, also made a small observation on one of the children, he is not looking at the camera like the others but looking into the distance...thought that maybe this might be symbolic.
DeleteThe picture that stood out to me was picture 5 of the run down room. This stood out to me because it brought me back to the beginning of Son of Italy when Pascal was describing the small room with one bed where he lived with his mom, dad, and brother as a child.
ReplyDeleteI too initially thought that, this picture captures a lot of the aspects described by Pascal.
DeletePicture 1 stood out the most for me because it shows how many people are willing to leave their country for a new start life. It shows how many people are gambling with their life, just to hit the jackpot one day.
ReplyDeleteSyeda Jafri
ReplyDeletethe photo i decided to choose was photo 23. The reason i choose this specific photo was because it just showed a glimpse of what the immigrants had to go through in one photo. There are two little boy's sleeping . There not even laying down or on a bed. It's just sad that they had to live like that. The place they were sleeping in wasn't even a room. It was a small corner. Just by looking at this picture i can see what type of atmoshpere they had to live in.
The picture that stood out to me was picture 26. The image of multiple families living together in a one room tenement showed the deplorable living conditions they had to endure. The image shows these immigrants living in a compressed area. The image also shows how overcrowded these diminutive rooms really were. It is inconceivable to fathom just how bad these people were treated and how they lived.
ReplyDeleteA major problem with these housing units was they did not have full kitchens and bathrooms we are so accustomed to. There was 1 bathroom in a whole building, and 1 faucet. Showers were not common in buildings, meaning they bathed by pouring water over their heads with cups.
Delete24 stood out to me when the children were sleeping together on a fire escape and were given two dollars for ice break but their father took it from them, that made me feel bad for the children because of how hot it was outside.
ReplyDeleteThe photo number 1 left left the most impression on me. Hundreds of people packed so close together as some sort of objects on the cargo ship, each desperately hoping for a brighter future in the New World. Looking at that photo I could not stop wondering how did they manage to survive through the trip in such inhumane conditions? Not to mention, it was not a short trip, but a very long way across the ocean. Although the photo is black and white, it did represent only the past life, but the present situation as well. There are many people today sailing to Europe (Italy included), escaping from the war-torn countries, hoping to settle in a safer place. Therefore, for me that photo represents the past, the present and possibly the future.
ReplyDeleteI liked how you connected the photo to what is happening in Europe. It was not my initial inclination to make such a connection but it definitely holds true.
DeleteThe one that stuck most to me was number 11. There are a lot of men sleeping in one room. This picture reminded me of how Pascal described the rooms he shared with the gang. It is surprising to know that grown men would sleep next to each other on such small beds. I remember when I was reading Son of Italy I was trying to imagine what it might have looked like and I feel this picture gives me an idea.
ReplyDeleteI agree, I made the same connection to Son of Italy as well. If you think of it today, men would make a big deal if they had to sleep together with another grown man. For them thats all they had and what they were use to. I can't imagine how uncomfortable and annoying it must be to have two grown men sleeping in a small bed like that.
DeleteI chose the 6th photo, because it truly shows the state immigrants lived in. A small room which contained most of the necessities in this case multiple beds with pots and pans which I assume is part of a make-shift kitchen. The picture specifically reminds me of the opening scene of Son of Italy, where the narrator, his sibling and parents slept in almost the same condition.
ReplyDeleteI chose the sixth photo because I immediately recognized it as a work by Jacob Riis. I've seen this image many times in various history classes and it stands out in my mind as the quintessential depiction of immigrant life in NYC in the late 1800s. The living conditions shown in the photograph are truly abhorrent and extremely unsettling.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you, however there were a few other Jacob Riis photos I noticed which also capture the hardships in their natural environment. They are not like photos today where everyone poses, and thinks about how to look good, they are purely raw.
DeleteMy heart stopped at the sight of picture 23. Immediately I connected to this photo in such a way that no words can describe. I felt as if I was looking at my brother and sisters, left out in the cold with nothing. I got very emotional to this photo as it brings back painful memories. It kills me to admit it, but there was a time when my family and I lived in poverty, and often we couldn't afford to pay for the heat, let alone basic necessities. My mother would say huddle together and stay warm. We didn't have a lot, we had each other and that simply put...wasn't enough.
ReplyDeleteVery touching Agron, a lot of different immigration groups went through these hard times, and it still continues in the 21st century. One thing that we know always keeps us going is having our loved ones
DeleteI found myself very receptive to photograph 24, the children sleeping on the fire escape is something that makes me feel strongly. It reminds me of the blackout in 2003, because it was so hot and all of my siblings, cousins, and I slept in our bathing suits on the deck. They seemed to be enjoying themselves, with smiles and laughter on their face, it seems like they were unaware of the poverty they lived in. Childhood is a wonderful thing.
ReplyDeleteThe blackout was awesome. I had so much fun playing manhunt and eating bbq. Definitely a fond memory of my childhood.
DeletePicture 22 was the one that stuck a chord for me. All the other pictures were downers. I thought it was cool that the kid was able to put on a smile even though he/she was in makeshift tub.
ReplyDeleteI agree! That image really stuck out to me as well.
DeleteI agree, and it reminded me of a picture of myself in a sink taking a bath which mostly everyone in my family did as a child and has a picture.
DeleteI like #14 because the family looks very content and happy despite the poor living conditions, especially the mother. In this moment, they seem to just be happy to have each other, and aren't worried about the world around them.
ReplyDeleteI choose picture #24 these kids were clueless of the conditions they lived in. The photographer gave the kids $2 dollars for ice cream but their dad took the money. Greedy father.
ReplyDeleteI choose picture #28, which was of four women sewing and three man possibly tailoring clothes. I choose this picture because this reminded me of my grandma telling me that when she came to America from Italy she worked as a seamstress and only made $48 a week. She worked 8 hours a day and only had one break for lunch.
ReplyDelete