"A writer for boys should have an abundant sympathy for them ... he should be able to enter their plans hopes and aspirations." -Horatio Alger Jr. Born January 13, 1832 in Revere, Massachusetts, the son of a Unitarian minister. His father so rigorously supervised his son's...

The use of symbolism has always been a prevalent way for writers to communicate important issues to the public. It is not uncommon to read a simple children's story and discover underlying political or moral messages, for example, Horatio Alger's novel Ragged Dick. This story was written after t...

In Horatio Alger's book, Ragged Dick, Alger very closely structures it to a fairy tale. While reading it, if you just look at how everything is laid out, you can easily see how much like a fairy tale it really is. Dick starts out as a homeless boy who shines shoes for money, but he is hardly...

After the Civil War, the Industrial Revolution was boosted in the north, and there was a mad rush for power in wealth. The United States surpassed Great Britain as number one in power after the instatement of Lassiez-faire Capitalism. This challenged many of the values of the time because it gave ...

In the novel Ragged Dick, Horatio Alger describes the life of young boy who makes a living off of polishing shoes and then making his life better. We are introduced to Ragged Dick as a poor young boy who technically has nothing but himself. Ragged Dick's unique characteristics set him aside...