Change in Doctorows Ragtime - Term Paper Example

Change in Doctorow’s Ragtime Ragtime is a 1975 novel by the American E. L Doctorow. It is set in the early twentieth century America during the Progressive Era. This is an era that sees an increase in the clamour for reforms in a broken political system that has been developing since the end of American Civil War in 1965. This political system is blamed for the increased corruption and inefficiency of the government. As a result of these reforms there is a marked decrease in the political and economic power of the previously all powerful wealthy business class represented by Such Gilded Age figures like John D. Rockefeller, Andrew Carnegie and bankers like J. P. Morgan. Among these reforms include those carried out to regulate big business like the breakup of monopolies (trust busting) spearheaded by President Theodore Roosevelt himself and Progressive leaders in congress like Robert la Follete. It is not just the economic power of a few that is broken up; more than any time in American history, the common man and woman started having more influence in the political process. Senators for example start being elected directly by the people and not the state governments. For the first time also there is an attempt to involve the people in the choice of major party presidential candidates through the holding of primaries. The net result of these reforms makes America a more democratic society through diffusing power, both political and economic, that has for a long time been concentrated in the hands of a few. These swift economic and political changes inevitably have a major social impact. Previously underpowered groups like African Americans and women become empowered much to the chagrin of the previously powerful white males represented by Father. Social norms change as well. African Americans and whites are now able to easily relate with each other as represented by Coalhouse Worker and women become more sexually liberated as shown by Evelyn Nesbit. Change is therefore the chief theme of this novel. Doctorow sets out through this novel to show how the groups of early twentieth century America most affected by these changes brought about by the reforms of the Progressive Movement react to them. The characters most representative of these groups are Father (represents the white males whose power reduced), Coalhouse Worker (represents the African Americans whose status was elevated with the Progressive Movement) and the women who like the African Americans also see an elevation of their status and are represented by Evelyn Nesbit and Mother. Through these characters the author shows how difficult it is to adapt to change that is both rapid and challenges old traditions head on. This term paper shows how this theme of change is developed through the use of characters and other stylistic devices like symbolism. It is also going to show the difficulties associated with rapid changes in a society. As said earlier the novel is set at the beginning of the twentieth century when America was experiencing rapid economic, political, social and technological changes. The paper is going to analyse the reaction of each major character to the change that occurs during this period. As it shall be shown change is most profitable to those who have little benefits from the status quo like women and minorities and they therefore embrace it whole heartedly. Those whose interests are catered for in the status quo stand to lose the most when change occurs and therefore are the most resistant to change. One of the major changes that occur in this novel is the view of women regarding marital sexual relations. It is important to note that the Victorian age which proceeded this period had strict view of the role of sex in marriage. It was purely for procreation and nothing more. Any use of sex for deriving of pleasure was considered immoral. This period however, experiences such drastic changes among women regarding sex that shocks the then largely conservative nation. Women start seeing sex as a pleasurable activity rather than just merely there for procreation. Evelyn Nesbit is used to represent the sexually liberated women who are in full control of their sexuality. She in fact uses her sexuality as a weapon to advance herself socially. Of her sexuality the author writes, “Thus did Evelyn provide the inspiration for the concept of the movie star system and the model for every sex goddess from Theda Bara to Marilyn Monroe” (Bloom 45). Equally important in showing this growing awareness and liberation in women sexuality is Mother. She is used to show that sexual liberation was not limited to unmarried women alone but with married women as well. The extended absence of her husband on an expedition to the North Pole enables her to exercise freedom that she had for long been unable to. In the process she becomes more independent and her views regarding sex change drastically too. When her husband returns she expects him to treat sex in line with her changed view of it, as a pleasurable activity. She is however deeply disappointed as her husband cannot satisfy her raised sexual needs and her new approach to it. In one instance Fowler notes that She took his gaze. She came to bed with her hair unbraided. Her hand one night brushed down his chest and came to rest below his nightshirt. This was an unconventional way of a woman’s approach to sex. She is also depicted as someone who is eager for change. “Always she had intuited a different future for them, as if the life they led was a kind of preparation, when the manufacturer of flags and fireworks and his wife would life themselves from their respectable existence and discover a life of genius” (Martin 90). Her husband unfortunately could not meet this “life of genius”. She starts finding him boring and with time after her husband’s death in the Lusitania she starts an affair with Tateh who she later marries. Father on the hand represents the old Victorian views about marriage and sex. He is represented as a “decent man” (Levine 60). To him sex is strictly for procreation and making it an object of pleasure is immoral. These views are reinforced further when he comes from his expedition to the North Pole. He therefore finds it hard to adjust to the new views espoused by his wife regarding sexual relations in marriage. All around him he sees a decline in moral standards, as Trinner notes, Father related it to the degrees of turn in the moral planet. He saw it everywhere, this new season, and it bewildered him. Eventually, their sexual incompatibility makes their marriage life very difficult. This example is used by the writer to illustrate the consequences of these changes to traditional institutions like marriage. Even the most sacred of the traditional institutions could not be spared of these drastic changes that were occurring at the turn of the twentieth century in America. Another important change that is extensively dealt with in the novel is the socio-economic one especially among the minority groups like African Americans and Jews. During this period more minority groups start entering the middle class as result of a robust economy. The becoming wealthy of Tateh, a poor Jew, represents the economic empowerment of the non-African American minorities. His treatment is contrasted with that of similarly economically empowered African Americans and how the latter are weighed down by racism as shown by the treatment of Coalhouse Walker Jr. The empowerment of African Americans is represented by Coalhouse Walker Jr. His elevated economic status is represented by his ownership of a car which the writer notes to be far nicer than those of his most of his white contemporaries. This fact creates a lot of resentment among the whites who cannot stomach seeing an African American richer than them for they had grown believing African Americans to be inferior to them. Unable to cope with this change they unleash their anger on him in form of racial abuse. Instead of the police helping him since he is the aggrieved party they do the opposite. They dirty the car and then tear away some of its parts. To add salt to injury they defecate on it. This glaringly demonstrates the utter failure by whites to accommodate a newly empowered economic class among their ranks due to deep racial prejudices they had for African Americans. The result of this cruel rejection to appreciate his success greatly injures the pride and ego of Coalhouse Walker Jr. He reacts by forming a vigilante group against white together with Mothers Younger Brother. The group becomes violent as shown by its bombing of the fire stations and taking over of J. P. Morgan’s library. The inability of the whites to adjust their view regarding African Americans is also shown when Coalhouse Walker Jr. is shot dead upon surrendering while his white mates are not shown as well. Thus, as a result of his skin colour, Coalhouse meets the same fate as that that was met by his girlfriend Sarah who earlier on had been killed by a militia man and Secret Service agent when she goes to petition the president regarding the treatment of her husband. The white reaction (both the police and the white racists at the Emerald Isle firehouse to Coalhouse Walker Jr., shows the conflict between the old order represented by the racist whites and the change represented by empowered African Americans played out. The violence resulting from these changes in racial relations also illustrates the difficulty of changing age old prejudices. Even though more African Americans were getting empowered it still remained difficult for the whites to shed off their low opinion of them and treat them with more respect. Side by side with these social and economic changes are the scientific and technological ones. The best example given is the advent of movies that provide a new source of entertainment for millions of Americans because of the relative cheapness of the movie theatres of that period. People like Mother particularly find the movies a wonderful escape from their bored domestic lives. Tateh on the other hand uses this new development to create a fortune for himself and rise himself from poverty he had grown up in. This shows that even though these changes were beneficial to all some groups benefitted more than others. The author uses the example of Tateh and Mother to show that this change has the biggest positive impact among the groups that were previously powerless. The movies therefore give economic empowerment to an impoverished Jew and had the biggest entertainment value to the women who previously have had little to entertain themselves with. A smaller change but nonetheless as important as important as the technological one is the change regarding racial relations. Although there are still examples of racial intolerance especially regarding the treatment of Coalhouse Walker, in general there is more tolerance than in the previous generation. An example of this is when Father and Mother take in Sarah with her small kid despite them being black. This family also shows its tolerance by easily interacting with Coalhouse Walker. The author also notes that Mothers Younger Brother, a white male, is among those who joine Coalhouse Walker in forming the black vigilante group after Walker is racially humiliated. He does this out of youthful idealism as noted by Siegel, "They believed they were going to die in a spectacular manner. This belief produced in them a dramatic, exalted self-awareness. Younger Brother was totally integrated in their community. He was one of them. He awoke every day into a state of solemn joy." (89). He in fact pays for this with his own death. This illustrates that some whites completely changed from racial prejudice and became staunch supporters of racial tolerance. Everything is however not a crystal stair as shown by the growing resentment that Father develops against Coalhouse Walker because he conducts himself with pride and confidence. This is something that Father does not expect of black men for to him African American were to humble themselves before whites. The literary style heavily employed by the author in conveying his message is symbolism. Father for example represents those who are comfortable with the status quo and are therefore unable and unwilling to adapt to the new environment they have to live in. As usual whenever change occurs those who benefitted from the old system are likely to show resentment and even shock at the changes around them. This reaction is of the beneficiaries of the old ways is the one represented by Father. He symbolizes the old order unable to cope with the rapid changes that are occurring around him. Upon his return from the North Pole expedition he finds himself a lonely man, almost a stranger to his family. “He wandered through the house finding everywhere signs of his own exclusion. His son now had a desk, as befitted all young students. He thought he heard an Arctic wind but it was the sound of the housemaid Brigit pushing an electric suction cleaner across the rug in the parlor. What was the strangest of all was the mirror in his bath: it gave back the gaunt, bearded face of a derelict, a man who lacked a home (Parks 108). The author employs a heavy use of symbolism to explain these themes. Mother and Evelyn Nesbit, for example, are used to represent the increased freedom experienced by women of this period especially regarding their sexuality. Coalhouse Walker represents the economically empowered proud African Americans of this period. His tragic end represents the militancy adopted by blacks in response to the rejection of whites to treat them as equals. As shown in the above examples most of those who resented change (Father, Secret Service agent, workmen at Emerald Isle firehouse and the police) represent those who benefitted from the old system and were unwilling to change for fear of loss of power. Those who gladly welcomed power on the other hand were those who had benefitted little from the status quo like women and minority groups like Jews and African Americans as represented by Evelyn Nesbit, Mother, Coalhouse Walker and Tetah. Works Cited Bloom, Harold. E.L. Doctorow. Philadelphia: Chelsea House Publishers, 2002. Fowler, Douglas. Understanding E.L. Doctorow. Columbia, SC: University of South Carolina Press, 1992. Levine, Paul. E.L. Doctorow. New York: Methuen, 1985. Morris, Christopher. Conversations with E.L. Doctorow. Jackson: University of Mississippi Press, 1999. Parks, John. E.L. Doctorow. New York: Continuum, 1991. Siegel, Ben. Critical Essays on E.L. Doctorow. New York: G.K. Hall & Co., 2000. Trenner, Richard. E.L. Doctorow, Essays and Conversations. Princeton: Ontario Review Press, 1983. . Read More