Horatio Alger's Ragged Dick

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The influence on a writer’s can come from many places. Benjamin Franklin, an intellectual who lived in eighteenth century America, influences many writers and his impact can even be felt today. Horatio Alger Jr., a author known for his rags to riches stories, is no exception. In Alger’s novel “Ragged Dick”, Alger uses the virtues of temperance and frugality, which can be found in Franklin’s The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin, to give his main character admirable traits.
Alger tells the story of a boy, Dick Hunter, who finds himself living on the streets of New York City. Dirt poor, Dick works as a bootblack to earn enough money for food. However, Dick has a few flaws which prevents him from progressing in life. One of those flaws was “the
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