Responding to scholars’ claims about Alger

For today’s class you read two very different arguments about Horatio Alger, his work, and the myth it helped form. I’d like you to pick one of the following statements and use textual evidence from Ragged Dick to dispute the author’s claim or show how you think it is an accurate assessment of Alger’s philosophy. Write a paragraph that presents your response in a thoughtful and persuasive manner.

Position #1: Harlon Dalton obviously critiques the myth the Alger’s writing helped create. He writes, “In a nutshell, my objection to the Alger myth is that it serves to maintain the racial pecking order. It does so by mentally bypassing the role of race in American society” (132). What does Dalton mean here? What passages from Ragged Dick confirms this reading of the text? What parts of the novel challenge it?

Position #2: Michael Zuckerman seems much more interested in showing how Alger’s novels are at odds with the myth that grew out of them. He does not view Alger as a writer who endorsed a mercenary form of free-market capitalism, solely concerned with individual ability and responsibility. Rather, he writes that Alger’s tales “seem overdependent on luck, patronage and the deus ex machina” (192-193), and his characters “all place their bellies before their bank accounts and otherwise set gratification above accumulation” (194). What do you think? Does your reading of Ragged Dick support or challenge this interpretation?

Generating a thesis statement

In pairs, I’d like you to draft a tentative thesis about this text. If you had to summarize this text’s main claim or its central argument, what do you think it is? After you discuss this question, work together to write a paragraph in which you introduce this thesis to the rest of class. In this paragraph, also include one brief passage from the text that best illustrates your claim about it.


Please work in the following pairs/groups: Suzanne, Bandy & Zeke, Allison & Patrick, Will & Matt, Hewen & Lucia, Lucien & Michael, Avery & Georgia, Zhi & Sonia.

Sources for first paper

As we start class today, take five minutes and tell the rest of us what book you found in the library over the weekend. What’s the title and who’s the author? Who published this book? Do you think it’s a scholarly source, or is it from a more popular press?

Also, give us a quick update on what you think you’ll write your first paper about. What do you think your primary text will be? If you haven’t found one yet, what texts are you thinking about writing about? Or, what issue are you interested in pursuing?

Service-Learning, Civic Engagement & Homelessness

Each time I teach WRIT 1133 as a service-learning course, I like to invite you, the students, to reflect on your previous experiences with both volunteering and the issue we’re focusing on in this section—homelessness. To enhance your experience and the writing community that we’re beginning to form, I think we owe it to each other to understand our perspectives on both these issues.

So let me lead by example. All my life, I’ve been engaged in some sort of volunteer activity, some sort of community engagement. (It all started with the Cub Scouts in the second grade …) Looking back on these experiences, I see that they laid a foundation for the values I cherish as an adult. It’s very clear to me that I find meaning in sacrificing for others, in cultivating humane communities that bring out the best in all of us, and in working, even in small ways, to make the world a better and more just place.

But as much as I believe in the importance of this work, I also recognize that perhaps even more important (and more selfish) is the meaning that such works brings into my life. Serving others and engaging in a number of different communities over the years has expanded my worldview and allowed me to confront issues I might never have seen had I remained isolated in my own individual life. And as much as I value this life, I’m fairly sure it’s not enough. Certainly not enough if I want the work I do to enhance our world and improve it (or at least leave it less damaged) for the next generation.

Before class on Monday, I’d like you to consider some of these questions and post a comment in response to them: What are your experiences with volunteerism, service-learning, civic engagement or other related kinds of activities? What draws you to this kind of work? What does it mean to you? More specifically, what experiences have you had working with people who are homeless or who are living in poverty? What questions do you have about these issues? What do you hope to gain from our course?

Analyzing character in Ragged Dick

I’d like you to start today’s class by describing Dick’s character. What is he like? What kind of personality does he have? How does act? What are his values? How has being homeless affected him? Then, find a brief passage (a sentence or two) that you think best illustrates your discussion of Dick. Explain how this quote relates to your sense of his character.

Questions to consider for class on Wednesday, March 25

After you finish reading the first half of Ragged Dick for Wednesday's class, please reflect on the following questions:

• What does it mean to be a child? In the 1860s? In 2009?
  
• What is good character? (In the novel, or in your life?) What creates good character or fosters its development?
  
• What kind of work is considered respectable? (In this novel, in our country, or in your life?)

Post a comment if you like. Or just come to class prepared to discuss these questions and other issues that you think are important.

Welcome to WRIT 1133! Post interviews of your classmates here as a comment.

For your first blog post, please introduce the classmate you interviewed to the rest of us. Write a 250-350 profile that captures who he or she is, where he or she is from, and what he or she likes to do. You might tell us more about this person’s experiences as a writer or his or her interest in service-learning.

Whatever issues you focus on, take care with this short piece, for it is our first impression of you as a writer, as well as the first impression of the person you interviewed. Have fun with this piece—make it interesting! Use quotes, brief stories, and any other vivid details you can discover to enrich your mini-profile.

For example, if I were to interview myself and post the result, I might write something like:

Place matters to Professor Geoffrey Bateman, which is why his current research is so important to him. "I think the different regions of our country shape us in important ways," he says. “As a teacher and scholar, I'm interested in studying the literature and cultural history of places, especially the American West."

Having grown up near Portland, Oregon, his interest in the West has evolved since childhood. He grew up exploring everything from the majestic Columbia River Gorge to the misty Oregon coast; he hiked parts of the Pacific Crest Trail and hung out in the quirky urban spaces of Portland and Seattle.

These experiences may help explain his current research on the queer frontier. His dissertation explores the cultural representations of sexuality in the American West near the end of the 19th century.

"It's a particularly rich period for sexuality studies,” he observes. "Sexual identity was not nearly as cut and dried as it became in the mid to late 20th century. And when you consider how racialized identities and gender norms factor into this understanding, you have an explosion of fascinating accounts—both literary and historical.”

But his interests don’t lie solely in the past. Professor Bateman believes strongly that historical research must speak to contemporary issues, especially those that are politically charged.

“Literature and history offers us a way to rethink current problems, and for me, I think the most rewarding I can do historically is to show others how texts from the past allow us to re-imagine our lives today.”

Such engagement means that in his first-year writing courses, he tries to find meaningful ways for students to practice their writing. Ideally, he wants them to connect abstract rhetorical concepts and research methodologies with ideas and problems outside our university context.

“Ultimately,” he says, “I want students to feel confident that what they’re learning in my classroom not only prepares them for the rest of their time at DU, but also starts them on a much larger journey of being an engaged citizen for the rest of their lives.”