Horatio Alger

Paper Summary:

This paper discusses the book, "Horatio Alger: Gender and Success in the Gilded Age," by Charles Orson Cook, which chronicles the image of Horatio Alger. The paper examines how it evolves through the writings of Alger, first through an introduction to the author and the age, and then an edited version of two of Alger's most famous creations, "Ragged Dick" and "Tattered Tom". The paper contends that these two works were specifically chosen to be compared and contrasted in the book because they featured a characteristic Alger boy and an uncharacteristic Alger girl street-heroine.

From the Paper:

"When Alger's Ragged Dick put himself forward for hire as a guide for a rich boy who is visiting the city, the boy's businessman uncle hesitated to entrust his nephew to him. But after reflection the older man decided that although Dick "isn't exactly the sort of guide I would have picked out...he looks honest. He has an open face, and I think he can be depended upon "(55). Thus, although Alger believed that private generosity and charity alone were necessary to remedy the evils of capitalism, he knew no one could truly succeed alone. Dick's contact with the rich boy Frank because of Dick's shining honesty resulted in his becoming a young gentleman, not just because Dick was a hard worker. And, in the story of Tom, the street tomboy, rather than rise to prosperity through her labor, Tom became the genteel 'Jane Lindsay' at the end of the tale, once again in her wealthy mother's custody, as a result of a series of plot twists, not her success selling newspapers like a boy. Like a fairy princess, Tom/Jane found she was not a street urchin at all, despite her success in the capitalist endeavors she shines in like a young, potentially prosperous boy."

More papers on Horatio Alger:

• Comparison Essay # 126437 : "Horatio Alger, Jacob Riis and New York"
• Analytical Essay # 54425 : "Ragged Dick"
• Analytical Essay # 2350 : "Ragged Dick" and "Struggling Upward"

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