Horatio Alger

The Store Boy (Illustrated) (eBook, ePUB)

• Format: ePub

Produktbeschreibung

Finally Silas Greyson agreed, and Ben promised to be on hand bright and early the next day. It may be stated here that wood was very cheap at Pentonville, so that Ben would not be overpaid.There were some few things about the house which Ben wished to do for his mother before he went to work anywhere, and he thought this a good opportunity to do them. While in the store his time had been so taken up that he was unable to attend to them. He passed a busy day, therefore, and hardly went into the street.Just at nightfall, as he was in the front yard, he was rather surprised to see Tom Davenport open the gate and enter.Horatio Alger, Jr. (January 13, 1832 – July 18, 1899) was a prolific 19th-century American author, best known for his many juvenile novels about impoverished boys and their rise from humble backgrounds to lives of middle-class security and comfort through hard work, determination, courage, and honesty. His writings were characterized by the "rags-to-riches" narrative, which had a formative effect on America during the Gilded Age. Alger's name is often invoked incorrectly as though he himself rose from rags to riches, but that arc applied to his characters, not to the author. Essentially, all of Alger's novels share the same theme: a young boy struggles through hard work to escape poverty. Critics, however, are quick to point out that it is not the hard work itself that rescues the boy from his fate, but rather some extraordinary act of bravery or honesty, which brings him into contact with a wealthy elder gentleman, who takes the boy in as a ward. The boy might return a large sum of money that was lost or rescue someone from an overturned carriage, bringing the boy—and his plight—to the attention of some wealthy individual. It has been suggested that this reflects Alger's own patronizing attitude to the boys he tried to help.

Produktdetails

• Verlag: BookRix
• Erscheinungstermin: 25. April 2014
• Englisch
• ISBN-13: 9783736803084
• Artikelnr.: 54681407

Autorenporträt

Horatio Alger Jr., an American novelist who lived from January 13, 1832, to July 18, 1899, authored books for young adults about poor lads who, through their good deeds, climb from impoverished roots to lives of stability and comfort in the middle class. His works are known for their "rags-to-riches" narrative, which had a formative influence on the Gilded Age United States. All of Alger's young adult books revolve around the idea that a young man can change his situation for the better by acting morally. The "Horatio Alger myth" holds that the young man achieves success via toil, however, this is untrue. The youngster behaves according to classic characteristics like honesty, generosity, and altruism in the actual stories, and success is invariably the result of an accident that works to the boy's advantage. The youngster might recover a sizable sum of money that was misplaced or save a passenger from a derailed carriage. A wealthy person notices the youngster and his predicament as a result of this. For instance, in one tale, a little child narrowly avoids being hit by a streetcar before being snatched away to safety by a homeless orphan youth.