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Lesson 16 |
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The modern city |
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What is the author's main argument about the modern city? |
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In the organization of industrial life the influence of the factory upon the physiological and mental state of the workers has been completely neglected. |
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Modern industry is based on the conception of the maximum production at lowest cost, in order that an individual or a group of individuals may earn as much money as possible. |
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It has expanded without any idea of the true nature of the human beings who run the machines, |
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and without giving any consideration to the effects produced on the individuals and on their descendants by the artificial mode of existence imposed by the factory. |
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The great cities have been built with no regard for us. |
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The shape and dimensions of the skyscrapers depend entirely on the necessity of obtaining the maximum income per square foot of ground, |
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and of offering to the tenants offices and apartments that please them. |
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This caused the construction of gigantic buildings where too large masses of human beings are crowded together. |
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Civilized men like such a way of living. |
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While they enjoy the comfort and banal luxury of their dwelling, they do not realize that they are deprived of the necessities of life. |
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The modern city consists of monstrous edifices and of dark, narrow streets full of petrol fumes and toxic gases, |
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torn by the noise of the taxicabs, lorries and buses, and thronged ceaselessly by great crowds. |
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Obviously, it has not been planned for the good of its inhabitants. |
