Throughout the novel, Alger interjects his own authorial voice into the narrative to describe characters, explain the results of their choices, or pass moral judgment. In doing so, he often uses logos. This pattern is apparent from the first chapter of Ragged Dick, when Alger steps back from Dick's perspective to provide commentary on the young boy:
Another of Dick’s faults was his extravagance. [...] he earned enough to have supported him comfortably and respectably. There were not a few young clerks who employed Dick from time to time in his professional capacity, who scarcely earned as much as he, greatly as their style and dress exceeded his.
In this passage, Alger enumerates Dick's flaws in a blunt, explicit manner, appealing to the reader's desire for a simple and logical character portrait. He also outlines the economic stakes of Dick's life very clearly. Dick is poor as a direct result of his "extravagance"; thus, Alger implies, when he learns to exercise thrift, he can become prosperous. Indeed, this is exactly what happens in the novel—as soon as Dick learns to save his money, his circumstances transform radically. The authorial voice, therefore, establishes a rational problem with an equally rational solution.
Alger also uses his authorial voice to keep the story moving briskly. In Chapter 20, for instance, he explicitly tells the reader that he's going to skip an uninteresting period in Dick's life.
As there were no striking incidents occurring in our hero’s history within the next nine months, I propose to pass over that period, and recount the progress he made in that time.
This use of the authorial voice also constitutes an instance of logos. Alger is suggesting that only those events which directly relate to Dick's journey of upward mobility are important and deserve to be recounted. This is a highly rational concept of plot that focuses tightly on the character's outward development and provides a step-by-step account of Dick's linear journey towards success.
Whenever it appears, Alger's authorial voice allows him to briefly suspend the plot and speak directly to the reader in terms of logic and reason, as he does when outlining Dick's faults above. This style choice creates the novel's authoritative and educational tone, and may reflect Alger's desire to speak to his young readers in a simple, easily legible manner. Ultimately, his use of logos allows him to frame Dick's poverty (and that of poor Americans like him) as a personal problem with a logical solution rather than as a complicated social issue.
Throughout the novel, Alger interjects his own authorial voice into the narrative to describe characters, explain the results of their choices, or pass moral judgment. In doing so, he often uses logos. This pattern is apparent from the first chapter of Ragged Dick, when Alger steps back from Dick's perspective to provide commentary on the young boy:
Another of Dick’s faults was his extravagance. [...] he earned enough to have supported him comfortably and respectably. There were not a few young clerks who employed Dick from time to time in his professional capacity, who scarcely earned as much as he, greatly as their style and dress exceeded his.
In this passage, Alger enumerates Dick's flaws in a blunt, explicit manner, appealing to the reader's desire for a simple and logical character portrait. He also outlines the economic stakes of Dick's life very clearly. Dick is poor as a direct result of his "extravagance"; thus, Alger implies, when he learns to exercise thrift, he can become prosperous. Indeed, this is exactly what happens in the novel—as soon as Dick learns to save his money, his circumstances transform radically. The authorial voice, therefore, establishes a rational problem with an equally rational solution.
Alger also uses his authorial voice to keep the story moving briskly. In Chapter 20, for instance, he explicitly tells the reader that he's going to skip an uninteresting period in Dick's life.
As there were no striking incidents occurring in our hero’s history within the next nine months, I propose to pass over that period, and recount the progress he made in that time.
This use of the authorial voice also constitutes an instance of logos. Alger is suggesting that only those events which directly relate to Dick's journey of upward mobility are important and deserve to be recounted. This is a highly rational concept of plot that focuses tightly on the character's outward development and provides a step-by-step account of Dick's linear journey towards success.
Whenever it appears, Alger's authorial voice allows him to briefly suspend the plot and speak directly to the reader in terms of logic and reason, as he does when outlining Dick's faults above. This style choice creates the novel's authoritative and educational tone, and may reflect Alger's desire to speak to his young readers in a simple, easily legible manner. Ultimately, his use of logos allows him to frame Dick's poverty (and that of poor Americans like him) as a personal problem with a logical solution rather than as a complicated social issue.
