Doctorow's Novel Ragtime

Jose Diaz
Ragtime Essay
In E.L. Doctorow’s novel, Ragtime, the novel’s setting is in 20th century New York and follows multiple views of a story through different people. From immigration because of the influx of new people migrating to industrialization since it was the progressive era, the author touches on many themes in the novel which makes it difficult to select one as a major one. In my opinion, a fairly important focus of the novel that Doctorow created was each character’s role in society. The roles vary from the notably wealthy to citizens who are struggling within poverty and how they interact among each other during this time period. Throughout the book, these examples are shown a countless number of times to emphasize the point.
Evelyn Nesbit can serve as a representation of the wealthy in Ragtime.
Upon Evelyn’s first visit to the lower east side, she shows readers the typical ignorance which resides within the wealthy people at this point in time. The fact that she resides comfort within taking care of the little girl and in the beginning and is set on checking up on her and her well-being shows that although she of a higher social class, there must be certain emptiness she feels which she fills with her time in the lower east with Tateh and the little girl. If her position in society has caused her to care for another group of people, there can only be good that can be derived from that notion. On the other hand, Evelyn Nesbit is widely known as a prostitute during this time period and can only be seen that she believes that money is more important than her own well-being and dignity. Emma Goldman, a popular anarchist and feminist even discusses Nesbit’s actions and how she can be “one of the most brilliant women in America… yet her name is scandal” ultimately saying she’s ruined her name is society due to the way she’s chosen to live her life which complied with the standards set in society
(51).
Similarly, on the issue with social class we see an example made out of Father. In the novel Doctorow provides background on Father’s own father and says how "His flamboyance had produced in his lonely son a personality that was cautious, sober, industrious and chronically unhappy." That son being talked about happens to be Father, and his is chronically unhappy which means isn’t bound to occur frequently. Again, we are brought to the idea of the wealthy being unhappy and their money being a probable cause and their unhappiness as an effect deeming it a negative side of the supposedly “higher” class. In the end, the social positions each character holds in society possess in many cases both a cause and effect.