The love of money is truly the root of all evil. The timeless injustices of our world can be traced back to the need for wealth, its associated power. The divide between haves and have-nots is archetypical and has existed since the dawn of time—like the caste systems of the Indus river valley. The separation of people based on wealth and status is an anthropological standard, and will inevitably go on until the end of time. Even in our own country this was an issue that plagued an era of industry and migration, creating a cesspool of poverty and excess. The Gilded Age—a time riddled with laissez-faire capitalism and industrial prowess like no other time in history. The infrastructure of the past was quickly eradicated from the streets of major
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The lower class was subjected to a plethora of economic and socially crippling circumstances. The amount of immigration that was occurring at the time was mostly from Eastern European nations and areas of Europe suffering from religious prosecution, famine or other stress. America was becoming “A Nation of Immigrants” according to John Newman in his extensive reference on American history (357). Ireland was also suffering from the potato famine during the late 19th and early 20th century, therefore, attributing to the movement. The entire population of America “increased more than threefold” from 1850 to 1900, causing a massive overcrowding of coastal cities (Newman 359). The New Colossus welcomed them, but perhaps did not improve their situation with the promise of new beginnings. Stephan Crane places a terrible amount emphasis on the condition of tenement living in his story, which was the usual standard of living for most immigrants at the time. Crane portrays the tenement as over crowed and almost dangerously inhospitable to life writing, “a dozen gruesome doorways gave up loads of babies to the street and the gutter”. Maggie was raised, riddled with poverty and in the stench in this condition, which was a product of the wage gap. “Urbanization and industrialization developed simultaneously”, causing the lower class infrastructure to be collected around factories, moreover, work for the masses (Newman 363). These sorts of work were almost entirely monotonous in nature, and were usually not a specialized craft. They could be done by anyone and were positions designed by employers to not advocate prestige. Maggie maintained a position like this, “perched on the stool and treadled at her machine all day, turning out collars, the name of whose brand could be noted for its irrelevancy to anything in connection with collars.”(Crane 14). She was stapled to her work and couldn’t make enough
The lower class was subjected to a plethora of economic and socially crippling circumstances. The amount of immigration that was occurring at the time was mostly from Eastern European nations and areas of Europe suffering from religious prosecution, famine or other stress. America was becoming “A Nation of Immigrants” according to John Newman in his extensive reference on American history (357). Ireland was also suffering from the potato famine during the late 19th and early 20th century, therefore, attributing to the movement. The entire population of America “increased more than threefold” from 1850 to 1900, causing a massive overcrowding of coastal cities (Newman 359). The New Colossus welcomed them, but perhaps did not improve their situation with the promise of new beginnings. Stephan Crane places a terrible amount emphasis on the condition of tenement living in his story, which was the usual standard of living for most immigrants at the time. Crane portrays the tenement as over crowed and almost dangerously inhospitable to life writing, “a dozen gruesome doorways gave up loads of babies to the street and the gutter”. Maggie was raised, riddled with poverty and in the stench in this condition, which was a product of the wage gap. “Urbanization and industrialization developed simultaneously”, causing the lower class infrastructure to be collected around factories, moreover, work for the masses (Newman 363). These sorts of work were almost entirely monotonous in nature, and were usually not a specialized craft. They could be done by anyone and were positions designed by employers to not advocate prestige. Maggie maintained a position like this, “perched on the stool and treadled at her machine all day, turning out collars, the name of whose brand could be noted for its irrelevancy to anything in connection with collars.”(Crane 14). She was stapled to her work and couldn’t make enough