Stereotypes Revealed In Herman Melville's Ragged Dick

In the story Ragged Dick, Dick is a 14 year old boy who lives and works on the streets of New York. Dick is not educated nor does he have any motivation to get educated. He lives day by day polishing shoes and carelessly spending his money. Although he has no education he knows right from wrong. He has never stolen from anyone even during his bad days when he barely had enough to get himself a good meal. All of that changed when he met Frank. For example, Dick started to care more about his appearance, how he spent his money, and most importantly he wanted to be educated. He told himself that he wouldn’t spend his whole life polishing shoes. He started wearing a good suit that was given to him by Frank’s uncle. Throughout the book Dick then
started to save his money. After he had a considerable amount he got himself a small apartment, which was rented from a landlady. He opened up a bank account and put in his savings too. Afterwards, he ran into a friend who was living on streets. Dick being a kind hearted boy told his friend Fosdick that he could live with him. Later on, Dick found out that Fosdick knew how to read and write and asked him to be his private tutor. He quickly became educated. Finally, Dick and his roommate had saved up enough money to get themselves a nice place to live. At the end of the book, both of them were employed and Dick’s job paid $10 a week! In my opinion I believe Professor Schultz wanted us to learn that greatness is achieved by educating yourselves and taking the extra mile. If you believe in yourself and truly want to accomplish it you will be able to if you put your mind to it. To relate it back to the lecture, it was said that myth of success is said that if you strive, you could become wealthy. For instance, at the end of the book Dick was becoming wealthy after he educated himself and took advantage of any opportunity that came his way.