SOURCE: "Social Workers, Reformers, and the City, Jane Addams and Jacob Riis," in From Main Street to State Street; Town, City, and Community in America, Kennikat Press, 1977, pp. 80-93.

In the following excerpt, Goist compares and contrasts Riis's formative experiences with those of another social reformer, Jane Addams.

The emphasis of the urban novels written by Hamlin Garland, Theodore Dreiser, and Henry Blake Fuller was essentially on the consequences of city living for individuals. In Garland there is some notice taken of a limited social network in which Rose Dutcher attempts to find her place. In Fuller's novel the Marshall family, though badly weakened by events, still plays some role. But the real concern of these novelists is with the individual. This is even more noticeable, of course, in Dreiser's work. Here the focal point is entirely on the unattached individual; no sustained social group ties or family...