Ragged Dick
Ragged Dick is a novel written in the 1800's by Horatio Alger. It is a story about a young boy named Richard Hunter, also known as Ragged Dick, as he progresses though his childhood. Ragged Dick is a typical Rags to Riches story where Dick struggles through the hardships of city life, trying to achieve the "American Dream". As a child, Dick is nothing more than a poor city boy who is trying to earn money on the streets of New York City. He spends his time shining shoes for working men, making only about ten cents a pair. Although he works and struggles to remain an honest, hardworking boy, he also gets caught up with smoking cigarettes and gambling. Through Dick's shoe-shining business, he tends to meet lots of people. Each and every day is another learning experience for Dick. There are many times when Dick's integrity and honesty are tested, yet being a boy of good trust, he never cheats anyone. As time goes on, Dick eventually meets a young boy named Frank, who is of a wealthy famil
In comparing the time period of the story to our society today, I seem to find many similarities and differences. I think that the word "success" alone can be thought to have a completely different meaning today than it did in the 1800's. I think that in today's world, people tend to set much higher goals and expectations for themselves, whereas, in Ragged Dick, it was more of a day-to-day type situation. While reading this book, I really was able to put myself in the story, and live Dick's life with him. This typical story of "Rags to Riches", is a general theme for many people' lives. Today, as well as back in the 1800's when the story was written, many everybody's dream is to achieve success. This formally became known as "The American Dream". Although this may seem strange for everyone to have the same idea, it really isn't when you look at it with an open perspective. Each and every person's perception of success is extremely different and individual, which makes everyone's dreams different. Ther
Some common words found in the essay are:
Ragged Dick, American Dream, York City, Rags Riches, Richard Hunter, City Dick, Richard Hunter's, ragged dick, Horatio Alger, rags riches, boy named, honest hardworking, richard hunter, american dream, earn money, york city, today's world,
Approximate Word count = 687
Approximate Pages = 3 (250 words per page double spaced)
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