Ragtime

Ragtime
by E.L. Doctorow
read: 2018
Time 100 Novels, Modern Library #86

It takes nearly half the novel for Doctorow to get into the plot of Ragtime; a lot of time is spent setting up various coincidental encounters between the characters of the novel (an unnamed upperclass family, Jewish refugee Tateh and his daughter) and celebrities of the time: Evelyn Nesbit, Harry Houdini, Sigmund Freud, J.P. Morgan, Emma Goldman, etc. Much of the setup - and the core theme of the novel - revolves around the classed society in the early 20th century. While the main family is rich, Tateh struggles to scrape by, moving city to city and living in hovels. While Morgan stands for the rich and Goldman preaches anarchy, we also see Nesbit, Houdini, and Henry Ford, all of whom were born lower class but propelled themselves into loftier circles, though not especially comfortably.

With the introduction of Coalhouse Walker, we discover that African Americans do not have this same power to transcend class. Walker has talent as a pianist, wealth, a fancy car, and tremendous dignity, but none of this insulates him from the contempt and abuse of white racists. Ultimately his refusal to accept an insult leads to his downfall, and most of the white characters have little sympathy or understanding.

The exception is Mother's Younger Brother, who essentially chooses to forsake his birth class, throwing in with Walker and later with Mexican revolutionaries. The yin to his yang is Tateh, a socialist at the beginning of the novel, who becomes an entrepreneur to provide for his daughter and later adopts the identity of a Baron to move in upper-class circles. Is there a (possibly perverse) moral here, in that he betrays his socialist roots and meets with a happy ending while the characters who stick to their principles suffer?