Joe's Reward by Horatio Alger Jr Literary Analysis Essay Sample

📌Category: Literature
📌Words: 943
📌Pages: 4
📌Published: 15 June 2022

Myths, a traditional story that includes a life lesson. Myths are usually fun exciting simple story that has a moral or can teach you a valuable lesson. “Joe's Reward” is a story about a lower-class man, Joe, taking a hotel proprietor's niece, Mabel Mallison, and friends out on a rowboat. The proprietor's niece, Mabel, had fallen off the boat, causing her dress to become stuck on a rock, leading to Joe jumping in and saving her. When they had gotten back to the hotel the hotel proprietor offered Joe a reward, but he refused and took a job instead. Joe portrays the value of his society through his selflessness to save Mabel. Joe and the short story mirror many characteristics found in myths, including humbleness, bravery, strength, quick thinking, and many other elements.  In Horatio Alger Jr’s short story, “Joe's Reward,” the hero and plot draw on elements commonly found in myths. 

The short story “Joe's Reward” mirrors a myth considering Joe shares many of the same traits as an epic hero. Joe is a strong, humble, quick thinking, quick-acting person that resembles his society. An epic hero saves people in danger, in this story Joe had saved Mabel from drowning. The author said, “Without hesitation, he dived overboard, straight for the bottom,”(Alger 7). Once Joe had noticed Mabel drowning, he immediately jumped in to save her without even thinking. Epic heroes are all strong, selfless people. Joe was able to pull Mabel's dress out of the rock, swim her up to the surface, and push her into the boat. The author wrote, “Caught in a crack between two heavy stones. But at a second tug it came free, and a moment later both our hero and Mabel Mallison came to the surface,” (Alger 7). Joe had used his strength to carry and push up a whole nother person to the surface and onto the boat. Once Joe had jumped in, he was able to use his strength to pull her dress out of the rock, swim back to the surface, and put himself and Mabel Mallison back into the boat. Joe resembles his society like an epic hero through his humbleness when he refused to take the “reward” money. As the author stated, “I won't touch it. If you want to help me you can throw some odd rowing jobs from the hotel in my way,”(Alger 8).  Joe does not want the two ten-dollar bills, he wants to work for what he gets, and would much rather have a job than just get the money for saving Mabel Mallison. Joe had reflected his society through his quick thinking, quick-acting, strength, and humbleness. He has mirrored myths through mirroring the actions of epic heroes throughout Horatio Alger Jr’s short story, “Joe's Reward.” 

The short story “Joe's reward” mimics a myth not only through the main character’s similarities between an epic hero and himself, but the elements, conflict, setting, and resolution commonly found in myths.  In the story, Mabel was stuck on a rock, drowning after falling in the water. Horatio Alger Jr. wrote “He saw the body of Mabel Mallison not far away. But it was at the lake bottom and did not offer to rise...He gave a second look and saw that the dress of the unfortunate one was caught in some sharp rocks,”(Alger 7). Mabel Mallison was drowning, and Joe had saved her. The conflict had helped develop the plot and mirror a myth through “damsel in distress,” a young woman in danger, saved by a man. Most myths take place in a world like ours today, but at an ancient time. Horatio Alger Jr. helps mimic myths throughout his short story “Joes Reward” using an ancient setting displayed by the diction amongst the characters. Alger Jr. portrayed diction by writing, “Two sat in the bow and two in the stern...dress of the unfortunate one...drew out two ten-dollar bills...drew out a fat wallet,” (Alger 8). The author had used diction to portray the setting of an old ancient world, mimicking a myth through the story. Almost all myths result in the hero saying it was not a heroic act, just the correct thing to do. After Joe had saved Mabel Mallison and taken her back to the hotel safely, he had simply thought it was just the right thing to do and declined the proprietor's “reward money,” while also portraying a heroic action of humbleness. The author shows Joe’s humbleness by stating, "“Thank you very much, Mr. Mallison, but I don't want any reward,” “I won't touch it. If you want to help me you can throw in some odd rowing jobs from the hotel in,”"(ALger 8). Horatio Alger Jr. mirrored myths by having the hero think that saving Mabel Mallison was just the right thing to do, which is commonly portrayed in many myths throughout and after the resolution. Throughout the short story “Joe's reward” by Horatio Alger Jr. the conflict, setting, and resolution had all helped mimic and portray the key elements commonly found in myths. 

In conclusion, the short story, “Joe's reward,”  draws on elements commonly found in myths. The main character, Joe, portrayed the elements of an epic hero through his strong, humble, quick thinking, and quick-acting qualities, when saving Mabel Mallison and refusing the reward. The plot shares the key elements that are also commonly found in myths, with the  “damsel in distress,” conflict, setting portrayed by the older diction, and resolution and character development shown through the main characters' heroic qualities of humbleness throughout the resolution. Horatio Alger Jr’s story would not have been the same without the involvement of the myth-like elements; the story would have almost no plotline. The author, Horatio Alger Jr. wants the readers to take away that anyone can be a hero no matter their social status, looks, or job, but by their actions. The short story “Joe's Reward” by Horatio Alger Jr. incorporates the elements commonly found in myths and epic heroes. Overall Horatio Alger Jr. tied together myths and short stories successfully using heroic traits and key elements throughout “Joe's Reward."

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