The Rise of Capitalistic Society in American Myth
Posted: Sunday, September 04, 2011
by Michael Eza
The stories of It’s A Wonderful Life, and Ragged Dick both portray a protagonist’s journey from a lower-class form of life to one, which contains everything the protagonists perceive as being rich. These stories capitalize on the American Dream myth, that being; any person despite class, economic status, or environmental factors can, with a little luck and some hard-work; become rich and rise in class status through capitalism in America. Simultaneously, these stories create a portrayal of what it means to be poor in America. The views these characters have of what it means to be poor seem to be more uniform than what they believe it means to be an upstanding or higher-class individual. Despite this, in each story the protagonist is a hero and by the end of the stories they have achieved their own heavens on Earth. Each manages to do that with different views on not only what it means to be rich, but also what it means to be poor and these perspectives shape the protagonists’ beliefs on wealth.
That antithesis of being rich is originally perceived by George to be the concept of going to prison, being shamed and being worth more dead than alive, but through a sequence where he is shown what Bedford Falls would have become had he never been born, he is reminded of his greatest fears and thus what he truly considers to be poor. Those fears are that his town could be taken over by slums, vagrants, and, worse, be called “Pottersville” (It’s A Wonderful Life) He also is shown the impact he has had on his brother’s life and the fact that his family would have never happened without him. After that George realizes how rich he really is. As a denouncement to this climax he is explicitly told by his guardian angel through a letter, “No man is a failure who has friends.” (It’s A Wonderful Life) This is another theme that runs through Ragged Dick,as Dick considers himself most poor when he has no friends.
It’s A Wonderful Life displays many powerful capitalist traits, specifically the rewards for taking risks. The residents who succeed in Bedford Falls, like George, are hard working, stable risk-takers. The risks they take are modest, such as investing in the Building and Loan or leaving their home to start a new life in a new country. For George the risks become even greater such as, spending one’s entire honeymoon money on saving the Building and Loan and by proxy the town. The greater the risks that George takes seem to provide greater benefits, until his Uncle Billy loses $8,000 in assets from the company, but then he takes an even greater risk by angrily confronting his family and then attempting suicide. This too is rewarded, both with clarity of thought and far more money than was lost, through the town’s people’s (and his friend Sam’s and the bank examiner’s) generous contributions to his endeavors. This capitalistic theme exists in Ragged Dick as well, although in that story the failings and competitive nature of capitalism is more prevalent. Dick is rewarded for taking in his friend Henry, spending money on promoting his appearance, and giving him a job as his “tootor” (Alger 105).
Dick’s views of what it takes to be rich in Ragged Dick are perhaps the most attainable for the average person. This may also be one reason why the series became so popular in its time and is still read today. Dick believes that being rich is to possess wealth (in the form of a place to live and a meal each day), to be hardworking, to be intelligent or at least knowledgeable and most importantly to be “’spectable”, “There ain’t no reason why I shouldn’t live ‘spectable” (Alger 87). At the beginning of the novel he actually feels that he has all of this because he can have fun with his extra money and treat his friends. He works hard and receives enough money to live off, and he is wise to the ways of the street and therefore is not often taken advantage of due to his experience. Throughout the novel Dick’s concept of wealth begins to change, as do his views on education. After meeting a nice person, Frank; whom he shows around the city, he realizes that sleeping on the street really isn’t worth going to the theatre. Frank helps him understand that he will not be able to advance his status without being able to understand fundamental educational concepts, such as reading, writing, arithmetic and geography. Once he learns this, he still believes wealth, hard work and intelligence are the way to a good life, but he redefines what these terms mean to him. Wealth becomes a bank account and the possibility of getting a house, hard work means saving and sacrificing as well as working a full day five days a week; and intelligence becomes the endeavor to discover and progress in learning into old age. The idea of advancing through wealth and hard work is present in each of these stories, but it is different in Ragged Dick in that wealth is not ‘the biggest house on the block’ or ‘the nicest things’, but a slowly increasing investment, additionally hard work doesn’t involve being a family man too, it simply means going to work each day. However, Dick is certainly too young to have a wife and kids in Ragged Dick and at the stage in his life the readers see him, he is choosing to abstain from female relationships for the point of learning and saving money.
Ragged Dick portrays the poor person as lazy, friendless and homeless. These are all characteristics that Dick, when he becomes aware of their negative qualities, abhors. This is not to say he takes distaste to the people who wind up in these situations; in fact it is quite the opposite. He pities them and often attempts to help them. Even the thief who attempts to steal his money is asked by Dick to be let free from all charges against him, but this is because of his general humanity and goodwill not because he was once there. Once Dick rises up from being homeless and what he considered friendless he does not want to return and does everything in his power to maintain his position. In It’s a Wonderful Life, lazy, friendless, and homeless people would have probably also been considered poor, but that’s never confronted and it can only be assumed it is the case as everyone in this story has friends, works hard, and has a home.
Ragged Dick promotes the benefits of a capitalistic society by showing Dick’s rise up from the lowest part of society to becoming a respected member. In doing this it consistently endorses the importance of maintaining a bank account, becoming industrious, and keeping up appearances. During the periods these stories take place, American people were all of different classes and economic ranks and this forged a competitive spirit to become as good as the richest person in the neighborhood. This is often referred to as ‘keeping up with the Joneses’ the ‘Joneses’ being the richest people in the neighborhood. This effort to succeed through competition is seen in both stories, but is perhaps most prevalent in Ragged Dick because Dick’s change in appearance grants him access to all sorts of society he had previously been restricted from entering; upon experiencing this change he doesn’t want to, and feels embarrassed that he had ever lived so disheveled in the first place. This embarrassment emerges out of a fear of being seen by those who know him as a poor person again. Dick refers to this phenomenon as being “’spectable”(Alger 87). In It’s a Wonderful Life, George is taunted by Potter with this same type of feeling when Potter tells him he could have the biggest and nicest house on the block if he were to take the opportunity laid out before him. Additionally George uses this feeling to keep his customers from walking out at the turn of he depression by reminding them how they will be seen by the neighborhood if they move back into a Potter slum or if they let there neighbors’ houses foreclose. These events still emphasize a concept similar to the Joneses’ effect, but instead of encompassing a need to be better through winning by competition it shows a need to be better by becoming involved in the community and helping out one’s fellow man.
Both of these stories provides insight as to what the American Dream truly is and how it can be attained. Additionally, both of these stories provide a clear concept of how a capitalistic society can endeavor and succeed. These stories are a base to the American Dream myth and to the Successful Capitalistic Society legend and out of these concepts the ideas of floating from class to class and pauper to prince seem more plausible than ever, but it is important to note that while these tales may be plausible, they are still the exceptional oddities, which occur not only with hard work and perseverance, but with a little luck as well. Without the luck part it seems very likely neither of these stories could have turned out quite as they did. As mentioned earlier the most plausible of these scenarios is the one of Ragged Dick, but even in that story exists Henry, who without Dick’s help would have probably starved in the street. In this way these stories also offer a lesson, or moral, that being: even though it is possible to achieve success through capitalism many will still be prevented from doing so due to societal constraints.
Works Cited
Alger, Horatio Jr. Ragged Dick. 1990. New York: First Signet Classics Printing (Meyer Introduction), September 2005. Print.
It’s a Wonderful Life. Dir. Frank Capra. Perf. James Stewart, Donna Reed, Lionel Barrymore.. Liberty Films, 1946. Online.
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Top-level comments on this article: (2 total)Much food for thought here.
Interesting! I have never read the book, but have seen the movie several times. Have never thought of the movie in that way. To me the movie represents something different: George was feeling like he meant nothing in life and had accomplished nothing. And the angel showed him how much he did mean to people, even helping an angel get his wings.
Also wanted to point out you should proofread; you wrote "angle" for "angel" and chose the wrong "their", to name a few. :)
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