Ragtime
In the classic E.L. Doctorow novel, Ragtime, we see the juxtaposition of many motifs to represent Doctorow’s view of the early century. By combining history and fiction Doctorow allows himself to write a semi-accurate interpretation of the early 1900’s while also being able to strongly express his own biases and opinions of the era. The biggest and perhaps most important theme Doctorow applies in the novel is social tension, or the battle of the rich versus the poor. Other important themes include rebirth, racial tension, and high randomness of events. It is apparent that Doctorow clearly favors the poor, lower class, in their struggle for economic and social mobility against the few, rich, and upper class citizens. Doctorow’s thoughts are best depicted through the novel’s characters. Tateh, Coalhouse Walker and Sarah are all characters who are portrayed as ‘good’. These characters, while representing a wide range of economic success, all symbolize socially challenged individuals. Throughout the novel, Doctorow always chooses these or similar types of characters to be the protagonists. Doctorow wants the reader to feel for Coalhouse’s situation. He wants the reader to hope that Willie Conklin is harmed an
Racial tension is certainly a major motif throughout the book. Without it, the book simply would be neither entertaining nor fulfilling. In writing Ragtime, Doctorow knew that racial tension was the most obvious theme in his book, as well as being the foundation for a major plot in the book. One does not have to dig too deep in order to discover that Doctorow believes that there was racial tension and blatant racism in the early century. To represent this racial tension, Doctorow uses a mix of fiction and history. On the fictional side, Doctorow has Coalhouse Walker and his fiancée Sarah. On the historical side, Doctorow has Booker T. Washington, a famous black rights leader who believed in non-violent methods. Doctorow has Coalhouse and Sarah interact with other fictional characters, the Vice President of the United States, Willie Conklin, the other firemen, and others in order to put racial tension in place. Then Doctorow has Coalhouse have a conversation with the famous Booker T. Washington. This interaction shows the extent to which Doctorow believed in the racial tension many years ago. The book shows that Doctorow believed racial tension to be a strong driving force in the actions of the early 1900’s. The concept of rebirth is used liberally by Doctorow. Doctorow commonly has a character go through a major transformation, or rebirth. This rebirth ordinarily happens when moving from one social class to another. Tateh, Houdini, Coalhouse, and Mother’s Younger Brother are clearly examples of these rebirths. When Tateh goes from being a poor street peddler to a rich movie maker, he goes through a transformation. Tateh starts dressing and acting a lot differently, perhaps a
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Approximate Word count = 1153
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page double spaced)
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