In Ragged Dick and Mark, the Match Boy, the heroes struggle upward from poverty to a state of respectability. They do so by adopting values of frugality, kindness, and responsibility. Through their stories and many others, Horatio Alger makes great progress in popularizing the American dream. Alger’s American dream is unique, however. His dream focuses more on morality and respectability than on wealth and power. In specific, Alger considers kindness, honesty, and ambition to be vital to the advancement of man.
The characters in Alger’s books can be sharply divided into two groups: heroes and villains. The hero, while not necessarily perfect, has a moral code of some sort and wishes to improve himself. When Ragged Dick, the main character of the book, is introduced, Alger takes great care to present him accurately. He says that “our ragged hero wasn’t a model boy in all respects,” (42) and then goes on to list extravagance, vulgar language, and smoking as a few of Dick’s faults. Alger balances this seeming defamation of character by asserting that Dick is generous, refuses to steal or cheat, and is self-reliant. Alger reiterates these values throughout the book in Dick’s speech and actions.
The villain, in contrast, is lazy, mean, and not above using theft or misdirection to support his many vices. Roswell Crawford, the main antagonist in the book and “a gentleman’s son,” resists work in any manner that he can do so. He believes that he is “above” such things, and that he should be paid well for doing little or nothing at all. Roswell also steals (though admittedly with some discomfort,) smokes, and attempts to harm both Dick and Mark Manton.
It may seem to the casual reader that Alger is setting a double standard by presenting Dick as a hero and dismissing Roswell immediately as a villain. The two boys have similar vices, and Alger himself admits that he does not consider Dick to be a model boy. If the situation is more carefully observed, however, it can be seen that Alger has created a hierarchy of values, and that an evaluation of the boys using this paradigm comes out weighing heavily in Dick’s favor.
While drinking, smoking, cursing, and extravagance are indeed faults, Dick rises easily and quickly above these failings. It is in his willingness to do so that he stands above Roswell. In Alger’s eyes, a drive to better oneself absolves one of much of the guilt accumulated for previous wrongdoings. In a sense, although Alger condemns ignorance, he is willing to excuse it, along with the resulting failings, once the condition has been rectified. The idea especially holds true in the case of Dick, who, until he met Mr. Whitney, had no one to teach him values and morals. Fortunately for Ben Gibson, laziness alone is not enough to condemn a character to the status of a villain. There are several characters who lack the drive to better their lives and are still presented in a positive manner. This fact may be partly due to Richard Fink’s claim that Alger once confessed to his mother “that he did not want to be anything, not anything at all.”(8) Alger himself has felt a lack of drive in his life, an uncertainty about the next step. Because of this feeling, he sympathizes with characters who feel similarly, and portrays them with a fondness that is impossible to ignore.
It would seem, therefore, that there are facets of human nature beyond laziness that cause a person to be placed on the villainous side of the spectrum. Three characteristics that are noticeably present in the villains of the story, and just as conspicuously absent from the heroes; are spite, greed, and jealousy. These three faults display a selfishness and lack of respect for others that is clearly unreconcilable with Alger’s American dream. These three faults are displayed in Travis, Mrs. Watson, and Roswell Crawford, among others. Not only is Roswell lazy, mean, and manipulative, he blames Dick for his problems and sets out to do Dick harm because of this belief, a fine example of two of the three faults listed. The third fault, greed, is also present in Roswell’s desire to have Dick’s job.
A further example of this claim can be presented in the case of Mickey Maguire. In Ragged Dick, Micky is a villain who would be placed near Roswell on Alger’s scale of morality. He and Dick are fellow boot-blacks, and Mickey has “been to the island”(125) twice. He often attempts to provoke a fight with Dick, and feels that Dick steps above his place by dressing well. This attitude does not prevent Mickey from obtaining a position later on, however. In Mark, the Match Boy, it is presented as no great matter that Mickey has a position and is now a friend to Dick. It is interesting to observe the means by which this great change came upon Mickey.
In the intervening book, Fame and Fortune, Roswell Crawford employs Mickey to frame Dick for a theft. In this way, Roswell hopes to get Dick fired from his job and succeed to the position himself. The plan is well conceived, and it is only because of Dick’s reputation for honesty and his many friends that he escapes the trap. In his usual forgiving manner, Dick attempts to free Mickey from any blame in the matter, citing an abusive father and the difficulties of living on the street for Mickey’s error. Although this intervention does not save Mickey from time in jail, it goes a long way toward cementing a friendship between the two.
When Mickey leaves prison three months later, it is arranged that he will have Dick’s position and that Dick will be promoted. Dick helps Mickey in any way that he can, and this caring attitude results in the new and much improved Mickey that the reader encounters in Mark, the Match Boy. It would seem from this example that two things are vital to improving one’s station: ambition and the kindness of others.
This example is also an argument for morality. Alger holds truthfulness, education, and honesty to be key values to any moral and good person. Mickey, when shown a bit of kindness, takes to these values with great vigor, and thus improves his position in life greatly. The willingness to improve oneself is important, but even with the drive to do so, it is nearly impossible for a boy to succeed without the help of others.
The need for a figurative “leg up” is a vital point in the progression of Alger’s story. Dick is given an opportunity to improve himself by Mr. Whitney in the form of some advice, a new suit, and five dollars. Dick then proceeds to help countless others, including Fosdick, Mickey, and Mark Manton. The effects of this kindness ripple outwards, and many boys are able to profit from the five dollars Mr. Whitney gave Dick, in manner reminiscent of the parable of the loaves and the fishes.
The kindness Dick displays is a less popularized but powerful aspect of the American dream. Stories of the newly and fortuitously wealthy passing the good fortune along to those less privileged pervade our society. Although rare, such stories are heartwarming, and give hope to those in a position to need assistance. There is, it seems, a large population of those who wish to improve their lives, as did Dick, but cannot do so without the help of some outside source.
Alger is not ignorant of the fact that the circumstances leading to Ragged Dick, boot-black, becoming Richard Hunter, successful businessman, are improbable. He is presenting a model for society to follow, in showing what could, conceivably, happen to a young man with honesty and ambition, were he given a helping hand. Because of the assistance of strangers and Dick’s own morals and values, he is able not only to succeed in becoming a respectable member of society, but to start many other young men along the same path.
