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?
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Michael Zuckerman's belief that Alger's tales " seem over dependent on luck, patronage and the deus ex machine" (192-193) is a belief that I share with him. In Zuckerman's The Nursery Tales of Horatio Alger, he describes his ideas about the myth that Alger portrays, not seeming to completely agree with how Alger has constructed them. He also states that, “all (characters) place their bellies before their bank accounts and otherwise set gratification above accumulation”. Alger created several instances in Ragged Dick that proved Zuckerman’s beliefs.
ReplyDeleteBecause Alger created Dick to be one that looks at the gratification of earning money instead of counting every cent he earns, Alger seems to tell the reader that any gratification is greater than accumulation. This is seen in the novel Ragged Dick when Dick gives all of his money to Fosdick in order to help him buy a new suit so he can get a job. Although Dick worked extremely hard to accumulate the money, the gratification he gets when he sees Fosdick in a new “respectable” suit, is extremely more important than any amount of money he may have earned. It can also be seen later in the story when Dick gives his money to Tom, a boy who, although he works hard as a bootblack, is unable to earn enough money to provide food and rent for his family. Another opportunity arises when Dick could have kept the money, but instead he gave up the five dollars he promised Tom without giving it a second thought.
Zuckerman’s beliefs that Alger is portraying a false American myth is one that I would agree with because of the situations that Alger created through Dick’s actions. His ability to give freely with very little worry as to how much he will lose is an ability that few American’s are known to have.
Michael Zuckerman's statement is a position with which I can agree mostly. Zuckerman expresses his belief that "Aleger's tales seem overdependent on luck," which, to me, is quite justified. There are many instances in Ragged Dick where Dick is "fortunate" enough to receive clothes, mentors and opportunities that most people on the streets never have. The concept of luck is further supported when both Mr. Whitney, a mentor, and Mr. James Rockwell, the man who's boy he saves from the water, are both rich. Their societal position creates the ability for them to assist Dick in his struggle, but how likely is it that the people one meets on the streets are all rich and thriving?
ReplyDeleteHowever, I do believe that Alger does display hardwork and moral character as important roles in the success of Dick as well. Alger not only touches on these traits frequently, but he makes a point of contrasting Dick's drive and hardwork with other character's lack of work and motivation, such as Johnny Nolan. In addition, while many of Alger's characters fit the description Michael Zuckerman portrays, Dick and a few others break the mold. It clear that Dick makes the chance from desiring gratification to wanting accumulation and something better for himself. However, it is important to note that Dick is not the only character like this. Henry Fosdick also begins to take action, accumulate his money, and get a better job. Although he had to be helped and motivated by Dick, Fosdick succeeds in these areas all the same.
I think Michael Zuckerman’s view about Alger is completely right and I am with him about Alge. Zuckerman had said the characters in Alger’s novels “seem over dependent on luck,” I think this is totally right. The main character, Dick, in Ragged Dick by Alger, I think he had too much of luck for a fourteen year old. He had lot of people helping him in his life, like Mr. Whitney, Frank, Mr. Greyson, and his best friend Fosdick. All these people are someone who he had never met or know, but he managed to get lot of help from them. I think in order to receive help from someone, that person would need to at least know the other person a little bit more, like his background. But all these people saw the goodness within Dick and start helping him. I don’t know how people would see the goodness from other’s face. Still, his personalities are the main factor of why people treat him the way they had treated him.
ReplyDeleteAfter he received helps from other people, he “set gratification above accumulation.” He started saving money by open a bank account and would not spend money on any unnecessary needs.
Michael Zuckerman's viewpoint on the story of Ragged Dick and how Alger allowed Dick to prosper and grow in his environment does coincide with many of the events that did allow Dick to move up the social ladder. If we can recall, Dick began his move upward from the generosity and help of Frank and his uncle Mr. Whitney. One can argue that it was Dick's keen eye for business that allowed him to notice the two gentlemen at first, but overall it was a matter of luck that he was there with them at that moment.
ReplyDeleteIt was a matter of luck that also brought Dick to realize how ignorant he was in the first place. While Dick was a hard working individual with a lot of merit, the amount of luck that allowed him to move up large chunks on the social ladder made for his success. Examples such as Dick's acquaintance with Mr. Greyson and Mr. Rockwell changed Dick's life in terms of wealth. Dick's ability to be a hard worker was a small trait compared to the amount of change luck had in Dick's life. While Alger does display how hard work, determination, and honesty can allow one to prosper in his story, luck plays a very large and important role in the success of Alger's characters.
In the article by Michael Zuckerman, I agree with how he views Alger's novel. After reading Ragged Dick, I support Zuckerman's interpretations. In the novel, Alger's characters that get through homelessness are helped by luck. Ragged Dick would never have been able to acquire such a nice place to sleep at night if he hadn't met Mr. Whitney. Also, after all the advice he had received from Mr. Whitney and Frank, he was finally able to better his life. Without meeting these people, I don’t think that Dick would have bettered his life yet. He would not have enough money to get a nice place to stay and would not have been given the advice that he was. All this happened by luck. I believe that Zuckerman's interpretations are true that Alger plays out on luck. Also in the beginning Dick would mainly spend his money when he had it on food instead of saving it up which also agrees more with Zuckerman. I think that Zuckerman's interpretations of Alger’s novel are supported by many different places in the novel.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Harlon Dalton because I think it is true that the Alger myth does maintain the racial pecking order. What Alger does is he makes us forget the racial barriers that blacks have against them because they can just do some honest hard work and they will be rewarded. Any American can succeed with a little hard work and some luck. The majority of these stories only happen to white people though. Sure this might happen to some but for a lot of black people this doesn't happen. African Americans have had to deal with jim crow laws and since the civil rights movement still more black people live in poverty than whites. Whenever someone hears these stories it is almost always a white person who comes up out of poverty. You never read of a black kid working hard, catching some luck, and getting hired to make a living. Im not saying that it never happens but white people have better chances at achieving the Alger myth. "Perhaps you will be rich sometime, Dick."(89) This is when Frank is telling Dick that he can become rich if he goes to school and works hard. This a really nice story but this probably wouldn't be the case for a black person. Frank wouldn't be so willing to help a black boy as he was willing to help Dick.
ReplyDeleteDalton has made a valid point about the issue of the American Dream and its flaws; but I believe Alger was aware of these flaws. Dalton argues the issue of race, and how the books seem to bypass the issue entirely. Alger may have, however, done this on purpose. During his time, race was an assumed set back. Alger was born 30 years before the civil war, so slavery still had it's grasp on the nation. I think Alger purposely does not include any mention of characters of any non-Caucasian race because he does not believe them to be able to succeed. He does, however, mention Mickey Maguire, the Irish looking boy who is so nasty to Dick. It mentions how he, like Dick, is a bootblack, but it shows no sign of him ever getting out of that occupation. He is not a good looking boy, and no one would take interest in his future, as they did for Dick. This may be partially because he was Irish. Alger also talks about appearance a lot in the novel, he admits that Dicks looks bring him pretty far, in fact, they may have been the catalyst.
ReplyDeleteSo I believe Alger knew about the traps the 'American Dream' creates, and who it excludes. Dalton makes the point that this is therefor a negative force in our society, where I believe Alger thinks it might enhance our society. Alger's novel was intentionally devoid of race, because he did not want to include that dimension in his dream. He did not want to bother with the critics it would provoke and he may not have wanted them in there period. Alger is very obviously aware and sensitive to racial tensions, as he readily creates evil in the one Irish-looking character in his novel. Perhaps he, like so many around him, believes in the structure he lives in. Some say that it is dehumanizing and don't allow for class mobility, but Alger says- look at Dick and how he goes. Anyone can jump from rags to riches (as long as they are good looking, honest, eager, sociable, ambitious, and LUCKY!)
I don't see Alger commenting in any negative light about the structural setting he places Ragged Dick in. I see him glorifying it and that action does anything but to promote change. If one is happy with the system he is in, he will not bring change. For this reason, Alger won't tackle race, he won't bring down that power that helps put him where he is.
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ReplyDeleteI totally agree with the point Michael Zuckerman made on Alger’s writing as “overdependent on luck.” In Ragged Dick, Dick has always been so lucky that he ends up receiving some sort of help each time when he is either running out of money or in other desperate situations. Though as a homeless shoe-black Dick had to live on the street and cut meals from time to time, in the end he always had somebody turn up to help him out, Mr. Whitney, Mr. Greyson, Mr. Rockwell, etc. The tales are just too naive to be true. In the real world, it is hard to imagine there is such a person that would place all his/her fate at the mercy of someone else. What is there is no such a Rockwell or he is not as kind to recommend Dick to the job? What if the gentleman who paid Dick 5 dollars for blacking shoe didn’t believe he had been cheated by a swindler? Why Dick was so confident that he could get his savings back from Travis? What if he didn’t? Dick’s life is contingent upon on the above possibilities that are out of his control. The writer optimizes the outcome of every incident that Dick has encountered, thus he makes the story more positive and delighting.
ReplyDeleteIn the essay "The Nursey Tales of Horatio Alger," by Michael Zuckerman, Zuckerman asserts that luck plays a greater role in Alger's writing than individual ability and capitalism. While luck is a significant part of many of Alger's characters path to success, Alger does not present good fortune as more valuable than personal drive. In Ragged Dick, Dick's success is merely accelerated, not made, by good fortune.
ReplyDeleteDick's life begins to improve after meeting Fred, who gives Dick a new set of clothes as a well as encouragement to educate himself. Through Fred, Dick also meets a man that gives him five dollars to help support his struggle upward. None of the other bootblacks are as fortunate as Dick to receive such aid, but then again, Dick is the most industrious bootblack. It was Dick's industriousness, his drive to make another penny, that led him to meet Fred, whom he was hired to show around New York. It is not as if Dick was meandering through the streets, found a five dollar bill on the ground, and then a fresh set of clothes on a stoop. Dick's foil, Johnny Nolan, further illustrates how it is Dick's work ethic that enables him to succeed. Johnny, who is notoriously lazy, does not move upwards like Dick because he never puts in the extra effort like Dick does, in charming his customers or taking extra work.
As Ragged Dick ends, Dick is seemingly the recipient of more extraordinary good fortune that contributes to his progress, as Dick rescues a drowning boy, whose grateful father gives Dick gainful employment. But Dick was only employed after proving his good penmanship, the product of months of diligent study.
In the article by MIchael Zuckerman regarding Alger's novels, he argues that Alger's tales are not concerned with individual ability and responsibility, but rather unrealistic situations. He furthermore says that Alger's misrepresentation of real life, as his novels are solely based on luck, makes the novels mythical more than anything else. Although this seems like a good point to make, since in the story Ragged Dick he does tend to encounter a lot of lucky situations, I wouldn't particularly agree with his argument. First, it is imperative to look upon Dick's characteristics. To start out, I would suggest that at the beginning of the novel, it is true that Dick doesn't seem very responsible with his earnings, but in contrary to what Zuckerman has to say, Dick always had the individual ability of getting business and of being so witty and pleasant that people, for the most part, took a liking of Ragged Dick. Now, going back to the responsibility issue, it is true that Dick, at the beginning of the novel, wasn't very responsible when it came to making a good life for himself, buying cigarettes and spending l his money on going to the theatre instead of having a good place to sleep. However, this quickly changes in the book. After Dick meets Frank, it's as though Dick turns a switch in order to become a more responsible human being. He decides upon getting a good place to sleep and he also starts his bank account. This seems to me like plenty responsibility for a fourteen year old boy, and although he might be very lucky, it's not just about the luck.
ReplyDeleteNext, Zuckerman addresses that all of Algers characters don't really care about how much money they've got, and that instead they enjoy gratification. I'd have to ask, why is this such a bad thing? I know plenty of people that would rather get some gratification out of what they gain instead of feeling like they are wasting their life being greedy. This point is especially shown in the novel Ragged Dick, when Dick gives his hard worked earnings to his roommate so that he's able to buy himself a good suit. Also when he gives one of his fellow boot blacks money for him to pay his rent, since he hasn't been able to save any since his mom's been sick. This seems to me like a good way of being, giving back to the people that might need the money more than you. It shows that, unlike many people in this world, he sympathizes with what people are going through and he choses to give back. I think this world would be a better place if there were more people like that.
Alger is realist, like Alger’s formula, he wrote more than one hundred novels, and of them give the sentiments and obsessions. In Alger’s novel, his main actor like children had often fall into a deep trouble, lose parents, the children had already become the lowest class citizens and suffer the painful life of surviving. However, his salvations of saving life mostly were to set up a mentor for the children and lead the children to walk on the way of success. All his characters had to suffer the pain and then have a good fortune, and these cannot occur without the children’s hard working. Ragged Dick had proved a poor child could become a rich person after the hard working, Dick used to lead by other successful person such as Mr. Whitney, but then later on Dick replaced the position of Mr. Whitney. His novels taught about the honest, bravery, hard working and never give up. I agree with Michael Zuckerman.
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