Horatio Alger’s American Dream: Real or Myth? The American Dream is the concept that anyone can achieve success and wealth, regardless of origin or circumstance. The idea that societal and financial upward mobility are attainable regardless of the circumstances from which one begins forms the basis for the United States often being referred to as the Land of Opportunity. Horatio Alger used this theme repeatedly in his popular books written in the mid nineteenth century. Alger espoused the notion that by working hard, obtaining an education, and modeling virtuous behavior one could achieve a “rise to respectability”; this is the central theme in Ragged Dick, published in novel form in 1868. The title character, Ragged Dick, is a poor fourteen-year-old boy living on the streets of New York and supporting himself by shining shoes. Dick yearns to better his station in life, and works hard to earn money and to further his education as best he can, while always adhering to a strict moral code, refusing to steal and rendering aid to those who …show more content…
Research indicates that, for most, the rise from poverty to a higher rung on the socioeconomic ladder is simply not possible. In his book The American Myth of Success: From Horatio Alger to Norman Vincent Peale, Richard Weiss wrote “… [T]he belief that all men, in accordance with certain rules, but exclusively by their own efforts, can make of their lives what they will has been widely popularized for well over a century. The cluster of ideas surrounding this conviction makes up the American myth of success” (3). Alger’s prescribed course of action cannot be criticized from an ethical stance, but the idea that it will lead to success is, indeed, a