In the early 1900s, many Americans were either lower or working class citizens including European immigrants. In The Bitter Cry of Children by John Spargo and The Promise Land by Mary Antin, the two authors discuss the similarities and differences of the economic and social societies of the working class as well as the immigrants in America. Today, these documents are valuable to us because it describes the events in the 1900s like children working in dangerous situations and how new immigrants were settling into America. Both Spargo and Antin describe the 1900s as a time where two similar, yet different, classes wanted to head towards the same goal, despite their different starting points. These two documents were grouped together because they both described the economic struggles and the social similarities of each class. John Spargo illustrated the working class using children who worked in mines since their parents were unable to make enough money. Similarly, Antin …show more content…
In the working class, they had to work hard to be able to live and survive an ordinary life. For instance, children in the working class were working in the coal mines. Many accidents happened in these mines, including, but not limited to: cuts to the hand, and broken or crushed fingers (Spargo, p. 1). On the contrary, immigrants saved up money before coming to America which gave them more business opportunities and for their children to go to school (Antin, p. 1). Even though both had to work hard, the working class had to have their whole family working while the adult immigrants were the only source of income. They both lived different lives but had the same outcomes no matter how hard they worked. We learned many things about the society that they lived in, like how most people do not know or trust each other. Both of their cultures did not change since they only had the option to do the same routine all the