Analysis Of Horatio Alger's Stories
Horatio Alger is described as “the classic American hero, a writer of mediocre fiction with a formula for commercial success.” (Dalton) He found success by writing fictional stories that seemed to inspire children living in poverty to rise above all that was holing them down through hard work and determination. What Alger did not write was that this is a very unlikely feat to be accomplished by just any poverty stricken child. In reality it takes more than just hard work and determination to enable financial security, you need money to start with. Which makes Alger’s stories hard to apply to real life situations in today’s world. Money runs the world now and without it, you are not likely to get very far. However, Alger wants us to believe in his three messages, “each of us is judged solely on her or his …show more content…
We live a much different time where the cost of living has increased and the job availability has decreased. “According to the Pew Study on the American Dream, social mobility is increasingly difficult, if not impossible; the study found those born at both the top and the bottom of the “income ladder” stay where they are from one generation to the next.” (Rooks) Meaning that if you are born into poverty it is more likely than not that you will stay there. This could help to reason why politicians have a hard time coming up with a good plan of action to help those in poverty. While Horatio Alger’s stories may have been a good inspiration for young and old during the late 1800’s and early 1900’s; he should not in reality be take seriously. In all his stories are fiction and are meant for entertainment purposes. Not to be interpreted into political and economical ideals of the American dream. If Horatio taught us anything it should be to work hard and not give up even if it means you might not catch that “lucky
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1063 Words | 5 PagesThis is proof that human capital is necessary to obtain financial capital, and financial capital is necessary to lead a successful life. In this anecdote, Stein explains that the financial capital earned in the previous generation allowed him and his sister to get educations and convert it to savings. A domino effect is evident: As the financial capital increases with generations, human capital can be earned in greater abundance and converted to more money. The son, learning that he is "the first member of the family to grow up in luxury," will be inclined to do more to save money and acquire capital for himself and future generations. The boy is representative of the American people and the relatability is strong.
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1036 Words | 5 PagesOverall, poverty class barriers show up everywhere. The Gallagher family in “Shameless” is a good example of this because they are very poor and most of the siblings end up dropping out of high school or not amounting to much within their lives. They are never truly able to get away from having this status, and it is truly sad because they represent actual families in the real world struggling with this everyday. Money is the true root of all evil, whether you have it or don’t have it there are still issues that show up in your
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1042 Words | 5 PagesLow social mobility means children who are born poor are more likely to grow up poor, yet with poverty growing low social mobility will also grow. Poverty causes worse education because your grades will depend on your background. For instance, if you experience being alone most of the time because you have one parent, then at school you will act more independent than others. Poverty causes higher crime rate because people living under the poverty line would most likely steal more to get more money to live a better
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848 Words | 4 PagesPoverty can be a vicious cycle for some families that goes from generation to generation. Another personal issue that can lead to poverty is illness and unemployment which puts someone out of work and there is little to no income coming in. Along with these personal issues that I stated there are also many
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1448 Words | 6 PagesNever the less, it’s ironic how in the 21st century we prize ourself for being progressive when almost half of us - over 3 billion people - can’t even conjure up what life is like beyond ‘the poverty trap’ they are in. We prize ourselves, when one out of every two children is poor. Can you imagine growing up as one of the 640 million kids whom have no adequate shelter, let alone a place to call home? Or the 400 million to whom safe drinking water is simply a figment of their imagination? Or maybe the 270 million who have no means of getting health care?
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