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 power to the rich and left poor, unemployed individuals powerless and penniless. The gap between the rich and poor began to widen, but in order to downplay this problem, hope was given to those poverty stricken. Horatio Alger wrote a series of books that illustrated different character's stories of success from street poverty. Ragged Dick reflects the real life success stories of men, like Andrew Carnegie, on a smaller scale, using a young bootblack and material objects as symbols of this young boy's transformation from poverty to middle class respectability. Each object was symbolic of an important step in the process toward comfort and success for Dick.
             Ben Franklin once said, "The clothes make the man", and Horatio Alger truly believed this statement. Early in the novel, Ragged Dick received a suit from Mr. Whitney, a man whom Dick did not know. The suit symbolized a change in how Dick was viewed as on a socio-economic level. Changing Dick's exterior changed how people around him saw him. Even Dick himself did not recognize the young gentleman reflected in the mirror. He was approached by merchants because the merchants thought Dick was a financially stable man, not a poor homeless bootblack. With this changed exterior, people began, almost immediately, to give Dick attention and respect.
             Along with the suit, Mr. Whitney gave Ragged Dick a gift of five dollars. Mr. Whitney told Dick that he hoped the young boy could prosper as he had, and reciprocate the five dollars to someone who was just as needy as they both once were. With this five dollars Dick opened a savings account, and kept track of...