The “Bend” was a section of Mulberry Street, so named for the bend in the road that gave it the shape of an elbow. Riis devotes an entire chapter (Chapter 6) to the “Bend,” notorious even by tenement standards for its high crime rate and appalling living conditions. In Chapter 7, Riis accompanies police on a raid of stale-beer dives in the “Bend.”

A growler is a large beer glass or bottle, usually with a handle for ease of carry. Riis uses the term in several places, particularly in Chapters 18-19, “The Reign of Rum” and “The Harvest of Tares.”

“Pauperism” refers to the condition of those who are often unemployed and ask for money for a living. Riis describes tenement-district pauperism at length in Chapter 21. Riis distinguishes between pauperism and “honest poverty.” He argues that the latter are trying to make a living but are held down by low wages, high rents, and other hallmarks of greed from above. For these, he shows sympathy. Riis regards many unemployed impoverished people, however, as “lazy frauds.”