A Close Reading of Ragged Dick
There were no houses of good appearance near it, buildings being limited mainly to rude temporary huts used by workmen who were employed in improving it. The time will undoubtedly come when the Park will be surrounded by elegant residences, and compare favorably in this respect with the most attractive city in the world. But at the time when Frank and Dick visited it, not much could be said in favor of either the Park or its neighborhood.
"If this is Central Park," said Frank, who naturally felt disappointed, "I don't think much of it. My father's got a large pasture that is much nicer."
"It'll look better some time," said Dick. "There ain't much to see now but rocks. We will take a walk over it if you want to."
"No," said Frank, "I've seen as much of it as I want to. Besides, I feel tired." (p. 48)
In this passage from Ragged Dick, Horatio Alger employs the ongoing construction of Central Park as a metaphor for the transformation of Ragged Dick into the esteemed Richard Hunter, Esquire.
The narrator informs the reader at the outset of this passage that when Dick and Frank are visiting the Park during its construction, there are "no houses of good appearance near it"; significantly, the buildings that are there are only "temporary." Central Park, like Ragged Dick, is simply a work-in-progress. Although externally it may appear rough and unpolished, as both the Park and Dick do to Frank, this situation is only transitory. Through diligent and honest work for Dick and "workmen" for the Park, a revolution will be completed, culminating in a respectable and elegant final product. The fact that Alger utilizes the word "undoubtedly" informs the reader that for both Dick and Central Park, self-improvement will assuredly be achieved through demanding effort, and this is designed to provide incentives and hope for the young reader.
The passage also illuminates a dichotomy in Dick's and Frank's perception of the world.
Nineteenth century industrialism presented the United States with a unique and unprecedented set of problems, as illustrated through the works of Rebecca Harding Davis and Horatio Alger Jr. Although both authors felt compelled to address these problems in their writing, Rebecca Harding Davis’s grasp on the realities faced by the working poor and women was clearly stronger than Alger’s. Not only did Alger possess a naïve view on exactly how much control an individual has over their own circumstances, but he failed to address the struggles of women entirely. As a result, Alger conceived a rather romantic world where the old-fashioned American ideals of hard work, determination, and self-sacrifice enable a young boy to lift himself from poverty.
Baldwin gives a vivid sketch of the depressing conditions he grew up on in Fifth Avenue, Uptown by using strong descriptive words. He makes use of such word choices in his beginning sentences when he reflects back to his house which is now replaced by housing projects and “one of those stunted city trees is snarling where our [his] doorway used to be” (Baldwin...
One of Horatio Alger’s books was called Ragged Dick or Street Life in New York, this book featured a young boot black named Dick Hunter and his friend Henry Fosdick. Dick in the beginning is living on the street and is never sure where he will sleep from one night to the next. He is fairly happy but wishes to be respectable. One day he offers Mr. Whitney, a businessman, to show his nephew, Frank, around New York City because Mr. Whitney is too busy to do it himself. After this day Dick’s life begins to change from a boot black with an uncertain life to a clerk who rents a room and earns ten dollars a week.
What is reality? This is the question Philip K. Dick poses in his book, Time Out of Joint. Dick strategically uses literary devices such as narrative structure and symbolism in order to comment on one’s perception of what is real, and what is fiction. By making “time out of joint” and allowing a shift in moral power within his novel, Dick exposes the feelings of paranoia and insecurity that were experienced during the fifties, when Dick wrote this novel, but implies that there is hope that peace can still be attained.
Alger, Horatio. Ragged Dick, Or, Street Life in New York with the Bootblacks. Boston: Loring, 1868. Print.
...ture of King George in “Rip Van Winkle.” Rip returns to his village twenty years after he left and realizes that someone has transformed the King into George Washington (541). Irving, realizing that much of life is merely a refashioning of the same ideas and structures into something that looks new, has taken an old German folk tale and turned it into a story of American life. We may live in a time with vastly different resources, technologies, and opportunities, but the urges that drive us are still the same.
Just look at the quote I gave you earlier: “Brooklyn, New York, as the undefined, hard-to–remember the shape of a stain.” He sees it as nothing but a stain on the map. He goes on to talk about “…the sludge at the bottom of the canal causes it to bubble.” Giving us something we can see, something we can hear because you can just imagine being near the canal and hearing the sludge bubble make their popping noises as the gas is released. He “The train sounds different – lighter, quieter—in the open air,” when it comes from underground and the sight he sees on the rooftops. Although some are negative, such as the sagging of roofs and graffiti, his tone towards the moment seems to be admiration. In the second section, he talks about the smells of Brooklyn and the taste of food. He’d talk about how his daughter compares the tastes of pizzas with her “…stern judgments of pizza. Low end… New Hampshire pizza. … In the middle… zoo pizza. …very top… two blocks from our house,” and different it was where he’d grown up. He talks about the immense amount of “smells in Brooklyn: Coffee, fingernail polish, eucalyptus…” and how other might hate it, but he enjoys it. In the same section, he describes how he enjoys the Brooklyn accent and the noise and smells that other people make on the streets and at the park across from his house. “Charcoal smoke drifts into the
Alger, Horatio. “From Ragged Dick.” Rereading America: Cultural Contexts for Critical Thinking and Writing. Colombo, Gary, Robert Cullen, and Bonnie Lisle. 9th ed. Boston: Bedford of St. Martin's, 2013. 252. Print.
...d by a difference in wealth. The difficulty to provide for a family, much less make more money to rise above the working class, caused children born into working class families to feel like they were “stuck” because they did not have the extra time or money to devote to an education. Instead of being able to learn and grow during childhood, children in the working class focused on the survival of themselves and their family. This contrasts the middle class where children had the possibility to earn an education before working in the future. Horatio Alger argued that anyone can change their situation by a little extra work and by improving their behavior, but Ragged Dick was an unrealistic character. Children born into poverty often faced a cycle, where guidance and luck could not even help the escape the working class because they were committed to their families.
The first 4 lines it is indeed set the in park and Harwood has cleverly chosen the park as the setting of the poem as many people see the park as a mundane, boring place. Our assumptions of the park as a scene is normally ...
This park is an ideal setting, because the story is based on football, which is mostly played in a park like setting. Not only this, but the genre of the novel is realistic fiction, and parks are not only found in books, but in reality as well. Coppo Park is described as a large area with many people walking around and playing. I would consider visiting this place, because it is similar to parks in my town, which I always enjoy visiting. In addition to this, I would consider visiting Coppo Park, because it seems as though it is a serene setting, which is different than the usual hustle of one’s daily life. Also making Coppo Park an ideal setting. The author describes, “Coppo Park was one of their favorite places in town... A bench was positioned perfectly in the morning sun, so that even in the middle of winter you could sit without a coat on and remember what summer felt like” (Lupica 29). Coppo Park is an ideal setting, because it is realistic. Something is considered “ideal” when it satisfies what one thinks is perfect. A park is found in almost every town, but Coppo Park according to Nate and Abby is different than the rest. With its perfectly positioned bench and serene setting, Coppo Park is definitely an ideal
Strauch, Carl F. “Kings in the Back Row: Meaning through Structure-A Reading of Salinger's `The Catcher in the Rye’.” Wisconsin Studies in Contemporary Literature. Winter, (1961). 5-30. Literature Resource Center. New York Public Library. Web. 24 April 2008.
Horatio Alger's “Ragged Dick” is a story which expresses the morals found within a fourteen year old homeless boy. This young boy is quite different because of the morals and actions he showcases to others. Unlike other homeless individuals, Ragged Dick is a boy who puts forth honesty while acting in courteous ways which represent a true level of dignity. Although Ragged Dick is such a prideful and respectful young boy, he is also known as a “spendthrift.” Spendthrifts are individuals who are careless with their actions in terms of their spending as they have little no regard for their money. One example of this can be seen as we read, “Dick's appearance as he stood beside the box was rather peculiar. His pants were torn in several places, and had apparently belonged in the first instance to a boy two sizes larger than himself. He wore a vest, all the buttons of which were gone except two, out of which peeped a shirt which looked as if it had been worn a month. To complete his costume he wore a coat too long for him, dating back, if one might judge from its general appearance, to a remote antiquity” (Alger).
This mid to late-19th century account of an early Victorian (English) public park illustrates the change of function and transformation of the Victorian public park from its original role as an upper-middle class observatory of Nature to its redefinition as this class' s social observatory of the lower classes. Between the years of 1840 and 1860, the public park's role in the eyes of England' s upper crust changed drastically due to the economic and political structure of Victorian England during this time and J.M. Milton's quote reflects this reality.
Golding uses chapter eight to show the changes within Ralph and Piggy. The experience on the island has caused them to mature early, and Golding develops this maturity in order to provide the reader with a believable story and memorable characters. He develops the characters through vivid details, distinct diction, simple syntax, and congested figurative language.