In Horatio Alger's Ragged Dick, there is a question of whether Alger is painting a realistic picture of life on the streets of 19th century New York City, or if he is glamorizing the life of a poor boot-black such as Ragged Dick.
In the beginning of the story, when Alger is describing Johnny Nolan, he makes it seem as though living on the streets may be favorable to living at home for some boys on the street. "Though his food is uncertain...gets so attached to his precarious but independent mode of life, that he feels discontented in any other" (Alger, p.12). Even though Johnny had a chance to live on a farm where he had a place to sleep every night, he prefers the independence that the life of a boot-black gives him, which is something that many readers may find hard to believe. Here Alger may be appealing to a young adult, middle class, male crowd, who are seeking independence from their families and can relate to how Johnny feels, although they don't want to achieve it by living in squalor as the character does.
When it comes to Ragged Dick, Alger portrays him as a happy, charming character, even though his life seems far from ideal for many of the middle class readers who read this book in the 19th century. On his trip with Frank, Alger gives Dick many desirable traits and good fortunes, which ultimately end up with him making five dollars for his work for the day, and are pretty unrealistic. The prospects of receiving an entirely new set of clothes from a complete stranger can't be very high, but yet Dick received this great gift. Alger does very little to touch on the tough life of Dick, other than mentioning that he used to be dirty.
As the book progresses, Alger does eventually touch on the negatives of living on the street, but he does so in such a fashion that it can easily be missed by the reader. When talking to Frank about his prior business ventures, Dick says: "So one cold night, when I hadn't money enough to pay for a lodging', I burned the last of my matches to keep me from freezing'" (Alger, p.38). This gives the reader an idea of just how critical it is that Dick make enough in a day from shining boots, so that he doesn't freeze to death at night. This aspect of Dick's life is the more realistic one of poor boys in the 1800s, but one that is mostly glossed over by Alger in his telling of Dick's story.
I would whole-heartedly agree with you that Alger does not seem to give a realistic depiction of life alone on New York City streets. As you said, he does allude to difficult times, including the match incident and beginning the book with having Dick wake up in box filled with hay on the side of the street. Alger seems to downplay the gravity of Dick’s situation, choosing instead to focus on his extreme fortune in befriending charitable people. Although Dick does not refuse to talk the situation, he does seem to have a similar attitude to the author. When talking with Mr. Whitney in one of their first interactions, he jokes that he slept in the “Box Hotel” last night (Alger 16), and jokes with Mr. Greyson that his coat had belonged to General Washington. Alger’s main reason to downplay the seriousness of Dick’s living situation may have simply been because it did not fit the aim and target audience of his novel. Alger did not intend to write a historical or even, necessarily, a particularly plausible story. His book was intended to teach and entertain the young boys of the mid-19th century, and bringing up these grave issues may make them lose interest from boredom, or from making the readers too sad. So, although I would definitely agree that Alger does not depict street life in New York at this time very accurately, I would also argue that he doesn’t really have a compelling reason to do so.
ReplyDelete