Post Ragged Dick Readings

As cliche as the phrase is, a picture sometimes really is worth a thousand words. A photograph provides the audience with a more tangible source than letters arranged in disarray on a sheet of paper. While Ragged Dick and other primary sources from the Gilded Age are telling stories, they fail to capture the essence of the destitute poverty infecting New York City and account for its growing population of street arabs. Throw as many statistics at someone as you may please, however the mind is incapable of fathoming the extent of numbers and the importance they embody in contrast to the emotions which pictures can flood an individual with. Certain events in history, such as the stories of the poor in the late 19th century are best told not in words, but in film.

Although Ragged Dick is a tale of the rise from rags to riches, the life of Dick while he is in rags is almost glorified; the times appear rough, as indeed they are, but his consistent, merry attitude and perseverance can shadow the truth behind his situation. Words just can't do the time period justice. While describing the sleeping situations of the young vagabonds, "to sleep in boxes, or under stairways, or in hay-barges on the coldest winter nights," definitely appears horrible to the audience, a reader will most likely be more indifferent to the passage, forgetting about it ten minutes later as they saunter off to participate in social aspects of their lives ("Homeless Boys," 143). However, seeing a photograph such as those which are in the edited version of Ragged Dick from Jacob Riis' How the Other Half lives, hits closer to home to the audience.

The above photograph speaks to me tenfold compared to reading about the corners and alleyways that the street children slept in (photograph from How the Other Half Lives). Actually seeing photographs of real children sleeping in a doorway on a metal grate will stick in my mind far longer than words describing the same situation will. Seeing living human beings suffering evokes empathy in the audience because witnessing the horrible situation makes it more real, more tangible and the reader is forced to believe that young children were necessitated to live in such desolate manners.

The supplemental reading to accompany Ragged Dick, "Street-Rats and Gutter Snipes," tries to provide readers with statistics on the age, gender, and nationality of a specific group of pick pocketers in New York City. Charts, like that one on page 28 illustrating the age of the thieves, do provide solid information on the statistics of the past, but charts and graphs and words alone don't do history justice. The mind can't fathom and process the number of kids actually left to fend for themselves and each other on the streets, just as humans can't comprehend the number of casualties from a war. We can read the number 20,000 or 3,000,000 and know that both are big numbers, but when we see hundreds of pictures of different kids roaming the streets of New York alone or we see a picture of hundreds of bodies piled in a mass grave, suddenly that large number becomes alive and we are humbled by it's truth and enormity. The incorporation of photographs in historical events makes the events which are occurring all over the world so much more intimate and tangible to the audience, and can speak many more silent messages to the onlooker than any essay or novel can.

Ragged Dick (Chapters 12-27)

Ragged Dick by Horatio Alger, Jr. is the classic tail of rags to riches, presenting the idea that if someone is determined enough, motivated, and given some encouragement, they can rise from the unsanitary life of poverty to a lifestyle where such basics as food and shelter can be provided for. The majority of the audience reading this story in the 19th century would have been either the middle or upper classes, being as the lower classes held no education and were thus illiterate. In some ways it provided false advertisement of the poverty stricken citizens, giving them the impression that all poor people were as charismatic as the story's hero, Ragged Dick. The story can give inspiration to the lower classes, and to all of the nation's citizens of the time it stresses the idea that education if the key to earning a better living.

Opportunities to improve both socially and economically aren't handed out to anyone. Work needs to be accomplished to achieve greater status, and placing this labor in studies is the key to living more comfortably. With encouragement from a compassionate stranger and a few dollars to get him started, Dick is enlightened with the idea that through education and books, he can leave his occupation of a boot-black behind and become something more. Dick drops his bad habits of gambling and going to the Old Bowery to see plays and instead opens a bank account and spends his evenings expanding his knowledge through the help of his friend, Fosdick. When an ignorant man asks the boys how they spend their evenings, he is astounded at their response that they "spend [their] evenings in study" (93). He is naive to the heights which a higher education can bring someone and the money which studying saves from wasting it on drinking, gambling, and other such fruitful things, bringing happiness for a short moment in contrast to the lasting happiness which education can provide to both a  person's mind and spirit. The act of learning requires the learner to reflect on their morals and their "constitution" as Dick phrases it, as well as paving the pathway towards better standards of living.

With the rise of the industrial revolution, factories began replacing the jobs which had once required skilled workers to perform. Because of this loss of craftsmanship, in order to obtain a job which had a decent, steady pay, education was the the window of opportunity to achieve a higher status in the changing economy. Anyone could black boots or fill a space in the mundane factory, along with other simple jobs, but it took a greater mental capacity to obtain a steady paying job and move up the economic and thus social class ladder. When Dick saves a man's son from drowning, the man feels indebted to him and offers the young boy a job. The man offers Dick a clerk position asking " I suppose you know something of arithmetic, do you not?" (113). A year past, Dick would have had to answered no to this question, however with help from a kind friend as well as a constant motivation, Dick could proudly answer that yes he did know some basic mathematics. Similarly to the world today, the higher education a person could achieve and afford, the better his occupational situation would be. With a standard basis of knowledge in reading, writing, science, and arithmetic, Dick was able to secure a job which will aid in his elevation to a better lifestyle. Alger demonstrates to his entire audience that education is a very important aspect of every one's life, regardless to their class, if they wish to make something of themselves in the world.

One question I would have after reading this book would be about the reactions of the upper and middle class citizens who did read this book son after it was published, therefore more in context to their lives. I would like to know whether this helped to educate other people on the real lives of the impoverished or whether it provided false information in terms of the characteristics and personalities of the poor as well as possibly providing an unrealistic view of the idea of rising from rags to riches.

Ragged Dick (Chapters 1-11)

To me, the most prevalent theme which the first few chapters of Ragged Dick presents is the idea that if someone is born into poverty, if they work hard enough and gain an education, they can raise their economic status and thus improve their social class. Dick's new friend Frank as well as the boy's uncle both encourage Dick to pursue an education and save up the money he earns from shoe shining to purchase books. In the economy of the time there was no other way to obtain an occupation of higher quality and pay unless one could find a method to obtain greater knowledge.

Most of the books I have read before this one have all stressed the idea that poverty is a condition of entrapment which makes it virtually impossible to rise out of the grime of the streets into the upper class sections of the city. The story Maggie: Girl of the Streets by Stephen Crane exhibits the average story of the tenements where the parents are alcoholics and beat their children and each other, the brother makes his living in any way he can, one child doesn't even survive past 3, and then there is Maggie who hopes for the best to escape from the turmoil of poverty, and when her plan fails her she looks at death as her salvation from the destitute life. The entire book demonstrates how difficult it is to rise from rags to riches. Due to the majority of the population living in poverty and working the minimum wage jobs with maximum hours, historical evidence would suggest that moving from the slums to Wall Street would be highly unlikely, although there are always a few exceptions to every rule.

On the contrary, many upper class men and women believed that it was the attitudes of the poor which kept them confined to their low social and economic status. Frank and his uncle,Mr. Whitney, believed that Dick possessed characteristics and personality qualities which would enable him to progress in life. Before Dick leaves, Mr. Whitney tells Dick, regarding his economic state,"if I judge you rightly, it won't be long before you change it. Save your money, my lad, buy books, and determine to be somebody, and you may yet fill an honorable position" (49). Being given faith, staying hopeful and motivated, and persevering to make a better living are all qualities which if presented before someone might be the knowledge and determination they need to make more of a name for them self then an impoverished laborer. Ragged Dick presents the idea that anyone who maintains the correct mental outlook on their situation, can bring themselves up from poverty, which is the ideal many rich men and women and upper class men felt.

Andrew Carnegie, a million dollar man alive around the era that Ragged Dick was published, was a man who rose from a lone factory worker to the steel factory franchise owner his legacy is known for. He felt that if he could make the transition, so could anyone else. However, as shown by a fellow boot-blacker, Johnny, in any business "energy and industry are rewarded, and indolence suffers. Dick was energetic and on the alert for business, but Johnny was the reverse. The consequence was that Dick earned probably three times as much as the other" (8). Due to Dick's views on industry and business and how he ran his, it would suggest that he held character traits which would in turn set him up for success. His go-getting attitude about every life opportunity would make him a prime candidate out of anyone to make the social and economical climb.

The question I have after all of this, is whether or not it is plausible to make the claim that anyone in poverty can help themselves out of their situation if they have the right attitude? Or is it only people who hold energetic and industrious attitudes like Dick who have any chance of making the climb?

Draft Riots Reading 3

The conclusion of the Draft Riots was brought about in part by the removal of the draft lottery from the city. With a new date for the reinstatement of the lottery a month or so away, the government, both state and federal levels, had time to prepare for another battle or to create a set up to make another successful riot impossible. When the draft commenced, "the federal government stationed ten thousand federal troops in the city" to ensure that another riot would either not occur or the attempt of one would become a suicidal mission. I am sure that the government would have received some hint or idea that a mob of protesters was forming the first time and have been able to send troops in to protect the city and quell the riots. It was apparent through the readings that there was little to no action at night, giving the government time to rally some federal troops together to protect the citizens. The mob was savage and out of control, but I think quick and objective actions could have spared some lives and subdued some of the savage chaos.

One concept I found interesting in these last readings compared to the previous days' reading of the riots was the attempt to integrate a religious aspect into the angry mob in hopes of preventing any more havoc. Although sickly, Archbishop John Hughes spoke to thousands of the rioters, primarily the Irish-Catholics, to create an atmosphere which was non violent. The mob had spent days chasing and killing people, burning buildings, looting houses, and turning into savage beasts. Police forces tried to help some, but the mob was too many to use much force against. Perhaps a religious approach would get the people to behave and act civil once more. In the daily paper announcing the proposed speak by Hughes, it read "If they have any respect for the episcopal authority, to dissolve their association with reckless men who have little regard for the Divine or human law." This I found most interesting because it is basically scolding the religious man for if he has any respect for his faith he will stop marching around with men who have seem to lost their morals. This statement would make people step back form their situation and really look at what they have been doing, and notice that they have been sinning and be convinced to stop the violence no matter the cause.

The question I wanted to propose was how were the people who were prosecuted chosen? There were so many people rioting and destroying lives and property that it must have been difficult to nail down everyone involved in murder, therefore I want to know how if the choosing of the prosecuted was deliberate or random just to satisfy some of the local Republicans.

Draft Riots Reading 2

As the draft riots commenced on the second and third day, the mob seemed to always have a meeting time and place even if it wasn't precisely spoken. They all new where to find each other. Once again, African Americans were the target of the mob's anger because of the chain effect mentality they held about the draft, the war, and slavery. The continuance of the riots exhibited the unfolding of the savagery in the people as well as the developing role of the lower class and working class women participating in the riots.

Often times mob behavior will take humans from civilization to barbarism, allowing the people to leave their moral compass behind and be guided by the sadistic actions of the masses. Almost every drawing which was published in newspapers depicted the rioters as savage and inhumane. The cartoons "How to escape the draft," "Looting of a Drug Store," and "Murder or Colonel O'Brien" all provide images where the attackers have lost their human qualities and have become savages, with no true reasons for attacking the people they killed or burning the houses of the innocent. The descriptions of the diagrams describe the rioters as "animalistic" and "exhibiting animal-like features" which compares to the same imagery used in other written articles and excerpts from the era including multiple works from J.T. Headley, commenting that "the spirit of hell seemed to have entered the hearts of these men" and by William O. Stoddard the idea that the protests "unchained these wolves from their dens of sloth and self-indulgence and crime." These implications of inhumane behavior demonstrate how dangerous the aggressors were to their victims as well as to the law enforcement and the government as the two worked to both protect the victims and try and negotiate terms with the lawless murderers to bring the rioting to a close.

The idea I found most intriguing in the set of second riot readings was the mentioning of the involvement of women in the riots. Women of the upper classes during the 1860s were not as involved in politics or the economy, in part because women were discriminated against by the male population for their supposed inferiority and frailness. Also, it was considered the men's duty to provide for the family. In the lower and middle classes however, the women needed to be more involved in political, economical, and social matters because often times they were forced to work to provide for their family and males and females had more equality in the lower classes. One of the depictions of the murder of colonel O'Brien includes women in the photo because "women had long participated in the rough-and-tumble politics of the streets in working-class neighborhoods." Women lived hard life styles and were not going to be sitting around while the men trashed the streets because the draft affected their families and they needed to protest too. An exert from a book by William O. Stoddard on the murder of Colonel O'Brien also proceeds to mention that when he was taken from the threshold of his home, "both males and females took part in the brutal transaction." The savage behaviors as mentioned in the paragraph above were not descriptions for only men. The women's mentality was a bloodthirsty, murderous, and thieving mindset as well as all the men. The women had just as much at stake as anyone else and would not go down without a battle.

In regards to the damage that was done and the money which was appropriated for the New York rioters, I am curious as to whether the citizens of the city had taxes placed on them afterwards to help pay for the damage they created or if the government took care of the payment by itself, possibly in fear that it could cause another uprising from the mob.

Draft Riots Reading 1

The New York draft riots were some of the bloodiest civilian occurrences in our nation's history, and I find it hard to believe that this is the first that I have learned of this gruesome event. I have taken part in numerous history classes, but never have I covered this important event in detail let alone in passing. I am thankful I have the chance to be made aware of the draft riots which took place in the city. If only high school classes could go more into depth on topics such as this one.

One fact which was a common thread through a few of the primary sources was the idea that the mob and rioters were a very mixed group of citizens yet they all seemed to work together to destroy homes, offices, and people. Frank Leslie's picture which was published in a newsletter depicted men wearing various outfits to show the diversity of the rioters. A couple of the men are wearing what appears to be work clothes or just clothes of lower quality, one man is wearing a suit with striped pants, and the last man on the right is wearing a soldier's uniform. The anger that touched many citizens in the United States over the draft, unified the rich and the poor and anyone in between to fight for a cause which they believed in. This idea of diversity was also reinforced in the article by J.T. Headley where he comments that "a more wild, savage, and heterogeneous-looking mass could not be imagined" also showing the unity of the mob through their anger and their common goal to destroy anything and anyone who is correlated with the draft.

The theme of murdering and lynching the black population was present in both the primary sources as well as in the movie, Gangs of New York. In another exert from a book by J.T Headley covering the attack on the colored orphan asylum, the rioters attacked this long standing unit because "there would have been no draft but for the war- there would have been no war but for slavery. But the slaves were black, ergo, all blacks are responsible for the war." Even if the children involved had no direct connections to slavery, the mob needed to target their anger at something and chose the race which they believed should be held responsible for the entire draft necessity. In Gangs of New York, a colored man in the Dead Rabbits gang was beaten and lynched for his color, with the same picture which shows the murder and mutilation of William Jones in the primary source packet flashing before the screen, as if the murder of the gang member was symbolizing the lynching of William Jones. The cruelty which the mob stopped too was disgraceful and disgusting to read about and watch in the movie. An event like the discrimination and savageness which these citizens displayed in New York City are unimaginable to me in today's world.

After watching the movie and partaking in the readings, I am more clear as to the reasons supporting the mob's motives, however I would be interested in a primary source written by someone who was actually in the mob. I believe this in sight would help to further develop a perspective on the motives for the riots. The question I have is what became of the aftermath of the draft? Did New Yorkers still get drafted? Were there repercussions for their actions?

Five Points

During orientation here at Stonehill, I was one of the lucky candidates asked to take the CLA testing. A portion of this exam included writing an essay to support or refute a statement regarding America's nickname of "the land of opportunity" and how the growing gap between the rich and poor might suggest otherwise. I chose to support the statement, with one of my focuses of the paper targeting urban American centers where poverty was common and the living conditions were anything but sanitary. Five Points in New York (circa 1860) would definitely be a section of the nation which would immediately refute any inclination of America being a land full of wondrous opportunities.

According to the primary sources, Five Points was filthy, it was filled to the brim with gangs making their name known, prostitutes flaunting their bodies because it was the only thing they possessed, and men and women who had no where else to go. Five Points encaptures its victims; "those who once enter into this diabolical traffic are seldom saved" (Foster, 220). There are no means of escape form the dreadful and horrible life of those unfortunate souls who befall this fate. It is an easy ride to the depths of this mess and an impossible climb out.

During the prime days of Five Points, the Civil War had also overtaken the United States, inclusive of the Draft which Lincoln had to utilize. New York draft riots emerged as a consequence of the draft as angry civilians rebelled against the government. The citizens of Five Points, primarily the gangs, were suspects of these riots. Destined for a terrible and rancid life, war might not be a far step from the life the gang members were living already. After all, the gangs waged war against each other all the time. Why then would members object to being sent off to fight for a greater cause?

I believe that the gang members and citizens of Five Points in New York did not object to the actual act of fighting for the nation but held objections to the politics behind the draft. The draft allowed for the rich upper class men to pay their way out of fighting to spare their lives while the poor and unfortunate people had no choice but to answer their country's call for help. They had lived lives of destitution and were enslaved in the American system and the only means of escape that America was providing them with was to fight, and almost inevitably die. America as a land of opportunity should not place higher value on some one's life based solely on the amount of monetary profits which a person makes.

The question I hold after reading these articles and analyzing the pictures, lays in the necessity of a run down area of a city like Five Points in the seemingly grand and opportunistic view we hold of America. I want to know how Americans can be so indifferent to this level of poverty in the 1800s as well as today in our very own country. How did a place like this occur in our history and how can education of similar situations help to teach Americans about what they can do to help?