The Concept of the American Dream in Ragtime by E.L. Doctorow - Essay Example

The Concept of the American Dream in E.L. Doctorow’s Ragtime Introduction E.L. Doctorow in Ragtime employs a variety of literary forms and approaches aside from postmodern methods to depict not just the period itself but the attainment of the American Dream in this period. The combination of imaginary and real characters together with the new literary style enables Doctorow to illustrate an impersonal, but nevertheless compelling analysis of the American dream. The outlook of the readers toward the Doctorow’s characters could be weighed against their outlook toward the American Dream; readers concentrate on and learn by heart the characters who have attained a doubtful contentment rather than the other characters who failed to do so. The union of improbable episodes and characters in Ragtime embodies a tableau where in the lives of various types of Americans are situated side by side. Bringing to mind the picture of the tableau totally weakens the notion of America as a melting pot, obscuring notions of integration. Even though the characters’ lives from different contexts interconnect, they unite unequally. Evelyn Nesbit vanishes from the life of Tateh; Morgan and Ford do not have continuous communication; Emma Goldman has hardly any control over her external realm. However, when several characters intermingle with others from diverse backdrops, lives are enduringly transformed: most particularly when Mother and Tateh interact, and Mother and Sara relate. Thus, Ragtime shows the multifarious, random essence of interaction in a culturally diverse society. The Main Characters’ American Dream As a thriving entrepreneur and traveler, Father embodies the restraints of American ideas of Manifest Destiny. Through Father, the novel deconstructs the myth of self-discovery. Instead of giving an opportunity to Father for accomplishment and discovery, each voyage increasingly estranges him from his home and, worst, from himself. Upon the return of Father from the journey to the Arctic, he was not even aware of the appropriate actions and manners in a domestic context: “The family stood around and watched him on his knees. There was nothing he had to tell them” (Doctorow 2007, 110). The exploration of the novel of a man’s fall is also a portion of the American dream tradition, for a lot of American romances concentrate on leading men and relate not just the conditions which estranged them from their homelands, but also their ultimate weakness and decline. Operating within this tradition, the novel illustrates three leading men, exposing not just who can embrace proper behavior and outlooks, but who is permitted to change as well. Contrary to Father, the capability of Mother to deal with change is shown by her informally adopting an African-American infant, and getting married with Tateh. Furthermore, dissimilar from Father, she is polite to Coalhouse Walker and compassionate to him. Mother’s broad-mindedness is probably the outcome of the changes she experienced during the voyage of Father assuming more responsibility for the domestic setting and becoming more conscious of her sexuality, an understated change that on an individual stage mirrors “momentous change coming over the United States” (Doctorow 2007, 82). As time progressed, Mother yearns for a ‘life of genius’ (p. 54) outside those that could be given to her by the traditional Father. Her longing could be perceived as characterizing the American Dream reconstructed by a number of present-day intellectuals as not merely or even mainly ascending mobility, but instead the opportunity to subsist in freedom and develop one’s talent and skills. Ragtime’s American Dream Cities have been immigrants’ entry points. Immigrants who enter the United States in pursuit of a greener pasture were frequently surprised at their mistreatment and deplorable living circumstances. Apparently, immigrants were expected to better their impoverished conditions. Certainly, Father and Tateh themselves attained the American Dream. However, theirs and a lot of the novel’s transformations are at least in part due to opportunity related with a character’s ethnicity, race, and gender. As the American dream of Tateh starts to form, his original identity and ideological ideas are disposed of, given up for wealth. It is from his unexpected success that he shifts from a socialist settler into a typical capitalist. Tateh has at last realized his dream, but lost his original identity in the process. Although he has given up his identity and beliefs for the American dream, he is more contented at the moment than ever before: “His whole personality turned outward and he had become a voluble and energetic man full of future” (Doctorow 2007, 217). The mysterious African rag pianist, Coalhouse Walker, Jr., also pursues the American dream, albeit the cost of this desire is the ultimate sacrifice an individual can ever give. Large numbers of Black people confronted a rising struggle to attain both social and economic parity with whites. Coalhouse has previously achieved wealth but discovers that racial unity is missing from his life. Because of a wealthy life, he was not able to discern the social inequality that burdened the nation. However, his ideal world collapses when he confronts his racial truths in an interaction with a prejudiced fire head. Racial fairness then becomes the American dream of Coalhouse. Discussion and Conclusions E.L. Doctorow in Ragtime good-humoredly examines the enduring assurance of the American dream. In a period of drastic urbanization and development, this American dream is more accessible to individuals who can transform themselves, by adjusting their potentials into something the period recognizes and by changing themselves into recognized roles and characters. Tateh is successful in making the second change; Coalhouse is disallowed to aim for this American dream. Sara’s and his demises showed the numerous, usually undocumented executions and related killings of African-Americans who aimed for ascending mobility. The novel is the most lighthearted, interesting creation of Doctorow. It is most defined by the paradoxical space that typifies postmodernism. However, in Ragtime Doctorow constantly expresses the issues related with advancement that is, that the advancement of a few usually overlaps with the despair of large numbers of people, that technological development, and that the gains of advancement are not accessible to everyone. The difference between imagination and reality, between documentary and task-related literary works are systematically confused. Still, readers are capable of making relevant differences between the destinies of people permitted to advance and those who are eliminated or defeated. The massive compass of the novel specifically means that it is not possible to stay outside the maze; every individual is involved in the destinies of every character. Readers will hence quite delicately understand their own standpoint in American society and hence compelled to think about the essence of their involvement. The novel is therefore a successful work of semi-fiction. Although it may seem to be all superficial, it in fact evaluates the core facade it embodies, starting, for instance, with the actual insult, “There were no Negroes,” (Doctorow 2007, 5) and afterward concentrating on a family of African American origin. Ragtime presents a compelling, but detached depiction of unfairness in America, hence demonstrating the inclination of Doctorow for obliqueness in fiction. In the novel the attainment of the American dream, which Walker extremely longed for and Father had achieved, is represented in Tateh. Even though his judgment is to dispose of or adjust his socialist principles is quite anomalous, there is nothing threatening or disturbing in his sudden success or progress. However, the lack of sympathy of the affluent and of J.P. Morgan specifically expresses a much gloomier part of the American dream. References Doctorow, E.L. Ragtime. Michigan: Random House Trade Paperbacks, 2007. Read More