Newyork Street Chidren and the American Dream
[Tofik Mussa]
[03/07/2013]
[English Composition 110]
[The New York street children and the realization of the American Dream] "New York City has a global reputation as a dynamic, wealthy, and prosperous magnet for immigrants for several centuries. Horatio Alger’s Ragged Dick exhibits a 19th century metropolis where street children—uncared for by the general public and without a safety net—struggled mightily to earn enough money for food and temporary lodging with the help of the right attributes of the possibility to achieve a modicum of success (Gerling)." It is evident that New York is an ideal center of freedom, rapid urban expansion, natural harbor and multi-cultural society. Ragged Dick further solidifies the above argument by showing that New York is a suitable playground to the visionary and ambitious irrespective of socioeconomic and racial backgrounds. In Ragged Dick, New York is as an origin of virtuous and dedicated role models who in turn provide the motivation to inculcate others in their pathways. Ragged Dick also illustrates the freedom to work, the freedom to acquire property, the freedom to study, and freedoms of all sorts were explicitly respected in New York back in the 1800’s. Ragged Dick also proves the prevalence of the principle of egalitarianism in New York, where one’s background has no effect on his or her fortune. The history of Ragged dick serves as a mirror image to the famous writer’s Caleb Carr’s belief that, “What happens in New York happens to the rest of the country....If the American society is going to succeed, it is going to find the way to do what New York has always done which is to take incredibly diverse human elements, put them together and find a way for them to tolerate each other.... (Burns)"
Despite the unsuccessful attempts to demystify the truly democratic nature of New York since the regime of Peter Stuyvesant who believed that, “It would create a great confusion if the obstinate and immovable Jews
[03/07/2013]
[English Composition 110]
[The New York street children and the realization of the American Dream] "New York City has a global reputation as a dynamic, wealthy, and prosperous magnet for immigrants for several centuries. Horatio Alger’s Ragged Dick exhibits a 19th century metropolis where street children—uncared for by the general public and without a safety net—struggled mightily to earn enough money for food and temporary lodging with the help of the right attributes of the possibility to achieve a modicum of success (Gerling)." It is evident that New York is an ideal center of freedom, rapid urban expansion, natural harbor and multi-cultural society. Ragged Dick further solidifies the above argument by showing that New York is a suitable playground to the visionary and ambitious irrespective of socioeconomic and racial backgrounds. In Ragged Dick, New York is as an origin of virtuous and dedicated role models who in turn provide the motivation to inculcate others in their pathways. Ragged Dick also illustrates the freedom to work, the freedom to acquire property, the freedom to study, and freedoms of all sorts were explicitly respected in New York back in the 1800’s. Ragged Dick also proves the prevalence of the principle of egalitarianism in New York, where one’s background has no effect on his or her fortune. The history of Ragged dick serves as a mirror image to the famous writer’s Caleb Carr’s belief that, “What happens in New York happens to the rest of the country....If the American society is going to succeed, it is going to find the way to do what New York has always done which is to take incredibly diverse human elements, put them together and find a way for them to tolerate each other.... (Burns)"
Despite the unsuccessful attempts to demystify the truly democratic nature of New York since the regime of Peter Stuyvesant who believed that, “It would create a great confusion if the obstinate and immovable Jews