Toil... Triumph

“Ragged Dick” is a story of happenstance. Dick, our young, tenacious hero, toils as a shoe shiner but longs to hold a respectable job, like a clerk in a shop. Rewarding himself after earning a hundred dollars, Dick shelves his black wax for a day and decides to take a boat ride. On this day, coincidentally, the child of a rich man would fall overboard, and Dick, being an excellent swimmer, would save him. Dick saved this boy without knowledge of his father’s wealth and without knowledge of any kind of reward. And, indeed, the father does reward Dick. He grants Dick a job at his business, with a salary of ten dollars a week. Explaining that he is eternally in debt to Dick, this man also buys Dick a new suit. The author explains to us that this is extremely remarkable, especially considering that just a year ago, Dick could neither read nor write.
Horatio Alger is subtly telling the reader to work hard and to not expect rewards for this hard work. Rewards will come unexpectedly and in the most bizarre of circumstances, but their unsuspected arrival will therefore be all the more sweeter. Dick aspired to rise above the feet of others, and so he studied his English and began to edit the slang that usually peppered his sentences. He was able to earn a large sum of money, and it was only after this accomplishment that he decided to reward himself. Saving the child was difficult and dangerous, and still Dick expected no reward to come of it. Dick’s moil and his honesty in completing each task was certainly rewarded, and Alger hopes we recognize Dick’s accomplishment.