Ragged Dick

In American literature, I believe little boys and little girls are always being portrayed as these beings that will eventually need to become exemplary adults. However, the differences in raising boys and girls are very much the opposite. Girls are taught to be more self-composed, caring and maternal. Boys are taught to be independent, ambitious, and hard working. There is also more emphasis on religion when raising girls probably because they are the ones that will become mothers who will then have to teach their children about good morals and values. There is the instance in Ragged Dick where we are shown that Dick is not religious at all and about the Bible he says, "I heard it's a book, but I never read one." (387). This shows that Dick is totally oblivious to anything religious so far in his life. It is ironic to see how much Ellen Montgomery and Gerty Flint were flooded with religion from every aspect of their lives, yet Dick only finds out about the Bible from Frank.

Another thing I noticed was that Dick had many imperfections. Sure he wasn't a cheater or stole and he was always being generous, but he still made fun of people, drank, gambled, and smoked. I think it's funny how the author says, "I don't consider him a model boy. But there were some good points about him nevertheless." (342). I don't think girls would be given any excuses like that to make them appear more socially acceptable or noble. There is a huge bias going on with how boys and girls are represented with boys clearly having the upper hand. Clearly, during the 19th century, men earned the bread of the house so this might be a huge reason as to why boys had more leeway with their behaviors.

One other main difference between how boys and girls are represented in Ragged Dick was how girls have to worry about many more things than boys such as their clothing, hair, and overall appearance. All boys have to do is throw on a new suit and they'll look completely different like what happened with Ragged Dick. This is shown when the author says, "When Dick was dressed in his new attire, with his face and hands clean, and his hair brushed, it was difficult to imagine that he was the same boy." (365). Something similar to this situation happened with Capitola from The Hidden Hand, but she still had to acquire many more things and not just simply a new suit. It seems to me that as long as a man has a nice enough suit to go to work and look presentable that is all that matters, and with women there are so many variables that always get in their way and make them struggle more in stories than the men.