After you finish reading the first half of Ragged Dick for Thursday's class, please reflect on the following questions:
- What does it mean to be a child? In the 1860s? In 2009?
- What is good character? (In the novel, or in your life?) What creates good character or fosters its development?
- What kind of work is considered respectable? (In this novel, in our country, or in your life?)
Post a comment if you like. Or just come to class prepared to discuss these questions and other issues that you think are important.
In concern to the last question, I think all kinds of work are respectable as long as they contribute more positively to the well-being of others more than negatively. For example, I would consider the job of a plumber to be respectable but I would not consider the job of a drug dealer to be respectable. Although the drug dealer may be contributing to the well-being of his family, overall he harms society through his work by selling harmful and addictive substances.
ReplyDeleteBeing a child in 1860 was totally dependent upon one’s station in life. If you were fortunate to be a child of a well-to-do family as Frank was and Henry Fosdick had been, being a child meant being comfortable, fed, educated and care for. If you were not fortunate and not at all well to do, most likely you were rather uncomfortable, not always fed, educated or cared for, but generally, you did have a family and a place to sleep. Yet, there were those children who were not even that well off. They were the “orphans” of the streets-they did not have anyone to care for them; had to work to earn money to have any possibility of eating; most times had no where to sleep but whatever they could find for the night.
ReplyDeleteBeing a child in 2009 is also somewhat similar to being a child of 1860 except that there are more regulations currently present to protect children who are less fortunate, but there are still children living on the streets doing what they have to get some money to be able to feed themselves and sleeping wherever they can. Therefore, when you look at it, things may not have progressed as far as one might think.
What society forgets is that good character is not perfect. Good character is learned through experience and developed. Good character can have moments of weakness. Anyone can define honesty but it is in the moment that one lies—that is when the value of truth is learned. Sometimes the best playing field is life. It is the moments that one can get away with something, that split moment before one plunges forward with a decisive decisions good or bad. It is within four heart beats of a decision that define good character.
ReplyDeleteChildren in the 1860’s had to deal with many different problems than children of today. First, children of today are required to get some education per the no child left behind act. In the 1860’s there was nothing that would guarantee an education for children, which would make it harder to rise out of the poverty in which they lived. Also, there were no child labor laws. So, many of the children living on the street were drawn into working in a factory, but were paid very little because the company could get away with it. Now, children are not allowed to work more than a certain number of hours, so children cannot be exploited. Finally, children now are held to higher regard because they are seen as the future of the country. This can be seen with the creation of the department of social services, which seeks to maintain healthy families and protection of children. In the 1860’s this did not exist, so children were living on the streets or experiencing trouble in the home.
ReplyDeleteTo be a child in1860’s is to be a responsible individual whom contribute to the family if the child’s family social economic status is consider a lower SES. If a child’s family is well off, he/she will receive education. To be able to read and write gain the give high social economic status to the child in the future. A child should be helpful to the family. Jobs such as errand boy, clerk, office boy anything that consider blue collar are consider respectful in the 1860’s. A good character of child should not steal or cheat, goes to church, has a good family, strong work ethics and educated.
ReplyDeleteHowever, 2009 definition of child has changed throughout the centuries. The technical definition of a child is a human being under the legal age of maturity. In a social context of definition a child should be playful, carefree and active. Children in 2009 are not expected to contribute economically to their family. Usually when parents or teachers spoke about kids who have good character consist of good behaviors. In order to create a good character their environment is paramount to this development. The surrounding environment must consist of positive human interaction, love, affection, display of compassion and respect.
Here's Briana's comment:
ReplyDeleteIn the 1860’s, I believe that being a child meant that you did as you were told and playing with you friends. Now days being a child means going to school and “learning who you are”. I believe that modern children stop being innocent and truly childish at a much younger age. Modern children are not required to be as financially independent. However, they are much more knowledgeable about callous and vulgar subjects than perhaps a child of the 1860’s.
I believe that good character both in the book and in my own life comes from and is founded upon respect. I believe that respect must be cultivated, and from that respect grows the subsequent characteristics of good character such as honesty, courtesy, dedication, and humility. In the book, Dick describes stealing and cheating as “mean”, which implies that he respects that the victim had to work for what they had, and therefore finds it disrespectful to take that away from the victim. This further cultivates Dick’s compassion and honesty, while his courtesy and respect for his customers advances his status.
I think that “respectable work” can only be classified in a cultural context. The novel would consider any professional work respectable, while in the current USA we would consider just about anything acknowledged by the IRS respectable. In other countries, begging is considered respectable, and that just shows how cultural the label of respectable is in reference to occupation.
In the 1860's to be a child meant to be part of the family as a valuable asset, and to be a child meant to be innocent and very much unknowing of the bile of this world. Today to be a child means to see things of this world that children should be guarded of, to be a liability and to just grow up so fast and be robbed of the innocence and purity of youth.
ReplyDeleteGood character has always been the same I believe and it is just to carry the morals that we have all been taught growing up, honesty, hard work, discipline, and kindness. Good character is something that comes through experience and cultivation, I don't think it is something we are all naturally gifted with.
In this novel the type of work that is considered respectable is the one that required selective few to do it, what is considered respectable is the high earnings, status, and influence. In today culture what we view as respectable is very much the same. It all has to do with the relative culture thought.