Horatio Alger's Ragged Dick illustrates the transformation of a boot-black out of poverty. Ragged Dick uses his industrious and quick-thinking nature to get by in life. Dick's "honest . . . and open face. (21)" and rich moral character (he never steals) gives him a ticket to richer friends. Dick is given a new set of clothes where it is "difficult to imagine that he was the same boy. (24)" The closest the reader comes to identifying with Ragged Dick is in the rejection of his old self during his transformation. "A question now came up for consideration. For the first time in his life Dick possessed two suits of clothes. Should he put on the clothes Frank had given him, or resume his old rags? . . . as he surveyed the ragged and dirty coat and the patched pants, Dick felt ashamed of them. (88)" This story is melodramatic because all of the characters are either all good or all bad. Dick is robbed of his humanity by Alger because he doesn't make any mistakes that allow him to fail. Dick either learns from other people's mistakes, or he uses his honest character to rectify any mistakes made. For example on page 90, Dick's ego doesn't inflate as most boys' would in his situation. "His brother boot-blacks might think . . . he was getting above his business, and desirous to outshine his associates. Dick had not dreamed of this . . . he entertained no such feelings."
Benjamin Franklin's autobiography is the opposite of the Alger story because it is based on mistakes. Although the passage of Franklin focuses on 'self-improvement' just like Ragged Dick, Franklin is never perfect. Even when he's perfected his self-improvment program, which focuses on thirteen virtues such as humility and tranquility, Benjamin himself is never perfect. "In reality there is perhaps no one of our natural Passions so hard to subdue as Pride. . . For even if I could conceive that I had compleatly overcome it, I should probably be proud of my Humility. (89-90)" The reader can connect with Franklin and learn more from him than with Alger because of Franklin's humanity.
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Good observations Frank! I think your critique of Dick is right - even as a fictional character, he's pretty one-dimensional. Franklin's quest for moral perfection seems (and is) a lot more real, which is probably why there are still planners named after him today!
ReplyDelete-Ariana