Ragged Dick - Critical Pieces

Gorman Beauchamp:

'...'Ragged Dick' established the core plot that Alger was to repeat, with minor variations, over a hundred times: the tale of a poor but honest lad who, through grit, industry and some well-deserved luck, pulls himself up from poverty and into middle-class responsibility.'

This is a statement that is easy to agree with, because without even looking into Alger's other novels, 'Ragged Dick' is most definitely a rags-to-riches story, even if the relative degree of riches obtained by the end is moderate at best. At the beginning of the book, Dick is described as sleeping in 'a wooden box half full of straw', showing that, although he does have (a semblance of) a home, it is definitely sat in the depths of poverty. Also, Dick himself is described as 'not [thinking] it necessary to remove several dark streaks on his face and hands', which shows that Dick has settled into poverty well enough that it's got to the point where it is natural to him. In contrast, in Chapter 12, Dick possesses 'the appearance of a very respectable, gentlemanly boy, whose presence would not discredit any establishment', and had a 'present cash capital consisted of nearly five dollars in money, besides the valuable papers contained in his wallet'. $5 at that time would be almost $150 now which, although it might not seem like much to us, is the single largest amount of money Dick has ever possessed, especially in raw cash, and it is thanks to that grit and industry which allowed Dick into the middle-class.


Cara Erdheim:

' One cannot really talk or write about American literature, which contains various voices and a multitude of perspectives, without referring to some element of the American Dream.'

Although there are certainly multiple famous writers and many famous novels which are thought of when one thinks about American literature, Beauchamp's point of Alger essentially repeating his plot in a hundred different novels really limits the perspectives and voices of American literature that we get. Despite this, we definitely get a view of the American Dream from the perspective of Dick. In Chapter 12, Dick is said to have 'turned over a new leaf, or resolved to do so'. Now that he is in possession of some capital, he is capable of following his dream of leaving poverty and becoming a member of the middle-class, or at least becoming  more '[advanced] in the world'. Such an idea of rising from poverty into financial prominence is arguably one of the core aspects of the American Dream, particularly modern interpretations of it. Such ideas could be found on Wall Street before the financial crash of 1987.

John Swansburg:

'It’s no surprise that Alger’s novels have disappeared from school curriculums and library shelves. There’s more narrative tension in an episode of Scooby-Doo than an Alger novel.'

At least Swansburg is not saying that there's no narrative tension, right? That being said, it is easy to agree with Swansburg, as the vast majority of the 'events' of the novel are somewhat predictable, and even if they aren't, they are solved with little to no real conflict. For example, when Dick and Frank is accused of stealing a woman's purse, the case is closed as soon as she takes a proper look in her bag. The lady may have had a rough attitude with Dick and Frank, especially where she says things to them 'spitefully' and 'furiously', but the conflict is eventually solved, after being dragged out for four or five pages.