Upward Mobility In Ragged Dick, By Horatio Alger

During the 1860s, a cup of coffee cost five cents in New York City; today a cup of coffee costs two dollars. Although the price of coffee may have changed, the values of social mobility have not. The 1860s had certain class distinctions that developed the idea of upward mobility. Upward mobility is the idea that you are able to move from a lower social level to a higher one. For example, this can be done by changing jobs or by marrying someone who is in a higher class than you are. But as for individualism goes, upward mobility can be obtained with hard work and dedication. In Ragged Dick, by Horatio Alger, the main character, Dick is able to move up in the world due to the kindness of strangers and hard work. Class distinctions are based on

tangible, physical progress instead of pre-ordained castes.
Before there was a possibility of social mobility there was the concept of a closed society involving a caste system. Within a caste system, it is difficult or impossible for any kind of mobility. In a caste system, a person’s social position is depended upon allocation rather than achievement. This means whatever you are born into is where you will stay for your entire life, because changing of caste systems is extremely rare. The opposite is seen in a more open class system, where mobility is possible. In an open society, your status does not depend on what you were born into. Instead, it is based on achieved status, like hard work and education. After the Civil War, there were high rates of social and economic mobility that strengthened the belief of equality in opportunity. Even though very few rich men were actually self-made men who climbed the social ladder from rags to riches there are still many dramatic instances of upward mobility and even more cases of smaller climbs up the ladder of success. This reality of economic mobility convinced many Americans during The Gilded Age, that they lived in a open society, where wealth and status became the result of hard work and dedication. Upward mobility surfaces the concept of appreciating where other people are and you will be able to move up in the world. It is the communities’ obligation to help one another move up in the world. Although, class distinctions are different today, the idea of upward mobility still exists. Upward mobility still exists based on practice and hard work. This concept has shaped my life throughout my years playing softball.
I started playing softball when I was five years old. Obviously, I had to be taught to play, or else I would just be swinging and missing or running the wrong way around the bases. When I started to get older, I realized that I wanted to pitch. So from spending all my Saturdays and Sundays at the ball field and watching numerous softball games, I believed I could do exactly what they did all I needed to do was imitate their motions. I faked it up until high school. When I got to my high school tryouts, I realized there was a lot about pitching that I didn’t know. I had no idea how high or low the ball was thrown depended on your release. Nor did I realize that opening and closing your hips at certain points in your motion could effect how right or left the ball went. I knew there were a ton of girls that were better than me. But, the coach was amazed that I had taught myself how to pitch and hadn’t ever heard of that before, so he chose me to play for him. He knew with the hard work and pitching lessons, I had potential to be the best. The first game I played was terrible I lost my cool and couldn’t stay focused on pitching. My coach couldn’t stress enough how important it was that I was in control of my emotions. He repeatedly told me that I am in control of the entire game and if I can’t keep it together I am not going to win. After countless hours of blood, sweat, and tears at practice I was finally able to master my pitching motion and got in control of my emotions. All four years of high school, I was the top in the city with the highest amount of strikeouts, averaging about ten each game. Hard work, dedication, and the kindness of my coach helped me go from sitting on the bench to starting every single game and ending my pitching career with mastering seven different pitches.
At the bottom of the class structure, were the servants. Servants were called the “help” because they were there to help with the domestic workload. The wife or mistress of the house provides the help teaching her skills and the help provides the wife with labor. Republican Motherhood created the idea that the home in the place where children learn. The mother was the person teaching children how to behave in the presence of other people. Therefore, while the mother was focused on the children she needed someone to be there to help with everything else around the house. The lady of the house used the help to learn things that were unfamiliar to her such as cooking and sewing. Mainly immigrants took the position of the help in America. These immigrants worked in American middle-class and wealthy family homes. Immigrants held this position because they were seen as inferior to current American citizens. Often Irish women were the ones filling the position. The Irish were seen as uncivilized savages. Irish female servants were mainly referred to as “Bridget,” taking away their identity.
The concept of upward mobility is brought up in Ragged Dick. Richard ‘Dick’ Hunter is only fourteen years old and has been self-sufficient since age seven. He is considered a hero with a straightforward-manner who wouldn’t steal, cheat, or anything else dishonorable. At the start of the book, he is a dirty, homeless bootblack with a gambling problem. However much Dick managed to earn during the day was usually all gone by the next morning. Compared to other bootblacks, Dick was very successful. He believed the key to his success was to have energy and always keep your eyes open for customers, don’t get lazy.
Later that day, Dick was eavesdropping on a conversation when he overheard that Mr. Eli Whitney’s nephew wanted a tour of the city but was too busy to give it himself. Dick offers his services and because of his open face, Mr. Whitney believes he can be depended upon. In exchange for Dick’s help, Mr. Whitney’s nephew Frank gives Dick a suit to replace the ragged clothes that he is always wearing. Frank also allows Dick to bathe in the hotel he is staying at before he puts on the new clothes. After bathing and dressing in the new suit, Dick explains that he feels like Cinderella. While on the tour of New York City, Frank is amazed by Dick’s street smarts and assures him that he should go to school and learn to read and write. The next day, the reader is introduced to Mickey Maguire, who is the complete opposite of Dick. He believes violence is the answer to everything.
After Dick defeats Mickey, he finds another bootblack named Fosdick who reminds him of himself so he decides to offer Fosdick a place to stay and exchange for Fosdick to teach Dick to read and write. Throughout, the book Dick is constantly helping people who are less fortunate then he is, even though he doesn’t have much himself. But Mr. Whitney explained to Dick that when he becomes a prosperous man he can help out other poor boys who are struggling upward just like himself. This good behavior rewards Dick at the end, when he is on the hunt for a more respectable job. While Dick is traveling on the ferry, a boy falls into the water and Dick jumps in to save him. When Dick and the boy get out of the water, the boy’s father couldn’t be more grateful. The father turns out to be James Rockwell, a wealthy industrialist. Because of Dick’s sacrifice Rockwell explains to Dick that he owes him big time. Rockwell offers him a job as a clerk with a ten-dollar a week salary to say thank you.
Overall, this book is a constant reminder that you should make no judgments based on looks. “You can’t tell by looks…They’re deceitful; villains are generally well dressed”(Ragged Dick, Chapter Nine). When meeting someone, it is important to think beyond the spirit of the caste. Dick couldn’t afford to dress extravagant but that didn’t make him any less of a person. He treated people with kindness no matter what they looked like or where they came from. Through constant reminders from other characters, he believed that if he worked hard enough he could become more than a bootblack. But there are people like Mickey who believe that no matter what you can’t change who you are. Mickey believes that a bootblack is all he and Dick could ever be.
This is where Dick and Mickey have different views on the world. Dick believes in the concept of upward mobility where Mickey believes in a more feudal like society. Mickey is introduced after Dick’s new Cinderella appearance with decent clothing. Mickey approaches Dick because he has heard all about his new transformation from other bootblacks and believes that Dick is putting on airs, or trying to be better than who he really is. Mickey strongly argues that you can’t move above what you are. He can’t stand that Dick could ever fathom being something other than a bootblack so he decides to attack him twice. But, both times he is defeated. On multiple occasions, Dick is told that if he works hard he can get a better life and job.
When Dick is giving Frank a tour, Frank invites Dick over to his house. Dick is can’t imagine why he would be asked this question. In response, Dick asks why his parents would want a bootblack in their house. But, Frank retorts with, “You are none the worse for being a bootblack” (Ragged Dick, Chapter Six). But Frank isn’t the only one to encourage Dick; Frank’s uncle reminds him that poverty at a young age does not mean poverty forever. “Your future position depends mainly upon yourself, and that it will be high or low as you choose to make it”(Ragged Dick, Chapter Eleven). Mr. Whitney argues that if Dick works hard than there is no are no limits to his advancement.
Barack Obama is an example of a dramatic case of upward mobility.

His life story proves that it is entirely possible to increase your social standing with hard work and education. His story allows Americans to believe that it is possible for anyone to become president no matter what their background is. Obama didn’t have it easy as he was growing up he lived in drug filled neighborhoods where the sound of gunshots was often heard. As a child, Obama’s grandparents helped raise him and instilled the mind-set of upward mobility into his future. His grandmother worked her way up from a secretary to a manager at the bank where she worked. Obama was able to continue his education through college with help of student loans and scholarships. After college, he moved onto law school where he devoted his time to become the first African American president of Harvard Law

Review.
After his law career, his success allowed him to run for a seat in the Illinois State Senate.

In 1996, he won the election. By 2004, Obama made the decision to continue to climb up the social ladder. He decided to run for an open seat in the United States Senate. In November 2004, Obama received seventy percent of the votes allowing him to become the third African- American elected to the United States Senate since Reconstruction. In 2007, Obama publicized his candidacy for presidency for the 2008 election. In November 2008, he won the election and became the first African-American President of the United States. In just nine years Barack Obama went from being Junior Senator to President of the United States. In Ragged Dick, Alger presents the reader with the story of Dick Whittington, who has an even more dramatic case of rags to riches than Obama does. As a child, Whittington was poor but with hard work he came a very rich merchant and eventually the Lord Mayor of London.
This idea of rags to riches or upward mobility is so popular because it’s the story we all want to believe in, it is considered a huge part of the American Dream. It’s present in Disney movies like Aladdin and Cinderella and even reality shows like The Apprentice and American Idol. America is infatuated with the idea of upward mobility. With college education so readily accessible, even the poorest high school student can go on to become a rich

doctor.
All in all, the aftermath of The Gilded Age has left an everlasting impact on society. The impact being that social mobility is possible if you work hard enough and dedicate yourself to being a better you. Dick Hunter was able to go from being a bootblack to a clerk by committing his days to getting an education any way he could to raise his social standing. Because he received an education, he was able to get a better job to increase his financial stability.