In Ragged Dick we are first introduced to the classic American little boy. We have already learned what to expect from little girls in this time period through what we have already read. Now we are shown the many differences between little girls and little boys and the roles they play.
We see many lessons being taught in the story. We see Ragged Dick as little boy that is working for his own good. We see him as an independent, ambitious, and very sarcastic little boy. We get the idea that this is the way a little boy is supposed to act. When we see that Johnny doesn’t make as much money as Dick, we have the fact that, “That boy…ain’t got no ambition,” (351) brought to our attention. The reader then knows that ambition is an important thing for little boys to have to make sure they can support themselves. We also see that Dick is a very confident little boy in the fact that he will joke and be sarcastic with complete strangers. When Dick is talking to Mr. Whitney we see him being sarcastic about staying at the “Box Hotel” (361). Little boys are taught to be able to support themselves, have the work ethic to do a good job of this, and to be funny and sociable in a different way than little girls.
As for the fictionalized characters, I believe we see the switch from sole man powered jobs to more corporate jobs. We see that more thought and power is given to those in nice clothes. When Dick receives the gift of a change of clothes, we see men working the entrances of shops encouraging Dick and Frank to “walk in, young gentlemen” (373) and they are given more respect than Dick received when he was dressed in rags. I think that we are shown how more importance was slowly being given to the men who could afford a more luxurious life-style. Men used to be very down to earth, but now we see the difference between Dick and Frank that show the morphing of our society at the time.
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I never saw the differences between Dick and Frank and thought that it showed the morphing of society, but now that you bring it up, I totally see it! I think that it is further separating the 'haves' and the 'have nots' and that for these classes, it is harder to break out of the cycle of poverty.
ReplyDeleteI did not pick up on the different between Dick and Frank. I mean I knew one was upper class and one was homeless but I read this story as viewing the boys as though they were just two boys meeting on the playground kind of situation. I know they were introduced but I feel the way their friendship struck up was like when we were little meeting kids at the park. Instatnt connection.
ReplyDeleteHey effie, I like how you talked about how Dick is sarcastic and funny, and how it is acceptable for little boys to be like that, and probably even encouraged. I mean, we like Dick for the funny things he says and for guys its more important to be like and popular than good, so I think his humor is what will get him ahead in life, as well as his ambition which you pointed out.
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