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Business Ethics: Ragged Dick By Horatio Alger

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Business Ethics Paper No. 1: Ragged Dick Horatio Alger, a 19th century author, is famous for his American rags to riches stories and Ragged Dick is nothing short of that. In Ragged Dick, it is written around the main character Dick Hunter, a young shoe shiner who lives in New York City. Dick gets the nickname ragged Dick from the presence of the clothes he wears, as they are old and worn out. Dick struggles to save money he makes from spending it on nightlife, cigars, and gambling. Dick is described as an honest boy who wouldn’t steal or cheat to better himself, and throughout different stories in the book, his character shows that.
Although Dick is known as one of the more successful shoe shiners, he still spends most of his nights sleeping …show more content…

In the beginning of the novel, we discover that Dick is a shoe shine by trade and freely works where he thinks he will make this most money, usually where the wealthy are. Given that nature of Dick’s occupation, being a shoe shine in New York City is very competitive. When Dick makes money from shining shoes, it gives him a great sense of pride, however instead of saving, he spends his earnings. Once Dick had given Frank a tour of New York City, Dick had received a new motivation to purse a higher success in business, instead of shining shoes. After Dick receives an unexpected generous gift of five dollars, and immediately opened a bank account. Having money in the bank gave Dick a feeling of security as he could focus on the future instead living day to day. Now that Dick had a new outlook on his future, he was eager to become educated. Dick was told that to become more successful, he would need to become educated. As Dick’s financial situation improves, the more he is open to helping others specifically when he offers Henry, a young educated boy, a place to stay, in return Henry helps educate Dick. Throughout Ragged Dick, Dick is very generous to other people around him when he can afford to. Dick helps his friends that can’t afford a meal or find a place to stay, if he has enough money saved

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