Ragged Dick
After the Civil War, the Industrial Revolution was boosted in the north, and there was a mad rush for power in wealth. The United States surpassed Great Britain as number one in power after the instatement of Lassiez-faire Capitalism. This challenged many of the values of the time because it gave power to the rich and left poor, unemployed individuals powerless and penniless. The gap between the rich and poor began to widen, but in order to downplay this problem, hope was given to those poverty stricken. Horatio Alger wrote a series of books that illustrated different character’s stories of success from street poverty. Ragged Dick reflects the real life success stories of men, like Andrew Carnegie, on a smaller scale, using a young bootblack and material objects as symbols of this young boy’s transformation from poverty to middle class respectability. Each object was symbolic of an important step in the process toward comfort and success for Dick. Ben Franklin once said, “The clothes make the man”, and Horatio Alger truly believed this statement. Early in the novel, Ragged Dick received a suit from Mr. Whitney, a man whom Dick did not know. The s
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Some common words found in the essay are:
Mott Street, Ragged Dick, Tom Wilkins, Changing Dicks, Frank Dick, Lassiez-faire Capitalism, Andrew Carnegie, Horatio Alger, Industrial Revolution, Whitney Dick, five dollars, middle class, ragged dick, tom wilkins, poverty middle class, class respectability, poverty middle, mott street, street poverty, gift five, save money, middle class respectability, gift five dollars,
Approximate Word count = 784
Approximate Pages = 3 (250 words per page double spaced)
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