As Dick went through everyday day the same, shining the boots of the men who would walk by and give him the work he needed to get through the day, he came upon the luck of meeting a customer who changed his life. Horatio Alger’s story of a man, who is poorer than poor can be, who finds a way to rise out of the depths to a better life. This is one of the many feel good stories Horatio wrote. In this novel, Dick is a shoe shiner who works long days, to come home to his bed, a stack of hay on a wagon. This life, Dick is okay with as he gets to spend money on things such as drinks at the Old Bowery and take people out to eat. One day he comes across a man who doesn’t have change and asks Dick to bring change for his shoe shine to his office.
In the chapter I read, there were many connections to what was going on in the 1800’s and 1900’s. There were many people who did not have enough money and had to sleep on a hay wagon for a bed, like Dick. Also, as Dick worked long days and very tough hours, like any other poor person, he spent all the money he made every day for nutrition and rent. This left him with no money to start the next day, and in a never ending cycle of having no money, to money, back to no money. Dick also like many people back then was working for wages far below those of the labor he was completing. He shined shoes for only ten cents, and on a good day made about one dollar. This was only if he had the amount of customers to shine ten pairs of shoes. Labor wages were non-existent and this is why people made such a small amount. Dick used what he had and what he made to get him to the next day.
The theme of rising up from the poor and becoming a part of the middle class, is one the Horatio Alger used often to bring hope to those who had no money to eat and no place to sleep. This story resembles what happened to those people who got very lucky and gave the people who were around them hope to aspire to the person they had become and live a fulfilling life. Dick was just a normal guy who was very poor and did what he had to so he could get through every day. He shined shoes for those people, which is a very tedious and hard work to do. From this, he met a customer who gave Dick a chance to be more than he could have imagined. He gave Dick the opportunity to be a gentleman and to have money to spend and start his day with. This story was one that made people believe in happy endings.
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This book seems interesting and it seems like you really understood the message it was trying to convey. The one thing i would say is that you should go into more depth about what the story is saying about your topic, not just about what the story is trying to say. Try to connect it back to your topic and state what the connection between labor and Dick is. You understood it by try to go further with the information you took out of it. Good job sir Joseph
ReplyDeleteGood summary, you covered all the points you needed to convey what your story was about. I like how this is the story of just one man; multiply his story by 100 and you get what many people were going through at the time. So explain how this man Dick, represents entire America. I think once you do this, the question What does the story tell us about this issue? might be answered.
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