Alger Essay

Success through Virtues
Money, good luck, and virtues. These all work together to have an impact on success. In the excerpt from Horatio Alger’s Ragged Dick, Alger proves that success does not just come from riches and luck but comes from having dedication and hard work. Success will not just come to one; one must work for it.
“His determination was formed before he heard the liberal offer made by the boy’s father. Indeed, I must do Dick the justice to say that, in the excitement of the moment, he did not hear it at all, nor would it have stimulated the alacrity with which he sprang to the rescue of the little boy” (Alger 247). Dick saved a boy’s life having no expectation for a reward. This just goes to show that one should do a good deed even if there is no reward. That is success. Accomplishing something and having the feeling of gratification, even if it takes a lot of time and effort.
“Noah Webster spent over 25 years researching words and their origins and writing the first American dictionary” (Meyer). Webster, the creator of our first dictionary, did not expect to have all this success and for people to still use his creation. His experience shows that through hard work and dedication, one can have good luck in becoming successful and possibly making a profit from great accomplishments just by taking time out of the day and not rushing to get something done.
  Therefore, having good virtues and great effort, success will come even if failures occur. Dick and Webster both had dedication and great virtues and did not expect great rewards. Success does not come with short cuts; to be successful there needs to be intense drive and struggles through the process. As Henry Ford says, “The short successes that can be gained in a brief time and without difficulty are not worth much” (Henry Ford Quotations).

Works Cited
Alger, Horatio. "From Ragged Dick." Rereading America: Cultural Contexts for Critical Thinking and Writing. Eds. Gary Colombo, Robert...