Fuck Horatio Alger and his books


	Fuck Horatio Alger and his books

Spiritualmonkey

6-6-2009 10:40 AM

230 views

tags:

history, books, money, class, mark-twain, horatio-alger, econopocalypse

Spiritualmonkey says:

Mark Twain, Alger's contemporary, mocked the whole Horatio Alger mythology in his ultra-short story Poor Little Stephen Girard.

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<div style="margin: 12px 0px; font-family: arial; color: #333333; background: #ffffff; border: solid 4px #e5e5e5; width: 100%; clear: left;"><div class="CM_CTB_Content_Wrap" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;background-color: #ffffff;"><div style="border-bottom: solid 1px #dcdcdc; white-space: nowrap; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: #eeeeee ;background-image: url(http://clipmarks.com/images/source-bg.gif); background-repeat: repeat-x; height: 24px; line-height: 24px; vertical-align: middle; padding-bottom: 4px; color: #666666; font-size: 10px;" ><a href="http://clipmarks.com/clip-to-blog/" title="see clips that are hot right now"><img src="http://content.clipmarks.com/blog_embed/acc8b9af-34ed-463d-911d-9e18a2eedcb6/A4836596-B7AC-4F76-9331-9684005FDD61/" alt="" width="19" height="19" border="0" style="vertical-align: middle; margin: 0px 4px; display: inline; border: none; float:none;" /></a>clipped from <a title="http://spiritualmonkey.livejournal.com/421998.html" href="http://spiritualmonkey.livejournal.com/421998.html" style="font-size: 11px;">spiritualmonkey.livejournal.com</a></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://spiritualmonkey.livejournal.com/421998.html"><DIV>I get so bent out of shape when people mention Alger as some sort of American Saint. Because if you work hard and play by the rules, you can get ahead in this country.</DIV></blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://spiritualmonkey.livejournal.com/421998.html"><DIV>People who advance that argument don't understand Horatio Alger.</DIV></blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://spiritualmonkey.livejournal.com/421998.html"><DIV>Horatio Alger was a 19th century American novelist. <A href="http://historymatters.gmu.edu/d/4997">His heroes were almost universally poor young men who "gained respectability" by the end of the book.</A></DIV></blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://spiritualmonkey.livejournal.com/421998.html">For the most part, that meant getting some manner of middle class job and moving up out of starving poverty.</blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://spiritualmonkey.livejournal.com/421998.html"><DIV><I>But what about the ones who did get rich in Alger's books</I>, you ask.</DIV></blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://spiritualmonkey.livejournal.com/421998.html"><DIV>Well for the most part, those young men stumbled upon some some fortunate accident, like impressing a wealthy old man who then  took pity on the hero and left all his money to the impressive young boy. Hard work, striving, climbing the ladder one rung at a time through determination and grit...</DIV></blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://spiritualmonkey.livejournal.com/421998.html"><DIV>Fuck that noise. No one makes it that way. Find a rich sugar-daddy, marry into the family... *BAM*, respectability.</DIV></blockquote></div><div style="margin: 0px 6px 6px 4px;"><table style="font-size: 11px;border-spacing: 0px;padding: 0px;" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%"><tr><td style="background:transparent;border-width:0px;padding:0px;">&nbsp;</td><td align="right" style="background:transparent;border-width:0px;padding:0px;width:107px" width="107"><a href="http://clipmarks.com/share/A4836596-B7AC-4F76-9331-9684005FDD61/blog/" title="blog or email this clip"><img src="http://content8.clipmarks.com/images/c2b-foot.png" border="0" alt="blog it" width="107" height="17" style="border-width:0px;padding:0px;margin:0px;" /></a></td></tr></table></div></div>

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