After having read Ragged Dick and discussing his transformation, what do you expect going into Project Homeless Connect? We discussed a great deal about Dick's character and his hardworking, outgoing attitude. We also saw obvious juxtapositions between Dick and other charcters in the novel that reflect varying character traits. Do you think these traits are pretty typical of homeless people? How do you see actual homeless people and their situations?
During the Project Homeless Connect, do you expect to find hardworking individuals that are morally grounded with an educational background, or do you invision it being more likely that you will meet clients will alcohol and drug related issues? Will they be unmotivated? What kind of personalities do you expect your clients to have after their time on the streets? Will they be outgoing, emotional, reserved, mean..... etc.? Furthermore, what do you imagine your client's expectations for the day to be? How much do you think you'll be able to help them or affect their lives? Do you believe these homeless clients have families or friends that try to support them?
Talk about your expectations and reflect on the characters portrayed in Ragged Dick. Do you believe Horatio Alger's characters to be good representations of homeless people?
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After reading Ragged Dick and seeing the varying boys in the book and how their futures begin i believe to see a lot more people like Johnny Nolan or Mickey at Project Homeless Connect. I believe some will have education backgrounds and some will have other issues that put them on the street. I believe there will be people that are hard working and some that are lazy but they all have one thing in common....they share the hardships of being homeless. Alger makes Dick's uprise for poverty look easy but in reality the people at PHC have more things to worry about. for example when people apply for a job they need a permanent address to have their paychecks sent to but if your homeless you have no home. The system of removing oneself from homelessness is not as easy as Alger makes it seem but people do it all the time.
ReplyDeleteWe will see a variety of people that openly accept help and others that think we are just pitying them. However, the important thing is that the people see that there are alot of people that want to help them not look down upon them. I think the only help that i will honestly be able to give these people other than a few small things like applying for and ID is to give them hope that if they keep trying and looking for opportunities to rise than maybe they will someday. it is hard because last year i thought i was going to be able to help more but all i could do was help them fill out forms and hope that they got a cal back for a job. I personally feel that others can only have as big of an impact of someone else as the other wants it to be.
After having read Ragged Dick and discussing his transformation, I don’t know what to expect to happen with the Project Homelss Connect, because the book and the reality are two completely different things. The traits of Ragged Dick are all made up by the author, so I don’t expect to see these traits to be in homeless people. If they do, they would not be in the situations they are in right now. I think some homeless people are worthy to be helped, and the rest are not. I think this because that I think in order to let them be out of their situations they are in right now, they have to work hard and find their own ways to let them get out of the situations. I think during the Project Homeless Connect, I will be expecting more people are doing drug and alcohol than the people with the traits of Ragged Dick or just some of the traits. I don’t know in what ways that I would help them, but I would try to encourage them to work hard. I think homeless people had family, but they might have abandoned them for various reasons.
ReplyDeleteI don’t think Horatio Alger’s characters to be good representations of homeless people, because the characters are not really homeless, they all are just teenagers, that had not family, so they have to live on the life by themselves. And the homeless people are almost all adults that had experienced some joy from their teenage lives.
Although the Ragged Dick story is too idealistic to be true in real life, I still believe in the author’s optimism that would encourage people in a similar situation to take a positive attitude towards life. A novel is different from a piece of news. While the latter is generally judged by its accuracy, novel provides us with more insights of the society and life. I don’t think that all the homeless people can be generalized into one category, since despite that they are temporarily less fortunate than us, they don't have too much in common. Some of them become homeless from natural disasters and accidents, some may be victims of robberies and thefts, some may be highly educated but lost all the money in the stock market, etc. We cannot simply say that homeless people being homeless is their own fault. There are lots of possibilities that are out of human control.
ReplyDeleteIn Project Homeless Connect, I’ll try to be as helpful as I can. Instead of being judgmental and condescending, we should all give our sincerity to let the homeless people feel they are not treated as second-class citizens thus making it easier for us to help them out. I believe that the majority of homelessness is attributed to one’s adversity. It is one’s environment that limits his or her capacity to thrive. If everyone can be as helpful as Mr. Whitney and Mr. Greyson, then we’ll see more “Dick” in our society.
Ragged Dick is based on a lot of the traditional values Horatio Alger has for succeeding. Thus, his characters are a lot different from a lot of homeless people you will see around may be different from the characters in Alger's stories. Based on previous experiences with the homeless, a lot of the people I have worked with are very kind, helpful, and grateful. The problem here is that the people I have worked with and a lot of the people we will be seeing at Project Homeless Connect are those who want to make a change in their lives. There are many other homeless who could represent the character of Nolan in Ragged Dick who would rather do nothing about their situation and rely on others to help them on the streets. They can also be very mean and dangerous.
ReplyDeleteThe reason I mention this is there is a huge variety of homeless people and their personalities. I'm assuming we will be meeting a lot of homeless at Project Homeless Connect who are looking to make a difference. But, I can't be completely certain and I'm just going to go into this like I do with every volunteer activity I do: happy, willing to help, and not being judgmental.
Ragged Dick does not influence my expectations for Homeless Connect, as it is a work of fiction. I really do not know what to expect in terms of what kind of individuals I will be working with that day. I suppose my only expectation is that they will not be unusually chipper boys looking to grow up 'spectable. I would be lying if I said that I did not hold preconceived notions about homeless people. After numerous bike rides along the cherry creek trail dodging beer cans, inhaling big clouds of pot smoke, and getting yelled at by crack heads, yeah, I would say the majority of homeless do have substance problems. I would also venture to say that many do have some emotional/psychological problems, indicative of the substance abuse. This is not to judge them though. I realize many are victims of circumstance. But by the same token, everybody has a sob story. There is a point where a person only has themselves to blame for their situation.
ReplyDeleteAs for moral character, I might as well flip a coin to answer that. I do not imagine that many of the clients will be unmotivated. If they took the initiative to show up, then they will have the drive to accomplish what they need to that day. How much I will be able to assist is up to them. While I imagine that there are homeless families, I do not imagine homeless people have families supporting them. It seems that if you're on the streets, you have exhausted your resources and are on your own. Hopefully though, more people can help. I too would like to "see more 'Dick' in our society."
I do not believe the characters in Ragged Dick are accurate. The most real characters in that novel are Johnny and Travis. They are the most real because they are the only ones that demonstrate human fragility and respond to their environment. Micky might qualify as well. But then again, all the characters are pretty vapid and underdeveloped.
Although I am excited about working in Project Homeless Connect, I cannot help but wonder about how the people are going to be. I think that there will be all different types of personalities of course, it’s not like one specific type of person becomes homeless. I think that if the people have shown up that day then they are taking an interest in their situation and are willing to work hard in order to find a way to change their circumstances. In terms of their demeanor, I don’t know what to expect because like I said everyone is different and will react to their homelessness differently.
ReplyDeleteI know that there are going to be a lot of people there that are willing to help the homeless try to get back on their feet and I’m optimistic about how the day will turn out. However, that said, it might be difficult to help them with jobs and money just because of the economy, an aspect of the day that may be a little disconcerting. I believe that some homeless may have families or friends that may try to help support them, but for the most case I don’t know if that many have that safety net.
Ragged Dick had so many characters in it that I found a little hard to believe in. On the other hand, I think that the situations they were put in, sleeping on the streets, finding jobs, going hungry, were of course situations that homeless people face every day.
After reading “Ragged Dick” I think the people I will see there will be less like Dick and more like the other characters who do not work as hard. I expect to find all different types of people at Project Homeless Connect. I think that some people might be hard working but there will be others who are lazy. They all have their own background on how they got to that place in life. Judging them for the reasons they got to that place will not help better their situation. Comparing characters to “Ragged Dick” I expect to find more people not like Dick and more like the other lazy boys. For me, I see homeless people more lazy than hardworking. For the most part you just see them standing holding a sign asking for money, and not doing work for that. If they want to earn money, I think that they should actually do work instead.
ReplyDeleteDuring Project Homeless Connect, I expect to find more people who are less hard working and more into drugs and alcohol. I think that I will find more people who need help and are more willing than not. I think for making the effort to come get help in the first place is a huge step for them. I think they will be motivated to help themselves and better their lives. I expect the clients to be strong since they have lived a hard life on the streets. I think the clients are expecting to go in and get help to move in the right direction. I personally don’t know how much I can help them just by talking to them. The help that I think would be the best is by getting them a job and a place to stay and that is out of my control. I don’t think that most will have someone to go for to get help since they are already out on the streets with nowhere to go.
I think the characters in “Ragged Dick” mainly show some of the characteristics of the people who are homeless. I don’t think that there are many people like Dick though. Most of the people I think will be more like Micky. I don’t think that Horatio Alger’s representation of homeless people is like the homeless people that we have now. Alger’s representation of homeless people is that they actually work for what they earn instead of standing on a corner with a sign asking for money.
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ReplyDeleteAlthough I imagine that the people I will meet at Project Homeless Connect might somewhat be like the characters in Horatio Alger's book "Ragged Dick", I feel like the people that I will meet will have very different backgrounds than the ones read in the book. In the book, the characters are very stereotypical and not complex whatsoever. There is Dick, the hardworking, earnest, intelligent and determined boy. There is Johnny Nolan, the lazy boy who will never get anywhere because he lacks enthusiasm. There is Fosdick, who is very intelligent yet shy, he's the character that needs a little push in order to better his lifestyle. Lastly, of course, is the mean brat, Micky Maguire, who envies all that have more than he and is dishonest and rude.
ReplyDeleteI feel like that my "clients" at homeless connect will be very different from these characters for three main reasons. First off because they are older, thus they've probably been through a lot more. Secondly because this novel fails to talk about drug abuse (although that might just have to do with the time period) and I know that at this point in time, that's a big issue that comes along with homelessness. Lastly because it's hard to categorize individuals into characters. I'm sure that there'll be all sorts of characteristics to their personalities that are quite a bit more complex than the ones shown in "Ragged Dick."
Although I am hopeful that I will be able to help these individuals with what they are struggling with, I am not sure that this will be the case. I want to make a difference, but seeing how the economy is so terrible at this point in time, I'm not sure that much can be done. Nonetheless, I plan on being very positive and I hope that my being there will maybe help someone out, even if it's just a little step towards creating a better life for themselves.
Homeless people are poor for a certain reason and a lot of the time it is not for reasons that they could control. A lot of homeless people are good, educated individuals. There are many veterans that are good people but as soon as they were done serving they were left with nothing, were shell-shocked, and a lot unable to get a job because some did sacrifice their college education to serve. Some have even been wrongly accused of a crime and cannot get a job because of it. What I expect to see at project homeless connect is a lot of people just like I described above because I met a few people just like that who happen to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. Maybe they cannot get a job because of injuries they received in war.
ReplyDeleteI believe Alger's representation of homeless people is somewhat inaccurate. A lot of characters seemed a little bit too trusting in Richard after meeting him for the first time which would not usually happen. A lot of them do not reach that high in the world without first going to high school and college as well. But most of the situations presented are typical of what a lot of homeless people go through.
Homeless people come from many different backgrounds and it is hard to tell what everyone of their stories will be. Some homeless people are well educated and hard working but they have just had bad luck and ended up without a home. Sometimes there are homeless who have mental disabilities and they have a hard time keeping a job because of their mental disabilities. Some of them would rather live homeless then in a hospital or a mental institution. Then there are also the homeless who are on the streets because of alcohol or drug addictions. Everyone has a different story.
ReplyDeleteI expect there to be all kinds of different homeless people at project homeless connect. I think that there will be drug addicts but I also believe that there may be some people that have just recently become homeless because of the economy. These people could have been living in nice houses last year and since the economy started to fall they could have lost their jobs and their houses could have been taken from them. Now they are at project homeless connect trying to get back on their feet.
I think that the characters in ragged dick were a little bit misrepresented. I don't think that many people would have been that interested or trusting in Dick in the real world but you never know. Take the movie pursuit of happiness where a homeless man gets an internship and gets a very good job.
In my opinion about the low wage, people are willing to work despite the fact that they can’t make enough to support themselves is because they had no choice. I think there aren’t many jobs for people. Or people were not educated, so they can find any other jobs that are offered. A place pays so little so that people cannot pay all their bills, the reasons for that might be that that person can cut down his/her daily expenses for any unnecessary needs and wants, or people are just can’t find any other jobs. The question “Is it fair to have people work these jobs when they cannot earn enough to support themselves no matter how hard they work?” it is not fair or not for them, it is people’s own choice to work in the place that pays little and there some luck involved also. I think the main cause of homelessness is people’s personalities. Some people are just lazy, not willing to work hard to get a job and stick with it, and instead of looking for jobs they would just stand by the street and ask for help. If they have time to stand around and ask for help, why couldn’t they go and find a job. Some people are just unlucky in their life, they work hard and they still can’t make enough. The question “fair or not,” it is people’s own choice. Some people are hard workers so they can help couple jobs to support them. Some people are not much of hard workers so they would just let their life go by having one job that would not support their whole needs. There is lot of hard working people in the world, so there would lot of people with couple different jobs. I say that because I know one of high school teacher had different jobs, one is work as a teacher, and other is work as a waitress in a restaurant.
ReplyDeleteGeorge’s presence contributing in a negative way to Ehrenreich’s position, because she is going to share tips with him also. That means her wage is going down also. Many people would choose George’s job in the dish pit over Ehrenriech’s server position, because George’s job has steady wage, if there is no business, his wage would still be the same. Unlike Ehrenreich’s job, if there is no business, then her wage would be close to none. It is possible to have a viable job market while accommodating immigrants, because our economy is run by the immigrants that had low wages. Without the immigrants, our economy would be in worst situations than now. Because the immigrants are willing to have low wage jobs, our food prices are not going up.