In Chapter 24, Riis lays out for the reader what has been done so far to solve the issues with tenement housing. He accuses the public of doing too little and of becoming outraged at the conditions in the tenements only when such conditions have a direct effect on middle-class Americans. In order to most effectively level this criticism, Riis defaults to figurative language, utilizing personification:
Public sentiment has done something also, but very far from enough. As a rule, it has slumbered peacefully until some flagrant outrage on decency and the health of the community aroused it to noisy but ephemeral indignation, or until a dreaded epidemic knocked at our door.
In the above excerpt, Riis personifies "public sentiment": in other words, public opinion. He describes public opinion as a slumbering individual who is only capable of being roused from sleep by direct confrontation or direct threat. This use of personification highlights the public's lack of empathy for those who suffer in the tenements, unless that suffering asserts itself undeniably on aspects of the public's everyday life. Furthermore, it is important to note that in specifying "the public," Riis deliberately excludes tenement residents—they are the outgroup in this depiction. Their indignation at the abuse they are forced to endure does not constitute "public opinion."
