The theme of the underdog: book, Ragged Dick by Horatio Alger and the movie, The Pursuit of Happyness.

The theme of the underdog: book, Ragged Dick by Horatio Alger and the movie, The Pursuit of Happyness.

The theme of the underdog is evident in the book, Ragged Dick by Horatio Alger and the movie, The Pursuit of Happyness. Underdogs are individuals associated with minimal chance or no chance at all to win under a normal environment. Underdogs are always regarded as weaklings in an environment that requires a struggle for survival. In most cases, however, underdogs have an advantage in that, attention that may pose unnecessary competition is not directed on them. Underdogs are viewed by society as being disadvantaged by an unfair life or maybe to have failed in life. The lives led by underdogs represent the under-privileged members of the community whose fate in life does not show any signs of a bright future. However, underdogs appear as winners at the latter stages of an initially crisis-dominated life. In literature, underdogs are presented as winners in fights involving legends. When the battle between underdogs and legends end up with the underdog winning, the result is received as an upset to both the legend and supporters. The protagonists in the movie “Pursuit of happiness” and the book “Ragged Dick” lead lives of underdogs but seem to achieve better lifestyles at the end.

Chris Gardner is an underdog but a protagonist in the movie, the pursuit for happyness. Gardner is initially represented as a poor man who cannot make ends meet for his small family. Gardner’s wife leaves Gardner as a single father to a son and life does not get any simpler. The struggles by Gardner make people lose hope in him easily, and no one, including his wife, seems to trust his plans. Gardner is, however, a determined poor man who hopes to become a millionaire soon and nothing seems to be stopping him from following the dream. In the community around Gardner, no one seems to support Gardner’s course, and his life revolves around a series of debts and poor relationships with neighbors. Like many underdogs, Gardner suffers from the societal structure that does not allow for gradual development process but rather a straight line movement towards success. For example, Gardner’s wife expects Gardner to become rich and support his family but is not patient enough to trust the process that Gardner uses to become rich. When Gardner secures a place as an unpaid intern, Gardner’s wife gives up being kept in waiting and decides to look for employment at her sister’s boyfriend’s hotel. As an underdog, Gardner is prepared for every kind of disappointment and thus being divorced from his wife does not make Gardner give up on his pursuit for happiness. According to Abid (p. 4), the economic and social structures in the society only support an individual to live comfortably at the same level but does not offer any form of upward mobility. Gardner was well determined to achieve his dreams and even decides to remain with his son after breaking up with the wife and is not concerned with the current state of affairs but a future that both Gardner and his son can build and grow happily together.

Underdogs are always a hardworking group of individuals, who gain very little attention from the community. The little attention given to underdogs is only negative since the society views them as the underprivileged and being able to do anything (even if immoral) within their reach to make ends meet. Gardner is hard-working and shares a certain hope with no one that one day, Gardner will be a millionaire and that Gardner is the only person who can make that happen; not even Gardner’s wife and also, Gardner is the only person to support Gardner (Hamid, p. 1).  After breaking up with his wife, Gardner gets the opportunity to live as an underdog in that the only person who would have expected more from Gardner was long gone, and Gardner was the only person to raise expectations towards Gardner and his son. Gardner understands the strategy that during dark times, the cure for all anxieties is to remain relaxed and give your mind an ample environment to think and come up with a plan. Gardner’s ability to relax helps him in playing a cube game; a game that can be said to be the first step towards Gardner’s shoot to the top of the world. Gardner has the typical characters of an underdog in that, the only issue troubling Gardner’s life is the wellbeing of the people he loves. Gardner had a chance to relieve himself from parenting duties by letting their wife go with their baby, but due to the love in Gardner’s heart, he decides to remain behind with his son. Gardner has to balance between work and taking care of his boy and finds no offense in letting his son face the suffering they were going through. Gardner is a polite man humbled by life, and just like a typical underdog, a chance presents itself for Gardner to give life another shot when he is called for an interview for an internship. Gardner is patient enough to work for no pay to create a good name in his future dreams of starting a successful career. After the internship programme, Gardner secures a well-paying job in a stocks firm and the dream to grow to a millionaire forces Gardner to start his company, a step that propelled Gardner into becoming a millionaire.

Ragged Dick is an underdog, presented as the protagonist in the book Ragged Dick. The whole story revolves around Ragged Dick’s life a street boy, who rises against all the odds to move from being a street shoe shiner to a middle-class citizen; a status Ragged Dick enjoys up to the end of the story. Like many underdogs, Dick is born to an economic misfortune and does not get a chance to attend school in the early years of his life. Dick used the time he would have been in school to work as a shoe-shiner in the streets in a bid to make ends meet. Dick has to struggle in the journey of life alone, and his determination to success took some significant duration of time before paying off, and Dick has to have a strong belief and trust for the process of succeeding in life. According to Taylor (p. 10), Ragged Dick is a role model of how humility and determination are critical values for any person dreaming of rising into becoming a millionaire. Dick’s state as an underdog gave an advantage that the community did not expect much from him and thus Dick had enough time to concentrate on building a firm foundation for a bright future. Despite the challenges that Dick goes through, he maintains his reputation among people and eventually gets the chance to move to the top after getting a well-paying job which earned Dick a lot of respect. The success of an underdog like Dick is always a great success that comes as a surprise (Alger, p.12). As expected, Dick received an understatement by society and had to strain and live by the society’s standards. For example, Dick goes to the bank, but the teller seems unbelieving of Dick’s fortune given his ‘illiteracy.’ The society judges individuals using their ability to read and write and expects that a well-off person should at least know a bit of reading and writing. Dick finally decides to pursue education.

Underdogs receive undue pressure to become successful. Iwatan (p. 61) states that underdogs have a challenge in attaining basic requirements such as education. For example, Dick decides to pursue education due to the perception of society towards people who cannot read and write. The encounter at the bank where the teller expects Dick to at least be able to write leaves Dick willing to go to school and earn some writing skills. However, Dick accepts the challenge without any real show of violence though disappointment is evident by the way he reacts. Dick represents the perfect example of an underdog in that, despite how the world pushes one to the wall, retreating should be motivated by humility and the desire to do well. Dick would have decided to ignore the perception of the society towards uneducated people but critically realizes that for a happy life in the future, conforming to the community’s expectation was the best option.

The presentation of the theme in the movie “Pursuit of happyness” and the book “Ragged Dick” is done in a way to present the role of upholding moral ethics in a bid to realize success in future. The protagonists in the two stories are faced with situations that could have forced them to behave radically but instead, the humility and politeness possessed by the two keep them on hold. For example, Gardner does not employ the option of letting his son go with his wife since he knew that would only expose the son to more struggles than was the case with Gardner choosing to become a single father. Also, Dick was disappointed with the bank teller’s inquiry about his ability to write and would have decided to confront the teller. Instead, Dick makes up his mind and decides to pursue education.

In sum, the movie “pursuit of happyness” and the book “ragged dick” are related to the theme of the underdog in that, the protagonists in the two stories lead the lives of underdogs but eventually succeed in achieving their dreams. The lives led by underdogs represent the under-privileged members of the community and fate always gives them a reason to give up. However, underdogs appear as winners at the latter stages of an initially crisis-dominated life. In literature, underdogs are presented as winners in fights involving legends. When the fight between underdogs and legends end up with the underdog winning, the result is received as an upset to both the legend and supporters. Gardner and Dick are the protagonists in the movie “Pursuit of happiness” and the book “Ragged Dick” respectively and lead their lives as underdogs but seem to achieve success against all the odds presented in their paths of life.

Works Cited

Abid, Sabrina A. “The Pursuit of Happiness: The State of the American Dream in Suzan-Lori       Parks’s Topdog/Underdog.” (2012).

Alger Jr, Horatio. “Horatio Alger, Jr.” (1996).

Hakim, Ahmad. “An analysis of phatic communion in the movie entitled the pursuit of      happyness.” Unpublished master’s thesis). Tarbiyah Faculty Of Syekh Nurjati State      Institute, Cirebon (2012).

Iwatani, Emi, and Feifei Ye. “Relationship between Education and Attitude towards Social         Welfare among Underdogs and Topdogs in 40 Countries.” Journal of Applied          Educational and Policy Research 2.2 (2016).

Taylor, Robert. “Sounding the Trumpets of Defiance: Mark Twain and Norman Mailer.” Mark      Twain Journal 16.3 (1972): 1-14.