The Uprooted By Oscar Handlin: Chapter Analysis

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The Second Industrial Revolution presented many hardships to immigrants looking for a better life in America. In his book, The Uprooted, Oscar Handlin makes the case for immigrants enduring the hardships adjusting to the American culture and economy. His argument is supported by specific statistics and events that damaged these people. These newcomers’ ideas, beliefs, and cultures were affected as well. Immigrants faced with American culture and commerce had to adjust their own in order to survive. Handlin’s argument for the immigrants touched both their cultural and economic issues during America’s Second Industrial Revolution. Their culture was immensely impacted in the sense that their work ethic was completely different from that of the Americans’. Americans felt the need to compete with each other, whereas most Europeans were content with simply living comfortably. This lack of drive caused them to fall …show more content…

Although their religions may not have been directly prejudiced against, the immigrants’ values were often challenged by American ones. Many of these cultural values differed in an economic manner, as most immigrants were not prepared for the American mindset of getting ahead in business. Other distinctions between these cultures applied to the treatment of immigrants. Many nativist Americans regarded the immigrants with disdain and were not interested in giving them equal rights, whereas those who shared similar cultures often banded together in order to cope with these injustices. In conclusion, Handlin’s work provides and argument communicating the hardships immigrants during the Second Industrial Revolution experienced. His points are supported by the misfortune of the Triangle Shirtwaist fire and the treatments of the company’s laborers. These issues challenged their ideas, beliefs, and cultures. However, the immigrants endured in the face of

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