Mr. Rockwell Character Analysis

Mr. Rockwell is an exceptionally minor character with few speaking lines who appears only at the story’s conclusion. Nevertheless, it is through his generosity and sense of fairness that Dick is able to make his final transition from homeless bootblack to the successful businessman Richard Hunter. Rockwell is an incredibly successful entrepreneur who owns a counting house: a place where a person’s accounts (and sometimes their actual money) were kept. One day, while taking the ferry to Brooklyn with his family, Rockwell’s son tumbles overboard into the river. Rockwell proves an ineffective rescuer, as he can only stand helplessly on the boat, crying for help. Dick jumps overboard, quickly coming to the son’s rescue. Rockwell rewards the boy lavishly with new clothes, but also takes a personal interest in him and learns his life story. Because he recognizes that Dick is a moral, hard-working young man, he gives the boy a job with a higher salary than he deserves with the promise of future promotion.