Previous
Allusions
Chapter 15: Dick Secures a Tutor
Explanation and Analysis—Street Talk:
Throughout the novel, Dick and his fellow boot-blacks speak in a working-class dialect characterized by its use of slang and deviation from standard English. Alger uses unconventional spellings and niche idioms to give the reader a sense of Dick's speech. For example, Dick pronounces words like "widow" and "handkerchief" as "widder" and "handkercher." He also uses slang terms that his upper-class friends don't understand: When he calls Frank a "brick," or a good person, the wealthier boy doesn't understand.
This dialect is meant to lend realism to the novel and give readers, who might not know anything about New York, a clear sense of how Dick and his peers spoke. It also injects a note of classist humor into the novel. For example, when Dick is pretending to be a rich boy in jest, he says:
“It’s fashionable for young gentlemen to have private tootors to introduct ’em into the flower-beds of literatoor and science, and why should’t I foller the fashion?":
When Dick is pretending to belong to the upper class, his dialect is more pronounced than ever, evident in almost every word. Here, the dialect reminds the reader of the gap between Dick's fantasy life and his reality, inviting them to laugh at his pretensions. However, it's notable that, despite his dialect, Dick is by far the wittiest character in the novel, quick with a joke or smart retort. Even though he's not part of the upper class, he has observed enough of their customs to gently mock them, as he does here. Dialect might indicate Dick's class, but it doesn't determine his intelligence.
While dialect emphasizes the gap between rich and poor in Ragged Dick, Alger argues this gap can be overcome. As Dick becomes more educated, he learns to speak according to the rules of standard English. By the end of the novel, he's begun to abandon his dialect; Alger tacitly implies that he'll soon be speaking just like his wealthy benefactors. In this sense, dialect represents the upward mobility possible in Alger's vision of America.
Related Themes:
