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.
Photo 4. I chose number four because it reminded me of a picture I saw after American Imperialism in my PRLS class. After America gained Puerto Rico as a territory, they promised to fix living conditions, but they did not. This reminded me of the Italians coming to America because it promised them a better life, but that wasn't always true. I found these two pictures to show similar living conditions for both Italians and Puerto Ricans and I found it similar that both Italians and Puerto Ricans wanted to become apart of America because it sounded promising, but it didn't end up in their favor.
ReplyDeleteThis is the cartoon that stuck with me also. It is so sad to think about the vision they had of America and then what it really turned out to be like.
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DeleteMy dyslexia was in overdrive in the last two comments, guess it is true third times a charm.
DeleteOut of all the pictures the one that stands out to me was number 18. I selected it because to me it captures the phrase "the grass isn't always greener on the other side". Immigrants left their homes with the idea that America was heaven and what they found might have been hell on earth. There were ten people in that room and all I saw was two beads and a couch, and let’s not forget about the clothes line hanging across the room. To me I felt as if they had been tricked.
I liked that you used that phrase to describe the picture. It makes alot of sence to say that when that was the idea behind moving to America. To get a better life.
DeletePicture 24 is really emblematic of the discomfort the Italians faced in not only their new homes but their new lives. The living conditions were not livable at all. After a hard day of being looked at like the scum of the earth the Italians had to go to the scum of the Earth to sleep; they had no break to their hardships. The children on the fire escape even in their cramped conditioned do not even look miserable either which I think is the outlook many Italians had to take on, which is, to make the best of what they had.
ReplyDeleteI really liked your comment, Lovliana. I agree! The Italians had such a hard life. To see children experiencing that too makes me feel very uneasy. No one deserves to be sleeping on fire escapes or any some sort of uncomfortable area.
DeleteThe picture that stuck in my head the most is picture 23. In picture 23, I see three children who are asleep outside of some house or building. They're all crampled on top of each other. I chose this picture because it really gives you a clear image of the hardships they went through. Children need the upmost care and warmth, and there, they were sleeping in the cold, outdoors.
ReplyDeleteThough I did not choose this picture, I had a similar opinion. The pictures I chose showed children living and sleeping in such a tight space. These poor conditions are not whats best for the children to grow up in.
DeleteI agree! And to think most of these children have no idea where they are or why they are living that way, they just know they're with their family and they're not very comfortable. To have to raise children in those types of conditions must be painful for the parents.
DeleteI completely agree. I love how you brought it the fact that children need the upmost care and warmth because the picture shows that these kids do not have the essentials things children should have
DeleteThe picture that stuck out with me was cartoon 4. The apartment building looks so broken down like it's going to collapse at any minute. It doesn't look safe for anyone, especially the two children on the balcony of the second floor looking out. There was garbage and depris everywhere. It makes me sad to think that the Italians came to America to try to better their families, and instead they're stuck in these buildings that look like they'll collapse with one gust of wind. This picture definitely does not describe the "American dream".
ReplyDeleteI also found photo 4 intriguing and it makes you think, if they're coming to America to live under those circumstances, what was Italy really like at the time?
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ReplyDeleteThe pictures that surprised me the most was pictures 1 and 2. Just because both of those pictures shows the traveling of the immigrants. The first one showed the amount of people from a far and it surprised me at how many people were on the boat. Picture 2 showed more of a close up but still showed that there was a lot of people. I don't know how the boat stayed afloat with the amount of people it looked like it had. They all look so crammed together. All I can see is heads of people. They have to feel like sardines in a tin ,forced together and unable to move. Its also amazing to me that all those people were leaving their homes all for the same reason ,a new life/a better life.
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ReplyDeleteI chose photo 6 because it shows that the places where many immigrants had to live were horrible. Tenements were insanely cramped and oftentimes people slept in one room and even next to each other with very little room for movement. Conditions were dirty and so many things were hanging off of the walls and stacked on other things, showing they had little space to store the items elsewhere.
ReplyDeleteThe pictures that I have chosen were 24 & 25. I remember seeing these pictures in class and thinking about how horrible the living conditions were for all four children to be sleeping in one tiny bed. Seeing these two pictures again, it made me realize even more how hard it must of been for these children and their family to live in such terrible conditions. I also chose these two pictures because when looking at them, I couldn't help but picture the four children as me and my three siblings. I couldn't imagine having to share one small bed with them and living in the conditions that that family did during that time.
ReplyDeleteI chose picture number nine because it stood out to me the most. To see people sleeping on the floor in a room that looks like it is barely standing up is heartbreaking. I want so much to find out if these people have found success and happiness in life so that the life they have in this picture would be worth it. Even when I'm feeling at the lowest of the low, seeing pictures like this and reading stories about other people's struggles really puts a lot into perspective for me and I feel so incredibly blessed.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you and how looking at all of this makes you count your blessing and realize that sometimes things could be worse.
DeleteIt does make some of our complains seem insignificant because the Italians had to go through so much
DeletePicture number 23 stood out to me the most because , the children all squished up together over a grate to get warm broke my heart. These are young boys that probably were once laughing, playing, and smiling back in Italy. Now they are here in what is suppose to be a great place and they are seen in pain rather than children that are suppose to be joyful. You see the innocence of children being taken away by the promise of a better life.
ReplyDeleteI chose photo 11. Its a room shared by about 8 italian men. I chose this photo because it reminded me of how Pascal lived as a laborer. This photo could be a picture of laborers.
ReplyDeletePicture #21 stood out to me because it shows that no matter what the circumstances are, kids will always be kids. They are out on the balcony, looking out, laughing and conversing. One of the boys even climbed, what looks to be, a ladder and is trying to see out onto the city. I love that this photo represents that even in the darkest of times, we still find it necessary to smile.
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