Analysis
The analysis of the abstract from the novel «Ragtime» by E.L. Doctorow
“Ragtime” is a novel about the American life at the beginning of the 20th century. The extract taken for the analysis tells about the time when Coalhouse gets a good job with the Jim Europe Chief Club Orchestra and tries to bring Sarah back. The theme on the general level is “difficult relations between “white” and “black” people”; the theme on the plot level is “love story of two colored people – Sarah and Coalhouse”.
The novel is narrated in the third person. It belongs to the epic kind of literature – to the realistic contemporary novel. Though it is only an extract, it seems a complete episode which contains all the components of the plot structure: exposition, beginning, story itself, climax and denouement.
In the exposition the author describes the scene when Coalhouse Walker arrived at Broadview Avenue – a district where rich and “white” people lived. In that scene Doctorow uses direct characterization: he begins from his car “a new model T-Ford”, his “gloved hand”, dressed “in the affection of wealth” and ends at the manner of his behavior (“…resolute…self-important in the way he asked…”). So we understand that C.W. is a prosperous man.
To my mind, we may not divide the beginning and the story itself because they are connected with each other. The beginning gives us information about situation referring to C.W. and Sarah, the author tries to acquaint us with the facts of the situation (The conversation between Mother and Sarah). While the women are talking the story itself begins. Mother comes downstairs and what does she see? C.W. is kneeling beside the carriage and staring at his child.
As for the climax of the story, it is one of the important things which make this extract unusual and very interesting. There are both plot and emotional climaxes in the same paragraph. The paragraph begins from the words: “Coalhouse Walker turned back to the piano and said “The Maple Leaf”…
“Ragtime” is a novel about the American life at the beginning of the 20th century. The extract taken for the analysis tells about the time when Coalhouse gets a good job with the Jim Europe Chief Club Orchestra and tries to bring Sarah back. The theme on the general level is “difficult relations between “white” and “black” people”; the theme on the plot level is “love story of two colored people – Sarah and Coalhouse”.
The novel is narrated in the third person. It belongs to the epic kind of literature – to the realistic contemporary novel. Though it is only an extract, it seems a complete episode which contains all the components of the plot structure: exposition, beginning, story itself, climax and denouement.
In the exposition the author describes the scene when Coalhouse Walker arrived at Broadview Avenue – a district where rich and “white” people lived. In that scene Doctorow uses direct characterization: he begins from his car “a new model T-Ford”, his “gloved hand”, dressed “in the affection of wealth” and ends at the manner of his behavior (“…resolute…self-important in the way he asked…”). So we understand that C.W. is a prosperous man.
To my mind, we may not divide the beginning and the story itself because they are connected with each other. The beginning gives us information about situation referring to C.W. and Sarah, the author tries to acquaint us with the facts of the situation (The conversation between Mother and Sarah). While the women are talking the story itself begins. Mother comes downstairs and what does she see? C.W. is kneeling beside the carriage and staring at his child.
As for the climax of the story, it is one of the important things which make this extract unusual and very interesting. There are both plot and emotional climaxes in the same paragraph. The paragraph begins from the words: “Coalhouse Walker turned back to the piano and said “The Maple Leaf”…