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Struggling Upward, Or, Luke Larkin's Luck
Relates the adventures of Luke Larkin, a poor boy of the nineteenth century, who perseveres against many odds and gains success.
148 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1868
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About the author
Horatio Alger Jr.
446 books96 followersHoratio Alger, Jr. (January 13, 1832 – July 18, 1899) was a prolific 19th-century American author, most famous for his novels following the adventures of bootblacks, newsboys, peddlers, buskers, and other impoverished children in their rise from humble backgrounds to lives of respectable middle-class security and comfort. His novels about boys who succeed under the tutelage of older mentors were hugely popular in their day.
Born in Chelsea, Massachusetts, the son of a Unitarian minister, Alger entered Harvard University at the age of sixteen. Following graduation, he briefly worked in education before touring Europe for almost a year. He then entered the Harvard Divinity School, and, in 1864, took a position at a Unitarian church in Brewster, Massachusetts. Two years later, he resigned following allegations he had sexual relations with two teenage boys.[1] He retired from the ministry and moved to New York City where he formed an association with the Newsboys Lodging House and other agencies offering aid to impoverished children. His sympathy for the working boys of the city, coupled with the moral values learned at home, were the basis of his many juvenile rags to riches novels illustrating how down-and-out boys might be able to achieve the American Dream of wealth and success through hard work, courage, determination, and concern for others. This widely held view involves Alger's characters achieving extreme wealth and the subsequent remediation of their "old ghosts." Alger is noted as a significant figure in the history of American cultural and social ideals. He died in 1899.
The first full-length Alger biography was commissioned in 1927 and published in 1928, and along with many others that borrowed from it later proved to be heavily fictionalized parodies perpetuating hoaxes and made up anecdotes that "would resemble the tell-all scandal biographies of the time."[2] Other biographies followed, sometimes citing the 1928 hoax as fact. In the last decades of the twentieth century a few more reliable biographies were published that attempt to correct the errors and fictionalizations of the past.
Born in Chelsea, Massachusetts, the son of a Unitarian minister, Alger entered Harvard University at the age of sixteen. Following graduation, he briefly worked in education before touring Europe for almost a year. He then entered the Harvard Divinity School, and, in 1864, took a position at a Unitarian church in Brewster, Massachusetts. Two years later, he resigned following allegations he had sexual relations with two teenage boys.[1] He retired from the ministry and moved to New York City where he formed an association with the Newsboys Lodging House and other agencies offering aid to impoverished children. His sympathy for the working boys of the city, coupled with the moral values learned at home, were the basis of his many juvenile rags to riches novels illustrating how down-and-out boys might be able to achieve the American Dream of wealth and success through hard work, courage, determination, and concern for others. This widely held view involves Alger's characters achieving extreme wealth and the subsequent remediation of their "old ghosts." Alger is noted as a significant figure in the history of American cultural and social ideals. He died in 1899.
The first full-length Alger biography was commissioned in 1927 and published in 1928, and along with many others that borrowed from it later proved to be heavily fictionalized parodies perpetuating hoaxes and made up anecdotes that "would resemble the tell-all scandal biographies of the time."[2] Other biographies followed, sometimes citing the 1928 hoax as fact. In the last decades of the twentieth century a few more reliable biographies were published that attempt to correct the errors and fictionalizations of the past.
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Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews
January 12, 2020
"Struggling Upward, Or, Luke Larkin's Luck" is a novel by Horatio Alger published in 1890, over twenty years after his all-time best seller,
Ragged Dick
. I've read that many Americans associate Alger with becoming successful by being honest, industrious, and hard working. Also that his books and others like it come in the category of the "Horatio Alger myth". Horatio Alger myth is the "classic" American success story and character arc, the trajectory from "rags to riches". I'm not sure how many Americans associate Alger with this myth and these ideas, but I've never heard of the guy before or the myth for that matter. I find it hard to believe that every single person that starts out poor and I mean really, really poor, can become if not really, really wealthy certainly wealthy enough to have a comfortable life. However, I suppose writing books for boys where things started badly and ended badly wouldn't be very encouraging for them either. So on to the book.
It starts with an ice skating race on a small pond in the village of Groveland. There are two boys expected to be the top two in the race, the first is our hero, Luke Larkin. Luke was a poor boy - of course - about 16 years old. We are told that Luke is:
"the son of a carpenter's widow, living on narrow means, and so compelled to exercise the strictest economy. Luke worked where he could, helping the farmers in hay-time, and ready to do odd jobs for any one in the village who desired his services. He filled the position of janitor at the school which he attended, sweeping out twice a week and making the fires. He had a pleasant expression, and a bright, resolute look, a warm heart, and a clear intellect, and was probably, in spite of his poverty, the most popular boy in Groveton."
The other is the school bully, there's always a school bully, Randolph Duncan:
"First, in his own estimation, came Randolph Duncan, son of Prince Duncan, president of the Groveton Bank, and a prominent town official. Prince Duncan was supposed to be a rich man, and lived in a style quite beyond that of his neighbors. Randolph was his only son, a boy of sixteen, and felt that in social position and blue blood he was without a peer in the village. He was a tall, athletic boy, and disposed to act the part of boss among the Groveton boys."
The prize is a gold watch which Randolph doesn't need, but being a mean bully he cheats with the help of his two "friends" and wins the watch because he can't stand the thought of Luke beating him at anything. And most of the book that's what happens, or things like that. Luke has to overcome all the things bullies like Randolph try to do to him. Not only does Randolph hate him but Randolph's father does too. I'm pretty sure that Mr. Duncan was a school bully when he was a boy too, he certainly is a grown-up one. So thanks to the Duncans Luke loses the watch and before too long he loses his job as janitor at the school and eventually is even accused of bank robbery and arrested and that is also mainly because of the Duncans. But Luke struggles on and remains honest and hard working (sound familiar?) and then one strange night while he is walking home through the woods a mysterious stranger shows up and gives him a box to hold onto which he must never open and must always keep a secret. I found all this extremely puzzling but I'm not a young boy or girl reading it and maybe they didn't think it was strange of someone just handing a young man they didn't know a very important box and then disappearing again. All this does become rather important to the story a little later but it still seemed odd to me.
I don't know that I have much more to say about the book. The man with the box shows up eventually and helps Luke on his way to wherever he ends up. Luke gets to live in the city, he takes a trip across the country - to help another wealthy man of course, things like that. He struggles on. I don't believe too many of Algers books ended up with a sad ending and this one is a bit like all the others. Go ahead and read it if you want to, it only takes an afternoon. On to the next book. Happy reading.
It starts with an ice skating race on a small pond in the village of Groveland. There are two boys expected to be the top two in the race, the first is our hero, Luke Larkin. Luke was a poor boy - of course - about 16 years old. We are told that Luke is:
"the son of a carpenter's widow, living on narrow means, and so compelled to exercise the strictest economy. Luke worked where he could, helping the farmers in hay-time, and ready to do odd jobs for any one in the village who desired his services. He filled the position of janitor at the school which he attended, sweeping out twice a week and making the fires. He had a pleasant expression, and a bright, resolute look, a warm heart, and a clear intellect, and was probably, in spite of his poverty, the most popular boy in Groveton."
The other is the school bully, there's always a school bully, Randolph Duncan:
"First, in his own estimation, came Randolph Duncan, son of Prince Duncan, president of the Groveton Bank, and a prominent town official. Prince Duncan was supposed to be a rich man, and lived in a style quite beyond that of his neighbors. Randolph was his only son, a boy of sixteen, and felt that in social position and blue blood he was without a peer in the village. He was a tall, athletic boy, and disposed to act the part of boss among the Groveton boys."
The prize is a gold watch which Randolph doesn't need, but being a mean bully he cheats with the help of his two "friends" and wins the watch because he can't stand the thought of Luke beating him at anything. And most of the book that's what happens, or things like that. Luke has to overcome all the things bullies like Randolph try to do to him. Not only does Randolph hate him but Randolph's father does too. I'm pretty sure that Mr. Duncan was a school bully when he was a boy too, he certainly is a grown-up one. So thanks to the Duncans Luke loses the watch and before too long he loses his job as janitor at the school and eventually is even accused of bank robbery and arrested and that is also mainly because of the Duncans. But Luke struggles on and remains honest and hard working (sound familiar?) and then one strange night while he is walking home through the woods a mysterious stranger shows up and gives him a box to hold onto which he must never open and must always keep a secret. I found all this extremely puzzling but I'm not a young boy or girl reading it and maybe they didn't think it was strange of someone just handing a young man they didn't know a very important box and then disappearing again. All this does become rather important to the story a little later but it still seemed odd to me.
I don't know that I have much more to say about the book. The man with the box shows up eventually and helps Luke on his way to wherever he ends up. Luke gets to live in the city, he takes a trip across the country - to help another wealthy man of course, things like that. He struggles on. I don't believe too many of Algers books ended up with a sad ending and this one is a bit like all the others. Go ahead and read it if you want to, it only takes an afternoon. On to the next book. Happy reading.
November 17, 2009
There is little to say about this book other than that it is terrible and I couldn't stop reading it.
May 4, 2022
Introduction:
Horatio Alger Jr.’s novels are as goofy as can be, and they all follow the very same pattern. Poor boy works honestly, diligently, and relentlessly seeks success, then some problem occurs, and the boy demonstrates his good character in helping solve the issue, and becomes rich and popular in the process. Alger Jr. has tens of books all related to the same themes. I first heard of the author from a lecture by Leonard Peikoff and got this volume immediately. I absolutely loved his most famous (and most goofy novel), Ragged Dick, and read it in several sittings mostly in the laundry room while doing my clothes.
Struggling Upward is one of Alger Jr.’s famous novels around the same themes. I have not so recently discovered that this author is among the most famous authors of the 19th century, and his novels were among the first best-sellers in the United States, selling millions of copies. The author had the same philosophy as Carnegie in raising hard-working Christian children. He wrote some works for little girls, but they were not as good as his novels about rambunctious boys. There always seem to be conniving tricksters, old men who were cartoonishly villains, and two-dimensional father figures. In neither of the two stories do we see a biological father. The boys are always seeking a paternal figure to impress, and there is always one. Almost every man I know wishes he had such a father who truly cared for him and was proud of him. Perhaps that’s what most boys want. A lack of a good fatherly figure in the home is one of the worst things that can happen to a family.
Plot:
The story begins with a rather stupid competition the teacher starts, to see which student can skate fastest from the start line and back to it. Luke Larkin, our hero, borrows skates and participates. His opponent, the rowdy Randolph, already having a watch, wants another, and $10 extra bucks his father would give him for winning. Through trickery, Randolph wins, and though there was cheating involved, Randolph did not participate in it directly and therefore wins the trophy watch. Randolph’s father, Prince Duncan, awards him the cash money.
The interesting bit happens as Larkin returns home. He is approached by a mysterious man who gives him a sealed box and tells him to take good care of it. At the same time, by coincidence, a box is stolen from the bank. A tattle-tale old maid suspects that the box is in the hands of Luke’s family, and informs Mr. Duncan. Luke is grounded at a neighboring family’s home until the court sentence. Prince Duncan, for some bizarre reason, is both the judge and the bank manager. During the court session, the mysterious man appears and opens Luke’s box, demonstrating that it is not the stolen box. The owner of the box comes, much to the dismay of Mr. Duncan, to send the boy on a quest to find vital information about the contents of the box.
Criticism and conclusion:
Horatio Alger Jr.’s stories are whimsical, primitively hilarious, and share the atavistic success story that is at once both linear and one-dimensional, and the hearty store of success we long for. No one should expect to find a Mark Twain here, but this is a story that helps encourage the enthusiasm of young boys to work hard and put in the effort in the hopes that good may come out of it all. I only recommend this book to those wanting a nice bedtime story for their young boys (or girls). I was looking for a children’s story since I am a sucker for a good children’s story. I hoped to find such a book in this volume. Neither this nor Ragged Dick were the book I was looking for. Score: (5.8/10)
Horatio Alger Jr.’s novels are as goofy as can be, and they all follow the very same pattern. Poor boy works honestly, diligently, and relentlessly seeks success, then some problem occurs, and the boy demonstrates his good character in helping solve the issue, and becomes rich and popular in the process. Alger Jr. has tens of books all related to the same themes. I first heard of the author from a lecture by Leonard Peikoff and got this volume immediately. I absolutely loved his most famous (and most goofy novel), Ragged Dick, and read it in several sittings mostly in the laundry room while doing my clothes.
Struggling Upward is one of Alger Jr.’s famous novels around the same themes. I have not so recently discovered that this author is among the most famous authors of the 19th century, and his novels were among the first best-sellers in the United States, selling millions of copies. The author had the same philosophy as Carnegie in raising hard-working Christian children. He wrote some works for little girls, but they were not as good as his novels about rambunctious boys. There always seem to be conniving tricksters, old men who were cartoonishly villains, and two-dimensional father figures. In neither of the two stories do we see a biological father. The boys are always seeking a paternal figure to impress, and there is always one. Almost every man I know wishes he had such a father who truly cared for him and was proud of him. Perhaps that’s what most boys want. A lack of a good fatherly figure in the home is one of the worst things that can happen to a family.
Plot:
The story begins with a rather stupid competition the teacher starts, to see which student can skate fastest from the start line and back to it. Luke Larkin, our hero, borrows skates and participates. His opponent, the rowdy Randolph, already having a watch, wants another, and $10 extra bucks his father would give him for winning. Through trickery, Randolph wins, and though there was cheating involved, Randolph did not participate in it directly and therefore wins the trophy watch. Randolph’s father, Prince Duncan, awards him the cash money.
The interesting bit happens as Larkin returns home. He is approached by a mysterious man who gives him a sealed box and tells him to take good care of it. At the same time, by coincidence, a box is stolen from the bank. A tattle-tale old maid suspects that the box is in the hands of Luke’s family, and informs Mr. Duncan. Luke is grounded at a neighboring family’s home until the court sentence. Prince Duncan, for some bizarre reason, is both the judge and the bank manager. During the court session, the mysterious man appears and opens Luke’s box, demonstrating that it is not the stolen box. The owner of the box comes, much to the dismay of Mr. Duncan, to send the boy on a quest to find vital information about the contents of the box.
Criticism and conclusion:
Horatio Alger Jr.’s stories are whimsical, primitively hilarious, and share the atavistic success story that is at once both linear and one-dimensional, and the hearty store of success we long for. No one should expect to find a Mark Twain here, but this is a story that helps encourage the enthusiasm of young boys to work hard and put in the effort in the hopes that good may come out of it all. I only recommend this book to those wanting a nice bedtime story for their young boys (or girls). I was looking for a children’s story since I am a sucker for a good children’s story. I hoped to find such a book in this volume. Neither this nor Ragged Dick were the book I was looking for. Score: (5.8/10)
October 8, 2011
Horatio Alger wrote quite a few books about young American men in the late 1800s. The constant theme of each is rags-to-riches; even in the few cases where the boy starts the story well-off, he will be reduced to poverty at some point and will have to work his way back up the ladder. The boy hero of each book is, of course, virtuous, brave, and at least clever if not intelligent, and devotes himself to work and study and supporting his family (as applicable), eschewing such time- and money-wasting activities as smoking, billiards, and going to the theater. Females don’t often play much of a role in the story, except as mother or sister, and very occasionally as proto-romantic interest (these boys are almost always too young to be forming actual romantic interests). The plots occasionally involve adventure and travel, and generally have one-dimensional characters who are entirely good or entirely evil (and often laughably so, as their motivations don’t always make sense).
I find a peculiar sense of satisfaction in reading these stories, as I, too, would like to work hard, save my wages, and be rewarded for my terribly virtuous acts. (Maybe I should perform some, huh?) The stories are, of course, unrealistic – it’s not at all common for a young newsboy to save an elderly woman’s life and be rewarded with a high-paying position as her aide-de-camp – but I revel vicariously in the boys’ careful saving and judicious spending, ending at last with the boy having achieved fiscal security.
Luke Larkin’s first break comes when a mysterious stranger asks him, for absolutely no reason other than because the plot says so, to guard a tin box for him. A similar box goes missing from the bank, and Luke is implicated in the theft by a nosy neighbor who had spotted the box. Luke is exonerated at the last moment, when the stranger reappears at his trial. The stranger turns out to be wealthy, and he and another wealthy man who similarly becomes impressed with Luke by happenstance begin to employ Luke in all sorts of positions one would not normally entrust to a sixteen-year-old, even back then. Everything, of course, works out perfectly in the end, and Luke becomes able to support his mother and himself with ease.
I really can’t recommend Horatio Alger’s works to anyone, free or not (they are on Project Gutenberg)...I can’t imagine who else would enjoy them besides me, mostly because I can’t put my finger on exactly why I like them. My best guess is that I want to go from rags to riches myself!
I find a peculiar sense of satisfaction in reading these stories, as I, too, would like to work hard, save my wages, and be rewarded for my terribly virtuous acts. (Maybe I should perform some, huh?) The stories are, of course, unrealistic – it’s not at all common for a young newsboy to save an elderly woman’s life and be rewarded with a high-paying position as her aide-de-camp – but I revel vicariously in the boys’ careful saving and judicious spending, ending at last with the boy having achieved fiscal security.
Luke Larkin’s first break comes when a mysterious stranger asks him, for absolutely no reason other than because the plot says so, to guard a tin box for him. A similar box goes missing from the bank, and Luke is implicated in the theft by a nosy neighbor who had spotted the box. Luke is exonerated at the last moment, when the stranger reappears at his trial. The stranger turns out to be wealthy, and he and another wealthy man who similarly becomes impressed with Luke by happenstance begin to employ Luke in all sorts of positions one would not normally entrust to a sixteen-year-old, even back then. Everything, of course, works out perfectly in the end, and Luke becomes able to support his mother and himself with ease.
I really can’t recommend Horatio Alger’s works to anyone, free or not (they are on Project Gutenberg)...I can’t imagine who else would enjoy them besides me, mostly because I can’t put my finger on exactly why I like them. My best guess is that I want to go from rags to riches myself!
March 8, 2008
It's like the Game of Life, with slightly more developed characters.
When I give Horatio Alger novels five stars, to indicate they're amazing, I mean more that I'm amazed whenever I read one.
When I give Horatio Alger novels five stars, to indicate they're amazing, I mean more that I'm amazed whenever I read one.
June 18, 2024
One star for each novel in this collection.
Look, it's hard to rate Alger novels. The guy was a complete hack with no idea how to compose a coherent plot, originality, character arc, or dialogue (which is bad in case that isn't clear). BUT he somehow still arrived at books that are compulsively readable and fun. What they have never been is a life guide, and I never understood where that conception comes from. Certainly not from anyone who has read them.
What this volume does is collect four unconnected novels from different stages of Alger's career as a boy's author and present them in a non-chronological order, which is weird but okay since taking Alger books out of their series context makes remarkably little difference. So the volumes
Stuggling Upward: Luke Larkin's Luck, 1890.
The Horatio Alger Story in it's classic form. A hardworking, but disadvantaged boy is continually victimized by a snobby sauntering peacock peer who refuses to see him as an equal. The main action of the plot devolves from a chance encounter with an unreasonably generous benefactor, and the usual three page wrap up paves a path to staid middle-class respectability that doesn't challenge the social standing of the 'good' aristocracy while punishing the undeserving.
Ragged Dick, 1868.
The book that kicked it all off. Take one street arab, add exposure to a good example, leaven it with some self sacrifice and some selfless actions, then finish it off with a totally random event that erases everything that came before, a deus ex machina.
Phil the Fiddler, 1872.
Alger writes a social justice novel. This is a strange transitional novel where Alger was still engaged with his New York City street boy series (Hi - Paul the Peddler!), but also feeling the limitations of that context. His solution is to explore the outside world, and this takes his heroes to some strange places. The utterly hilarious climax comes with an insane standoff between Paul's padron and an Irish washerwoman which is worth the whole novel.
Jed the Poorhouse Boy, 1899.
A very late-career novel, and it shows it. Not much happens here out of the ordinary, except the resolution which is the only instance I can think of where Alger stole a plot entirely from a gothic romance. Very silly and stupid, much more so than the usual Alger book. I ended the book thinking that Jed was actually the strutting peacock of the novel. What a jerk.
Look, it's hard to rate Alger novels. The guy was a complete hack with no idea how to compose a coherent plot, originality, character arc, or dialogue (which is bad in case that isn't clear). BUT he somehow still arrived at books that are compulsively readable and fun. What they have never been is a life guide, and I never understood where that conception comes from. Certainly not from anyone who has read them.
What this volume does is collect four unconnected novels from different stages of Alger's career as a boy's author and present them in a non-chronological order, which is weird but okay since taking Alger books out of their series context makes remarkably little difference. So the volumes
Stuggling Upward: Luke Larkin's Luck, 1890.
The Horatio Alger Story in it's classic form. A hardworking, but disadvantaged boy is continually victimized by a snobby sauntering peacock peer who refuses to see him as an equal. The main action of the plot devolves from a chance encounter with an unreasonably generous benefactor, and the usual three page wrap up paves a path to staid middle-class respectability that doesn't challenge the social standing of the 'good' aristocracy while punishing the undeserving.
Ragged Dick, 1868.
The book that kicked it all off. Take one street arab, add exposure to a good example, leaven it with some self sacrifice and some selfless actions, then finish it off with a totally random event that erases everything that came before, a deus ex machina.
Phil the Fiddler, 1872.
Alger writes a social justice novel. This is a strange transitional novel where Alger was still engaged with his New York City street boy series (Hi - Paul the Peddler!), but also feeling the limitations of that context. His solution is to explore the outside world, and this takes his heroes to some strange places. The utterly hilarious climax comes with an insane standoff between Paul's padron and an Irish washerwoman which is worth the whole novel.
Jed the Poorhouse Boy, 1899.
A very late-career novel, and it shows it. Not much happens here out of the ordinary, except the resolution which is the only instance I can think of where Alger stole a plot entirely from a gothic romance. Very silly and stupid, much more so than the usual Alger book. I ended the book thinking that Jed was actually the strutting peacock of the novel. What a jerk.
March 12, 2020
So, yes, quite a bit of the hero's success in this story came through "luck" (or what is usually called luck), rather than being the result of his own initiative. However, I did like the fact that his well-known reputation for honesty and good character was what inspired the loyalty of both his old and new friends. I did think it a bit odd that we never got a full explanation of the tin box that started the whole mess, but oh, well... Also, of course the villains can't limit themselves to one form of nastiness; they must go all the way and be responsible for everything! (Don't pity me too much; I know what I'm getting by this point. :D) And I did think it a little strange that you would not just send an inexperienced boy out on an important errand but apparently leave it to him to figure out how he's going to carry it out?
All that aside, though, it was a good story overall and not bad for a light read. :)
Content--mentions of theft, blackmail, and false accusations; mentions of cheating and deception; mentions of accidents and injuries; mentions of violence and gunplay; boys tease each other about liking a girl; one young man is described as "effeminate" and given an affected speech impediment (this character plays a major role in one chapter late in the book and is not seen again)
All that aside, though, it was a good story overall and not bad for a light read. :)
Content--mentions of theft, blackmail, and false accusations; mentions of cheating and deception; mentions of accidents and injuries; mentions of violence and gunplay; boys tease each other about liking a girl; one young man is described as "effeminate" and given an affected speech impediment (this character plays a major role in one chapter late in the book and is not seen again)
May 6, 2019
So corny I couldn’t stop reading. Includes every scenario of Alger’s book-after-book formula:
• poor boy with widowed mother
• mean squire determined to destroy poor boy
• poor boy is lucky and plucky and doesn’t give up in the face of adversity
• poor boy meets rich man who decides to hire him
• after many adventures, mean squire is exposed for what he really is!
• poor boy is on his way to fortune
Alger’s books are too much fun. 😁
• poor boy with widowed mother
• mean squire determined to destroy poor boy
• poor boy is lucky and plucky and doesn’t give up in the face of adversity
• poor boy meets rich man who decides to hire him
• after many adventures, mean squire is exposed for what he really is!
• poor boy is on his way to fortune
Alger’s books are too much fun. 😁
October 3, 2019
First novel I have read of his and I feel like much of my high school American history classes now make sense. Just twenty years too late picking up on who Horatio Alger was, that he was a real person and not just a fictitious "get rich quick" tale.
May 1, 2020
I have come to enjoy the Horatio Alger stories during COVID-19 as they remind me of the attributes of success at any age. They also offer a glimpse into a past world but the lessons they teach and the values that imbue the stories are timeless.
January 2, 2024
A look at a bygone ear of positivity and the American dream.
January 4, 2018
This was just a meh book. Nothing wrong with it but, nothing amazing about it either. The writing was very well done and definitely for an audience of the earlier 19th century. 3/5 stars.
August 8, 2013
Making His Own Luck—at Home and on the Road”
Living with his widowed mother in a small town Luke Larkin is a nice teenager struggling with poverty and social stigmatization. Appreciated by his school teacher and invited to a fancy party by socialite, Florence, he still works hard as part time school janitor.
But young Duncan Randolf, the banker’s only son and Luke’s nemesis (there is always a blatant bully in Alger’s formulaic books about poor-but-honest boys trying to improve their lot) is out to do him dirt—especially after having been declared Not the winner of an ice skating race. Was a silver watch of his own worth all the trouble?
Then a mysterious stranger, one Roland Reed, meets Luke by chance (?) one dark night in the forest and gives him a strange commission. Luke puts the unopened tin box into his mother’s bedroom chest, but the village busybody came in unannounced and caught sight of it, so she spread the news that the widow was hiding something valuable. It just so happens to coincide with a bank robbery, so now Luke is considered suspicious, although there is no spending spree. After a kangaroo court in which the judge and chief accuser were the Bank’s president, Luke was found Guilty—to Duncan’s public glee. The village gossip, Miss Sprague learned to her sorrow Doing one’s Duty will not always be appreciated, as she assumed.
After his subsequent Innocent verdict Luke undertakes another
Commission for his benefactor and public defender: he travels to NY City and thence out West to retrieve some stolen bonds--whose recovery will right a long-past wrong.Chasing an elusive man with determination and integrity, Luke almost falls victim to a scammer on a train. Yes, adventures and warnings abound for the unwary boy, as Luke comes of age on his Quest. (Alger includes a caveat to adults about Wall Street speculation and references to a boy’s worst enemy—always trying to direct a youth’s moral compass toward charity, honesty and kindness.) Ah, but will Luke ever truly prove to be Randolf’s social equal? The one may rise, but must the other not fall as well?
Alger’s style includes blatant foreshadowing—which might have had the effect of prompting turn-of-the-century boys to keep reading. Also many of his characters are little more than cardboard stereotypes, but a century ago boys were not so particular about that--just give them adventure and action. With no concern for overdone Coincidence! As a closet homosexual the author included a scene inside a stage coach where a shunned, effeminate passenger proves the unexpected hero during a robbery. Alger churned out his tales for boys on a successful literary assembly line.
(August 8, 2013. I welcome dialogue with teachers.)
Living with his widowed mother in a small town Luke Larkin is a nice teenager struggling with poverty and social stigmatization. Appreciated by his school teacher and invited to a fancy party by socialite, Florence, he still works hard as part time school janitor.
But young Duncan Randolf, the banker’s only son and Luke’s nemesis (there is always a blatant bully in Alger’s formulaic books about poor-but-honest boys trying to improve their lot) is out to do him dirt—especially after having been declared Not the winner of an ice skating race. Was a silver watch of his own worth all the trouble?
Then a mysterious stranger, one Roland Reed, meets Luke by chance (?) one dark night in the forest and gives him a strange commission. Luke puts the unopened tin box into his mother’s bedroom chest, but the village busybody came in unannounced and caught sight of it, so she spread the news that the widow was hiding something valuable. It just so happens to coincide with a bank robbery, so now Luke is considered suspicious, although there is no spending spree. After a kangaroo court in which the judge and chief accuser were the Bank’s president, Luke was found Guilty—to Duncan’s public glee. The village gossip, Miss Sprague learned to her sorrow Doing one’s Duty will not always be appreciated, as she assumed.
After his subsequent Innocent verdict Luke undertakes another
Commission for his benefactor and public defender: he travels to NY City and thence out West to retrieve some stolen bonds--whose recovery will right a long-past wrong.Chasing an elusive man with determination and integrity, Luke almost falls victim to a scammer on a train. Yes, adventures and warnings abound for the unwary boy, as Luke comes of age on his Quest. (Alger includes a caveat to adults about Wall Street speculation and references to a boy’s worst enemy—always trying to direct a youth’s moral compass toward charity, honesty and kindness.) Ah, but will Luke ever truly prove to be Randolf’s social equal? The one may rise, but must the other not fall as well?
Alger’s style includes blatant foreshadowing—which might have had the effect of prompting turn-of-the-century boys to keep reading. Also many of his characters are little more than cardboard stereotypes, but a century ago boys were not so particular about that--just give them adventure and action. With no concern for overdone Coincidence! As a closet homosexual the author included a scene inside a stage coach where a shunned, effeminate passenger proves the unexpected hero during a robbery. Alger churned out his tales for boys on a successful literary assembly line.
(August 8, 2013. I welcome dialogue with teachers.)
November 29, 2014
I've read so many Horatio Alger books as a child, and it's amazing in retrospect how much they've shaped my moral upbringing and work ethic.
Now, as a more cynical young adult, I can understand how it's an overly simplified lens of looking at life and gauging success. In spite of that, his stories are still an indispensable part of my childhood and I'm immensely grateful to the positive force they've had on me.
Amongst his many many works, this remains my all-time favorite as well as the one that stayed with me long past the last page. Thank you, Luke Larkin, you were the first of many to convince me of the promise and power of the American Dream, way before Gatsby, Willy Loman or Holden. And you won't be the last.
Now, as a more cynical young adult, I can understand how it's an overly simplified lens of looking at life and gauging success. In spite of that, his stories are still an indispensable part of my childhood and I'm immensely grateful to the positive force they've had on me.
Amongst his many many works, this remains my all-time favorite as well as the one that stayed with me long past the last page. Thank you, Luke Larkin, you were the first of many to convince me of the promise and power of the American Dream, way before Gatsby, Willy Loman or Holden. And you won't be the last.
May 31, 2018
Classic rags to riches story as I found it must of Horatio Alger's are. Lucky kid shows he's a good kid and a rich guy gives him an opportunity to shine.
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