Reading Amer'ca

In the excerpt from Horatio Alger's Ragged Dick, the implicit argument was that diligence and consistent hard work will make one successful and free from the poverty trap of overworking for not enough pay. It is basically saying that by having good ethics and morals, one can achieve the American dream. It completely ignores the opportunity aspect, which we talked about when discussing Barbara Ehrenreich's Nickel and Dimed. I think that while it does present a good message, it fails to present the whole story. I think it would be interesting to read something that is similar to both Ehrenreich's and Alger's stories; i.e., it would present an example of one who was greatly rewarded for his or her work, while also showing that this scenario is not typical. Kind of like those ads for weight loss programs that say "results not typical" in the fine print. A+!