When it comes to the discussion of “How the Other Half Lives”, opinions on the nature of Riis’ critique of the immigrants are always polarizing. Many people believe that the criticism, racism, generalization, stereotyping, and negative language used in Riis’ descriptions are techniques he uses to paint a miserable and horrifying picture of how the other half lives. He adapts a censorious attitude in order to leave strong impressions on readers, and really make them think about how “bad” the other half lives making the book a powerful document that represents struggles of the poor. However, his subjective journalistic explorations of poverty, and harsh judgments of immigrant groups leads one to believe that his book is filled with injustice, dark subjects and many negative comments because he takes the role of an entertainer, who decides to humiliate the weak. He metaphorically takes the role of rich and prosperous people and watches “a freak show” full of people trying their best to survive. (little harsh, but still a possible explanation to why the book was written). In both cases, it becomes clear that the purpose of the book is to help readers truly understand the dehumanizing dangers of immigrant groups that Riis himself had observed.