ABSTRACT
Similarly, Horatio Alger’s hero, Ragged Dick, learns that in order to rise in the world, he needs to learn how to read. When Hugh Kenner called Horatio Alger the “laureate of the paradigms of ascent,”3 he reinforced what has become known as the “Horatio Alger myth.” Even today, eight Americans each year who have reached prominent positions and started out in a lower class environment receive a Horatio Alger Award from the American Schools and Colleges Association.4
