Riis's tone is consistently critical throughout How the Other Half Lives, at times becoming ironic or scathing to get his points across. Riis is particularly prone to these bouts of irony—whether situational or verbal—when discussing the behavior of predatory landlords. In cases like these, Riis's use of ironic tonality is deliberately geared to make these wealthy men appear small, to diminish them and revoke some of their power, even if through written word only.
Unfortunately, despite Riis's clear intent that his work be used to better the lives of the disadvantaged and neglected, his tone will often turn judgmental, particularly when he discusses immigrant groups. Riis tends to make broad, sweeping generalizations about large groups of people; and though he attempts to compensate for this by introducing caveats and exceptions and empathetic language, at times he appears more concerned with the presumed moral blight created by the poor than he is about the welfare of the individuals themselves. This issue is exacerbated by the fact that Riis often refers to tenement residents as hordes, swarms, or herds of people, stripping them of their humanity by amalgamating them into the larger crowd of poor, unfortunate souls. These people suffer collectively, in that their suffering is indicative of—in Riis's eyes—societal blight. Grouped together as one, however, their individual experiences and sufferings get swept under the rug.
