Ragged Dick; or, Street Life in New York with the Boot Blacks was Horatio Alger, Jr.’s first bestselling book. Ragged Dick was serialized in 1867 in the monthly American children’s magazine, Student and Schoolmate, prior to its successful publication as a novel in 1868. The first volume in a six-volume series, Ragged Dick established Alger’s primary theme of a boy’s rise from humble beginnings to prosperity and respectability. Alger’s “rags to riches” narrative built on earlier American ideas about social mobility and influenced the post-Civil War generation of young readers. Later biographies of real-life businessmen, who had climbed from obscurity to fame and fortune, were often characterized and/or styled by Alger’s premises of hard work, perseverance, and self-made success (“Horatio Alger, Jr. Biography”). Ragged Dick is a Bildungsroman, or coming-of-age novel. Ragged Dick tells the story of a nineteenth-century bootblack or shoe-shiner named Dick Hunter. His sharp wit, hard work, and honesty enable him to rise in the competitive business world of New York City.

Plot Summary

The 14-year-old hero of the novel, Ragged Dick, is an enterprising, industrious, and generous boy who makes a living by polishing the boots of men going to or from work. Orphaned at an early age, Dick lives on the New York City streets. Although Dick is naturally intelligent and handsome, he is uneducated and unwashed. Dick quickly spends the money he earns through his hard work and quick-witted humor on extravagances like attending the theatre, gambling, or treating his friends to oyster stew dinners. Dick’s honesty and straightforward manner encourage people to trust him. Always on the lookout for profitable opportunities, Dick overhears a prosperous businessman, Mr. Whitney, regretting that he is too busy to show his visiting nephew, Frank, the sights of the city. When Dick offers to serve as a tour guide for 14-year-old Frank, Mr. Whitney accepts his proposition but persuades Frank to give Dick a half-worn suit to help him appear respectable. Washed and neatly dressed, Dick realizes how differently he is treated by society. He is welcomed into proper establishments from which he was formerly excluded.

As Dick leads a tour of New York City, he learns from Frank about men who have risen from poverty to respectability by saving their money, getting an education, and renting a place to live. Impressed by Dick’s sharp intellect, Frank encourages Dick to strive for a better position. Dick also protects Frank, who is unused to city life, from being victimized by swindlers. Mr. Whitney tells Dick that success is largely dependent upon his choices and efforts in a free country; he hopes that the boy will rise in life. Mr. Whitney gives Dick a five-dollar bill and tells him that when Dick becomes successful, he can help another boy who is struggling upward.

Inspired by the advice of the Whitneys, Dick determines to start a new chapter in his life and improve his circumstances. Dick rents a furnished room to have a place to sleep every night, deposits his earnings in a savings account, and arranges for another boy, Henry Fosdick, to give him lessons in reading, writing, and arithmetic in exchange for sharing his lodgings rent-free. Henry has been forced to work as a bootblack after the death of his father left him destitute. Prior to his father’s death, Henry received a school education and read many books. Dick and Henry try to adopt better habits with the goal of advancing in society. However, a bully named Micky Maguire, who leads a gang of ruffians, does not like Dick’s improved appearance. He accuses Dick of “putting on airs” and trying to act superior (122). Micky tries to fight Dick, but Dick outwits him. Micky falls to the ground and flees when a policeman arrives on the scene.

Mr. Greyson, a bootblacking customer who was impressed by Dick’s integrity in returning change for his payment, invites Dick to his Sunday school class. When Dick and Henry arrive at the church, Mr. Greyson encourages the boys to join his family in the pew. After the church service, Dick is astonished when the wealthy merchant invites the boys to dine at his elegant residence. Mr. Greyson’s nine-year-old daughter, Ida, takes a fancy to Dick, who is a good-looking and humorous. The luncheon is Dick’s first experience as a guest in a respectable home and he is afraid of making a social mistake.

Dick helps his friend Henry buy the clothing needed to get a better job at a hat store. Dick progresses rapidly in his education by studying for two hours every evening and hopes to follow Henry’s example. He saves one hundred and seventeen dollars in his bank account by avoiding extravagant expenses. Dick encounters another bootblack, Tom Wilkins, who desperately needs assistance because his mother broke her arm and his family will be evicted if he does not have enough money to pay the rent. When Dick offers the needed payment, he discovers that a villainous lodger in his boarding house, Jim Travis, has stolen his bank book. The following day, Dick hurries to the bank to prevent Jim’s withdrawal of his savings. Due to Dick’s regular habit of making weekly deposits, the bank clerk recognizes him and agrees to thwart Jim’s attempt to steal from Dick’s account. When Jim arrives at the bank, a policeman arrests him. Dick helps Tom Wilkins to pay his family’s rent.

When Dick tries to apply for a position in an office or counting-house, the economy is not booming and there are few openings available. Dick accompanies Henry on an excursion by ferry boat to Brooklyn. During the journey, a six-year-old boy falls overboard into the water. The boy’s father cannot swim so he promises a great reward to anyone who can rescue his son. An excellent swimmer, Dick does not hear the father’s offer, but spontaneously dives off the ferry boat to save the boy. The boy’s father is James Rockwell, a rich merchant, who rewards Dick by employing him as a clerk in his counting-house for a good salary. The former “Ragged Dick” now has excellent penmanship and signs his name as “Richard Hunter.” When he returns home, he finds that Mickey Maguire has stolen his old, ragged clothes. For Dick, the loss of the dirty clothing worn when he had toiled shining shoes on the street symbolizes that he has left his former life forever behind him.