Week 9: The Horatio Alger Myth in Contemporary America

http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/1899396/the_horatio_alger_myth_is_alive_and.html "The Horatio Alger Myth is known country wide as being a proud national symbol of this economic empowerment."

Horatio Alger. Jr's Ragged Dick centres around the notion of the 'American Dream' through the concept of rags to riches. These ideas, as well as others, are essentially what the Horatio Alger Myth is based upon. This article by Sara Bilodeau shows how the notion still exists within society today, and how it can be applied to contemporary America.
One important aspect to the Horatio Alger Myth is how hard work leads to success. In Ragged Dick this concept is clearly visible, 'A good many distinguished men have once been poor boys. There's hope for you, Dick, if you'll try." (p.27) Bilodeau has applied this idea to contempoary America, "It is true that some Americans are able to achieve this myth within their lifetime, such as Bill Gates, but it is much more common for this goal to be obtained after several generations of hard work." Bilodeau portrays the idea of hard work for some as much easier than for others. Nonetheless, she recognises the importance that it has within the United States, and essentially the 'American Dream' as well as staying truthful to the Horatio Alger and the Horatio Alger Myth.

In addition to this, the idea of education is also another important aspect to the Horatio Alger Myth. According to Bilodeau education to date has a slightly different function to that which can be seen in Ragged Dick. For example, Alger's message within the book was that, as well as looking respectable, the only way of gaining a suitable standard within society to have a 'proper' education, "But, in order to succeed well, you must manage to get as good an education as you can. Until you do, you cannot get a position in an office, or counting room even to run errands." (p.36) In contrast however, Bilodeau portrays how nowadays there are financial benefits for those of the lower classes, "... the children of lower-class families have numerous opportunities to receive financial assistance to go to college if not a full ride to one... in order to go to college all you basically have to do is finish high school with relatively good grades." This shows how the importance of education to obtaining a good job has changed and developed over time. Now, thanks to 'financial asscistance' more people from the lower class are able to achieve good work than before.

Overall, through the concept of hard work and the importance of education, Bolideau has shown how the Horatio Alger Myth still exists within America today. Despite the fact that it has changed and differed slightly, like all things over time, the importance of hard work and education are still important factors to helping people reach their ideal 'American Dream'. In the words of Bilodeau herslef, "Although it may seem that the Horatio Alger Myth is unattainable, that is not the case. The hard work that is required to fulfill the myth is slightly different from the hard work that was originally implied, however, the myth still holds true and success is obtainable to even the most humble of people. All that is needed is the drive to succeed and an education."