Book Report 1

Ragged Dick

              I read Ragged Dick or Street Life in New York with the Boot Blacks written by Horatio Alger, Jr. In this story, he wrote about a boy called Ragged Dick. He grows up and succeeds by the influences of cultured people in this story although he was alone, poor, dirty, and uneducated. Finally he gets a position. I agree with his success. There are three reasons. First, he was very honorable. Even though he was poor and wears dirty clothes, he never stole, cheated or imposed. He was very polite. Because of his characteristic, the people around him were attracted and helped him succeed. For example, he returned the money to one of the cultured characters, Mr. Grayson, because he paid too much for his bootblack. Mr. Grayson admired him and proposed him to be educated at Sunday school in church. Second, he was a hard worker. He earned  money as a bootblack than others. Moreover, after he met a cultured boy, Frank, he really wanted to change himself and studied hard. At first, he couldn’t read and write, but finally he was able to write a letter to his friend. In my opinion, hard workers have more potential to succeed than lazy people. Actually there were some lazy boys in this story, but they do not succeed like Dick. Dick made as many efforts as he could. Third, he was very kind. When people had a problem, he gave a hand to them. In chapter 15, he let Henry  live with him instead of teaching Dick because Henry didn’t have a house where he could sleep comfortably. In conclusion, I agree with his being able to succeed because he was very honorable, hard worker and kind. He gets opportunities by himself.