Ragged Dick Sparknotes

The story first starts off with the narrator telling about his relations with Dick Prosser. Dick Prosser is the Shepperton’s new Negro man. He goes on to tell about all the things that he knows and what Dick teaches him and his friends. From what he hears, Dick was an army man who is recently discharged and looking for work. Not only can Dick cook, clean, and drive but he is also highly skilled in many areas. He is so skilled that he could chop wood in symmetry; each piece being the same size and length. He teaches the narrator and his friends’ thing such as how to throw a ball, shoot a gun, make a fire, kick a ball, and also box. From the narrator point of view, Dick is the idea role model. The children adored him along with many others. No one thought that he could go wrong.

How is it possible that two young children from seemingly similar backgrounds could have such opposing futures? Each coming from the poverty of the streets of New York City and yet somehow, one will be successful and the other will commit suicide. This is exactly the case in the novels Ragged Dick, written by Horatio Alger, and Maggie: A Girl of the Streets, written by Stephen Crane. Both set in the rough streets of New York City in the mid 1800’s, the novels follow the lives of two poverty-stricken youth, Dick and Maggie. While the two appear similar on the outside, their fates are nothing short of opposites. Upon the reading of each novel, one must ask themselves, what is the American Dream? Is it either of the lives led by these two

Everyone loved Dick he was admired in school up until his crash.“An outstanding athlete - always on the first team at school. Basketball! Baseball!Football! Dick was always the star player.A pretty good student, too, with A marks in several subjects.” After his crash, he became a psychopath he couldn't help his thoughts and the fact that he felt no remorse for anything he ever did.He even admits that it wasn’t the money that he went for it was Nancy. “Before I ever went to their house I knew there would be a girl there. I think the main reason I went there was not to rob them but to rape the girl. Because I thought a lot about

Written by Horatio Alger, in the late 1800's, hit upon the most important topic in America at the time; the "American Dream." The "American Dream," being the idea that everyone, from all walks of life, can come to America and be successful, in any way in which they want to, so long as they have hard work and determination to do so. Ragged Dick for filling this "Dream" by making his way up in society, and eventually making a wealthy man of himself. The first was that fact that no one should give up. Through all of the hardships Dick was put through, including the loss of his parents, the misfortune of receiving no education, and the fact that he lived on his own for most of his life. Another important topic that was covered, was that hard work pays off. In Dick's case, he worked hard at a boot-black, treated people with respect, and finally caught a break from his hard work, by receiving a high paying job. The kind of people that would enjoy this story would be people of all ages. No matter what age, or what level of education one may be, this story teaches lessons that anyone can benefit from. It doesn't matter if a twelve year old boy, or a fifty year old woman picked up "Ragged Dick," because they will both benefit from what the story speaks about. I think it is a heroic act to set up dream and tend to achieve it, because there is a fine line between a dreamer and a successful person. A dreamer is a person that day dreams without the aim of act towards it. But a heroic person like what we have in the novel of Ragged Dick is that he worked so hard and started from a very simple job a shoe shiner to finding a job to earning more money helping himself to become a successful

In the journal “Beyond Individual Resilience”, the author David Osher discusses how Ragged Dick was written when the belief in Social Darwinism was on the rise. He states that the theory was based on the success of the upper class, and the failures of the lower classes, but “Alger’s novels suggested instead that poor individuals with the right genetic makeup would, with luck, escape poverty and rise to the top.”

The use of symbolism has always been a prevalent way for writers to communicate important issues to the public. It is not uncommon to read a simple children’s story and discover underlying political or moral messages, for example, Horatio Alger’s novel Ragged Dick. This story was written after the Civil War, when America experienced a period of huge industrial growth. The capitalistic work ethic had become a universal idea in the North, and in response the Government agreed to stay out of business affairs, following the industrial policy of "laissez-faire." This widened the gap between the rich and the poor, making it difficult for a less fortunate individual to work his way up in society. Many Americans, however, believed that it was definitely

Ragged Dick: Or, Street Life in New York with the Boot Blacks tells the story of a young teenage boy trying to survive as a boot black on the streets of New York during the period of industrialization. Ragged Dick: Or, Street Life in New York with the Boot Blacks overall is very accurate in its portrayal of the era. Several examples throughout this work can be used to justify this such as Dick’s occupations, his enjoyment of theatre, his rags to riches story, the adversities some individuals struggle through, the emphasis on the suite making a professional, and the hard economic times. However, throughout this book, although not abundant in my opinion, there are also

Becoming "respectable," according to Ragged Dick, entails dressing the part. The clothes Dick wore in the beginning would not have been deemed “respectable” considering the holes and ill-fitting size of them. If someone looks the part, with well-made and moderately expensive looking clothes, people will assume they are someone who deserves respect. While Dick is still in his worn out clothing, he is almost fooled by a clerk when trying to exchange a bill for change. “He fancied that he could browbeat a ragged boot-black, but with a gentleman he saw that it would be a different matter” (10). Because of Dick’s “ragged” appearance the clerk thought he could be fooled and cheated out of his money. The lack of respect was then challenged when

Nick is a World War I veteran who, as many veterans, suffers from emotional trauma that his experiences from the war left him with. Multiple scenes throughout the story, Big Two Hearted River, relates to Nick, the main character’s, journey toward recovery. Nick describes his surroundings in way that parallels to his own experiences and current voyage in respect to his revival.. He takes a calming adventure saturated with calming natural paths over hills, through woodland, and along a river to find peace with himself and to return to his prewar state of mind.

“Crossing the Swamp” In the poem “Crossing the Swamp” by Mary Oliver explains in detail of the metaphoric swamp is either life or the surroundings of that moment of which the poem is being taken place in, but could be taken both ways. Mary shows the many problems and how ugly life or her personal surroundings really are. The opening line “Here is the endless wet thick cosmos,the center of everything the nugget of dense sap...” (Oliver 1-5).

It is impossible for the minor characters in Ragged Dick to have a fair chance at being recognized as decent members of society because of the emphasis Horatio Alger Jr. places on Dick Hunter. The better qualities of Dick are constantly being reminded to the reader, giving them little room to disagree with Alger’s heroic portrayal of him. Horatio Alger Jr.’s preference to homosexuality also reflects his choice in excluding any useful female characters in his novel. Minor characters lack understanding from readers because information surrounding them is absent, causing them to be judged on face value alone.

The United States in the 1900's was a very tough place to live in , specially for poor people and homeless. Poor children were on the streets looking for a livelihood in different ways and had no hope to survive but dreaming of having a better future. their dreams were to have a warm house and good food waiting on the table or to have some money that would give them power to enjoy everything else in life. here when the story of Richard Hunter started. Horatio Alger’s novels Ragged Dick was such a good example to explain how could a poor child with a miserable life can change the past and go from Hell's live to Middle class with individual effort and inner qualities. Horatio Alger’s novels Ragged Dick was written in the 1800’s, about a young

Herman Melville uses several allusions to historical figures in the first eight chapters of his book Billy Budd. He uses these historical figures for various purposes throughout the novel. The first reference Melville makes is to the revolutionary pamphleteer Thomas Paine. Thomas Paine wrote about freedom and liberty, something which Billy Budd has while working on the Rights-Of-Man. Unfortunately his liberties are taken away against his wishes when he is forced to serve on the war ship (Melville 7). Another reference Melville makes is to Horatio Nelson, a British naval hero who lead the British fleet to many victories (Lord Nelson Born). Melville uses his allusion to Nelson to show everything a good naval leader should demonstrate, particular

Rikki-Tikki-Tavi by Rudyard Kipling is a short summary. Rikki-Tikki, the protagonist, is trying to fight and kill the two main antagonists, Nag and Nagina. Since they animals in the garden and the family as well. Since Rikki is trying to defend them all, he must do re killing the other wild, crazy death defying things. When Rikki kills Nag, his problems are not over due to Nagina is the snake with the most power. Since she will do anything to keep not just herself safe her babies safe as well. Nagaina’s babies are the only things she cares about more than herself ,but when she finds out Rikki killed all of the eggs but one she is full of rage and fury. Then she try’s to kill Rikki-Tikki to save her last remaining egg. So then Nagaina swipes

Boy at the Window When we look at the world, we see it as ourselves not how it really is. In the poem, “Boy at the Window”, written by Richard Wilbur, the author gives us the boy’s thoughts and the snowman’s thoughts about each other. This makes the reader think about the two different point of views leading them to conclude that there is two poems in one. In the first stanza of the poem, the boy is gazing out the window at the snowman.