A.J. Murray's Ragged Dick and Horatio Alger Response

After reading Ragged Dick, I agree with Sydney and Bryan in that I too have never read story dealing with the "American Dream" quite like this one. I enjoyed reading this story because it was something different and unexpected. Going into the reading I expected the storyline to follow the usually rags to riches timeline by a person working their way to the top from the bottom. The first thing that jumped into my mind after reading this story was good things happen to good people. His selfless act in diving in the water even before Mr. Rockwell's offer of reward showed that Dick cared more about saving the boy than getting to a meeting. In return, he was luckily set up with a successful businessman who was willing to repay his son's hero. Like Bryan said, Dick could have been on a later ferry or the boy maybe didn't fall into the water and Dick would be in the same position he was in before he stepped in the boat. The story still follows the guidelines of what makes a rags to riches story because Dick did come from a low paying job and $3 to a job paying triple that. Although it was somewhat luck, Dick was rewarded for his patience, perseverance, and courage by being offered a job he had been rejected from.

Dalton disagrees with Alger's idea of the American Dream suggesting that Alger conveys 3 separate messages: Each of us are judged solely on our merits, we each have a fair opportunity to develop those merits, and merits will out. Dalton goes on to say that people of different race, gender, class background etc and put into their own groups when dealing with merits. He uses the example of the an exceptional black student being recognized by one of his teacher's as one of her best "black" students. Even though he achieved the same grades as he other white kids in the class, his merits were diminished because of his race explaining that he was judged solely on his merits. Second, Dalton does not believe that everyone is open to equal and fair opportunity because people can be born into wealth and success or be connected to someone of that statute. He does recognize that people can be born into poor conditions and work their ways up to a different class but he still relishes the fact that most opportunity is given out by judging race and gender. I believe that today everyday has an equal opportunity to maximize what they have regardless what class they were born into.