Ragged Dick; or, Street Life in New York with the Boot Blacks is a novel by
Horatio Alger, Jr., originally serialized in 1867 and published as a novel in 1868. The book follows Dick, a fourteen-year-old
Street Urchin in Manhattan, as he rises from poverty to the middle class through his honesty and hard work.
Ragged Dick contains examples of:
- 419 Scam: A pre-internet example. A scammer approaches Dick, claiming he found a large wallet in the street that he doesn't have time to return to its rightful owner because he needs to visit his sick family. He offers to let Dick return the wallet and take the reward if he will pay the scammer 20 dollars. Dick, realizing the wallet only contains useless paper, gives the scammer a counterfeit bill and runs off with the wallet.
- The Alcoholic: Dick's friend Johnny Nolan is the son of a violent drunk. A few months ago, his father threw a flatiron at his head, and ever since then he's been living on the streets, afraid to come home.
- The Artful Dodger: Dick is more law-abiding than most examples, but he's streetwise, independent, and resourceful, and knows how to recognize scams and defend himself in a fight.
- The Cobbler's Children Have No Shoes: Dick's shoes always look terrible because he considers blacking much too valuable to waste on himself.
- Disappeared Dad: Dick's father went to sea and never returned. When his mother died, he was left an orphan at age three.
- Dream Reality Check: Early in the book, a wealthy man pays Dick to give his nephew Frank a tour of New York City, and gives him a new suit to wear. Dick is so amazed by his generosity that he tells Frank to pinch him to make sure he isn't dreaming.
- Never Learned to Read: Dick has only attended two days of school. Realizing that his lack of reading skills will hinder his goal of gaining respectability, he takes on twelve-year-old Tragic Dropout Henry Fosdick as his roommate in exchange for reading lessons.
- Pop-Cultural Osmosis Failure: Frank mentions that Madison Square is where Flora McFlimsey lived, referring to the protagonist of a popular poem. Dick, who hasn't read the poem, says, "I don't know her."
- Preppy Name: Fosdick applies for a job at a hat store, as does a snooty rich gentleman's son named Roswell Crawford who makes fun of Dick for being a boot-black. Fosdick is hired after Roswell admits he quit his last job because they wanted him to do "dirty work" like making a fire.
- Tears of Joy: A six-year-old boy falls from a ferry, and Dick leaps overboard to rescue him. When the boy is reunited with his family, his father cries.
- Troubling Unchildlike Behavior: Dick smokes, as do many of the other boys he knows, even the youngest ones. They do it despite the damage to their bodies because it helps them stay warm, and because many are addicted.
