Women’s Advancement

¹

Most of the characters in Ragtime, by E.L. Doctorow, are dynamic, from the famous Houdini to the unidentified family.  Through evolving characterization with a historical backdrop, Doctorow establishes a lens that emphasizes the effect that history has on individuals.  This is seen particularly with Mother.  The late 1800’s and early 1900’s was a time of great change for women.  They began to see an increase in economic opportunity, greater freedom from their husband, and potentially most important, a drastic switch in the idea of their sexuality.  From the early activism of Margaret Sanger, a progressive who encouraged the use of birth control and revised sexual education,² leading into the eventual publication of the Kinsey Report, in 1948, which revolutionized the popular conception of sexuality,³ Americans’ concept of sexuality, especially with regard to women, was changing drastically in the time period in which Ragtime is set. 

This sexual liberation of women is exemplified in the book through Mother’s actions and characterization.  The dynamic characterization of Mother evolves from a modest Victorian women in the beginning, who wouldn’t even sleep in the same bed as her husband and who would weep when Father tried to be intimate with her, to a woman who was comfortable with herself and her marital relationship, and even enjoyed sex.  This change is portrayed through the symbol of her hair.  While at first she always keeps her hair braided or bound, she eventually begins to let her hair loose, which represents not only her increased comfort, but also symbolizes her independence and new freedom.  In chapter 14 this change is described as being, “in some way not as vigorously modest as she’d been.  She took his gaze.  She came to bed with her hair unbraided” (111).  This symbol is seen later as well, as Mother and Tateh are looking for the children in the rainstorm.  The state of her unbound wet hair is mentioned frequently in this scene, but Mother herself pays little attention to it, and seems rather accepting and comfortable with this new freedom.  The new freedoms which Mother feels, both sexually, to be able to express her desire and enjoyment, economically, to be able to run the business while father is in the arctic, and socially, to become comfortable in her bathing costume and to embrace her black child are expressed through her dynamic characterization and through the symbol of her hair. 

¹ "Bathing Suit Parade at Miami Beach." Library of Congress. Prints and Photographs Division. American History Online. Facts On File, Inc. http://www.fofweb.com/activelink2.asp?

ItemID=WE52&iPin=AHI0962&SingleRecord=True (accessed May 15, 2011).

² Langston, Donna. "Sanger, Margaret." A to Z of American Women Leaders and Activists, A to Z of Women. New York: Facts On File, Inc., 2002. American History Online. Facts On File, Inc. http://www.fofweb.com/activelink2.asp?

ItemID=WE52&iPin=WLA117&SingleRecord=True (accessed May 15, 2011).

³ Gardner, Kirstin. "Kinsey, Alfred C." In Winkler, Allan M., Charlene Mires, and Gary B. Nash, eds. Encyclopedia of American History: Postwar United States, 1946 to 1968, Revised Edition (Volume IX). New York: Facts On File, Inc., 2010. American History Online. Facts On File,Inc. http://www.fofweb.com/activelink2.asp?

ItemID=WE52&iPin=EAHIX129&SingleRecord=True (accessed May 17, 2011).

The Life Line

Winslow Homer’s quip can be interpreted in more than one way.  His artwork consumed his life; he loved painting, especially outdoors.  He lived by painting.  Now, however, he lives through his paintings.  He is remembered for his watercolors, ones like The Life Line.  His quote and painting also captures the spirit of the moment when Tateh reflects on Mother’s appearance and demeanor when they search for the children on the stormy beach.  Tateh thought, “She walked with her arms around the children.  He recognized her wet form the ample woman in the Winslow Homer painting who is being rescued from the sea by towline.  Who would not risk his life for such a woman?” (265-266).  Tateh thinks highly of mother at this point in the story, perhaps foreshadowing their eventual marriage.  He shows his love for Mother by asking, “Who would not risk his life for such a woman?”  The question is duplicitous in nature, referring to both the woman in Homer’s painting and Moth

er.  The Life Line is currently housed at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, which wrote, “Cropped down to its essentials, Homer’s composition thrusts us into the midst of the action with massive waves rolling past, drenching the semiconscious woman and her anonymous savior.”  The focus of the painting is the action, not the surroundings (the boats, other crew members, etc.).  Doctorow’s cropped description of Tateh’s actions parallel’s Homer’s cropped artwork.  Doctorow wrote, “Suddenly Tateh ran ahead of them all and did a somersault.  He did a cartwheel.  He stood on his hands in the sand and walked upside down.  The children laughed” (266).  The actions compose the description of the scene.  The only description of the physical landscape is the word “sand,” similar to how the only description of the physical landscape in The Life Line are the waves painted in the background.  Doctorow’s writing style mirrors Homer’s painting style, allowing both to live through the other’s work. 

Sources:

Homer, Winslow. The Life Line. 1884. Philadelphia Museum of Art. artrenewal.org. Web. 9 May 2011.

"The Life Line." Philadelphia Museum of Art. N.p., n.d. Web. 9 May 2011.

"Winslow Homer Quotes." Artfortune.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 9 May 2011.

Pyramids of Power

In Doctorow’s novel, the fictional representation of J.P. Morgan harbors an obsession with Egyptology. The novel draws many parallelisms between the giant business tycoons of the age and the pharaohs of ancient times. For example, J.P. Morgan notes a striking similarity between both Henry Ford and the Pharaoh Seti I. Both were innovative and commanding men who ruled their own empire of sorts. On the other hand, Morgan, who sought to distance himself from contemporaries such as Carnegie, could be compared to the Pharaoh Cheops, who sought to elevate himself further from the power-wielding priests. Furthermore, Cheops is mistakenly thought to have used slaves as manpower to construct his pyramid, finished in 2600 BC, which stands as one of the Great Pyramids of Giza. In fact, Cheops’ pyramid was built during a time when the Nile did not flood, when crops could not be grown and when many were unemployed. Cheops created many jobs and made provisions for his workers although the construction of the pyramid itself was brutally grueling. To build his pyramid, limestone blocks for the pyramids were quarried by inserting wooden wedges into cracks and moistening the wedges so that they expanded to sever the block from its bed. These blocks were then transported up the Nile by boat and then to the site by a sled. At this time, the Egyptians had no knowledge of the wheel so how they lifted the blocks to such astonishing heights, even with ramps, remains a mystery. Furthermore, in the novel, the pyramid is a symbol for power. Therefore, Morgan wishes to harness said power by building a pyramid and performing pharaonic death rites in order to signify that his life was something more than that of the average mortal. However he is unable to build a tomb before the time of his death due to the fact that he was “so urgently needed again on earth that he was exempt from the usual entombment rituals”(312). This shows that no matter how powerful Morgan had been in life, he was still unable to conquer death and that the mortal part of him still owes a service to those around him since he still had a business to run and cannot allow him to ascend towards a higher status. In addition, Morgan’s inability to build his own pyramid despite his travels and observations is an allusion to the fact that we do not actually know how exactly the pyramids were built. But they, like Morgan’s money, represented an empire and the blood, sweat and hard work of many men.

By Kelvin Chang

Bibliography

· McAuley, Eoin. "The Great Pyramid, Giza, Egypt." h2g2. BBC, 9 Oct. 2001. Web. 16 May 2011.

.

· Millmore, Mark. "The Pyramids of Giza." Discovering Ancient Egypt. Eyelid Productions, 2011.

Web. 16 May 2011.

· Orcutt, Larry. "How Were the Pyramids Built?" Catchpenny Mysteries of Ancient Egypt. Larry

Orcutt, 2000. Web. 16 May 2011. .

· Proctor, Richard A. "The Pyramid of Cheops." The North American Review 1883:

257-269. Print.

· Stanfield, James L. Pyramids of Giza, Giza, Egypt, 1990. 1990. National Geographic. National

Geographic Society, 2002. Web. 16 May 2011.

Images/POD/p/pyramids-of-giza-468607-lw.jpg>.

Lusitania - Kelvin

In this midst of an ongoing war, the First World War, a battle for control of the waters was fought between Great Britain and Germany. The RMS Lusitania was a British passenger ship bound for Liverpool from New York and was the pride of the sea, having been dubbed "fastest and largest steamer now in the Atlantic service"¹. At this time, the United States was still neutral in terms of its participation in the war. The Germans, who were targeting British ships, had sent out a warning for American passengers not to travel onboard the Lusitania. However, the Lusitania’s reputation for its speed coupled with the fact that it was a passenger liner and not a military vessel reassured Americans that the Germans would not be able to harm the liner even if they broke the rules of engagement and attacked it. So the Lusitania, captained by William Turner, set out on May 1^st, 1915, to enjoy six days of calm voyaging. But on May 7^th, just south of Ireland, Captain Turner slowed down to navigate through a fog and a German U-boat attacked the ship, sinking it in a mere eighteen minutes and killing 1198 people. This breach of the codes honoring US neutrality pushed America to join the Allied sides against Germany, Austria-Hungary and the Ottoman Empire two months later with cries of “Remember the Lusitania!”. But large ships like the Lusitania usually took hours to sink so why did she sink so rapidly? It was later discovered that the Lusitania was secretly transporting munitions and artillery from America to Britain. These weapons and explosives and were also responsible for the expedition of the Lusitania’s sinking were the underlying cause of the many deaths that resulted from the disaster. Doctorow’s Ragtime confirms this, stating that the ship was indeed “secretly carrying a manifest of volatile war matériel in her holds”(318). At the same time, Doctorow cleverly uses this event to tie into a twist in the plot: Younger Brother’s repayment of his debt to Father ironically causes his death since Father is responsible in transporting the very weapons that endangered the ship, the weapons that Younger Brother designed. Father’s death is metaphorically described as an “exploration”(318) to imply that his whole life, he was seeking an expedition that would change him, one that would truly be meaningful. Tragically, his final exploration brought him death, a kind appeasement he sought but would never live to enjoy.

By Kelvin Chang

Bibliography

· Ballard, Robert D., Rick Archbold, and PBS. "Lusitania." Lost Liners. PBS, 2011. Web. 11 May 2011.

.

· Boyer, Paul S., et al. "War In Europe, 1914-1917." The Enduring Vision, Concise

Sixth Edition. Ed. P. J. Boardman and Megan Curry. 6th ed. Boston: Suzanne

Jeans, 2010. 513. Print.

· Kan, Vincent. "RMS Lusitania: The Fateful Voyage." First World War.com. Michael Duffy, 22 Aug.

2009. Web. 11 May 2011.

· Trueman, Chris. "The Lusitania." History Learning Site. Chris Trueman, 2011. Web. 11 May 2011.

.

· Untergang der "Lusitania." 7 May 1915. Wikipedia. Wikipedia, 4 Dec. 2008. Web. 12 May 2011.

17,_Untergang_der_%22Lusitania%22.jpg>.

¹ Trueman, Chris. "The Lusitania." History Learning Site. Chris Trueman, 2011. Web. 11 May 2011.

.

The Birth of Media Sex Symbols

Celebrities today seem to live through the media. Something about their lifestyles speaks glamour, scandals, and adventure, and incites a certain desire in the minds of the everyday person. Lustrous, argent teeth shining through the front covers of magazines; sleepy, half-closed eyelids gazing enticingly through billboards; svelte, seductive curves beckoning from posters. All are marketing techniques, advertisements for the ideal and unattainable American Dream. Suddenly, it becomes extremely difficult to fathom the idea that these celebrities have ever had normal and personal lives.

In Doctorow’s Ragtime, we see the surfacing of a new age at the dawn of a new century. Evelyn Nesbit’s testimony for the Henry K. Thaw trial happened in 1907. This was a time of technological, political and even artistic innovation; therefore, the media also had to evolve to not only document, but also capture the spirit of change. In Chapter 11, Evelyn is a woman entangled in a scandal in which there was no escape, yet the media portrays her as “the first sex goddess in American History”(84), marketing a new product: fame. This is also the time when celebrities and famous people were detached from their personal lives and in some cases, their humanity. In Chapter 8, in describing Evelyn’s moment of pleasure, Doctorow writes “…the younger woman [Evelyn] began to ripple on the bed like a wave on the sea”(63). This simile comparing Evelyn’s body to a wave takes away her human image and replaces it with a more powerful, ethereal image of the sea. In addition, to emphasize the extent of her fame, she is compared to Theda Bara and Marilyn Monroe, who were the iconic female sex symbols of their respective eras. Furthermore, Evelyn’s claim to fame after the discovery of her beauty in Pittsburgh was her early career as an artist’s model in which Charles Dana Gibson, the famed artist, immortalized her in his pen and ink sketch titled “The Eternal Question” (pictured right), which hangs from Mother’s Younger Brother’s wall, much like the posters of modern celebrities that hang from young men’s walls today. Charles Dana Gibson has also used Evelyn as inspiration for his “Gibson Girl”, the ideal upper class woman that became famous in many of his other works. However, in Doctorow’s novel, we see that she is struggling with her fame, partaking in charity out of guilt, and, having come from a poor lower class background, battling with her own identity crisis. However, she is changing careers from a model to a ragtime dancer; so as the novel unravels, will she continue on her flight to superstardom or will she become the 20^th century’s first fallen starlet?

By Kelvin Chang

Bibliography

· Cardyn, Lisa. "NESBIT, Evelyn Florence." American National Biography. Ed. John A. Garraty and Mark C.

Carnes. Vol. 16. New York: American Council of Learned Societies, 1999. 293-294. Print. 24 vols

· Doctorow, E. L. Ragtime. 2007 Random House Trade Paperback Edition ed. New York: Random House Inc.,

1975. Print.

· Elzea, Rowland P. "NESBIT, Evelyn Florence." American National Biography. Ed. John A. Garraty and Mark

C. Carnes. Vol. 8. New York: American Council of Learned Societies, 1999. 930-932. Print. 24 vols.

· Gibson, Charles Dana. The Eternal Question. 1905. Private collection. Evelyn Nesbit. Web. 28 Apr. 2011.

.

Father as a "Hawk"

The end of E.L. Doctorow’s Ragtime shows the beginning of World War One, and perhaps compares it to the contemporary war in Vietnam that raged in Southeast Asia while the book was being written. Doctorow portrays the beginning of World War One as a popular war throughout the United States, as the population felt that Wilson wasn’t being aggressive enough in his involvement in the war in Europe. Doctorow uses Father, his manifestation of the middle class average American, to show this attitude towards the war. “With the onset of the Great War in Europe he was one of those who feared Woodrow Wilson’s lack of fighting spirit and was openly for preparedness before it became the official view of the Administration.” (318) Doctorow uses Father as an allusion to the pro-war sentiment that brought America into World War One, a decision that most of the country would later regret. In the early 20s, most Americans realized that World War one was fought for little reason other than protecting U.S. economic investments in the U.K. This portrayal of Father shows Doctorow’s recognition of the error of war, something that can be applied to the time in which the story itself was written. Doctorow uses Father to represent the error of war not only in World War One, but in the contemporary Vietnam War. At the outset of the Vietnam War in the 1960s, the American population was almost fully behind the war, with the majority of Americans considering themselves pro-war “hawks.” This desire for battle in the American people of the early 1960s is reciprocated in the pro-war feelings portrayed by Doctorow through Father in Ragtime. However, as the American people turned on World War One after it ended, the American people tired of the war in Vietnam and eventually the U.S. withdrew in shame. Doctorow’s Ragtime, a story of America in the early 20th century, also tells the story of a war contemporary to the time in which it was written.

Bibliography:

"Vietnam." Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica Online. Encyclopædia Britannica, 2011. Web. 16 May. 2011. .

"World War I." Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica Online. Encyclopædia Britannica, 2011. Web. 16 May. 2011. .

Paul, Boyer. "The Liberal Era, 1960-1968." The Enduring Vision: A History of the
American People. 6th ed. Boston: Wadsworth, Cengage Learning, 2010.
662-683. Print.

Tensions of the Times

Throughout Ragtime, author E. L. Doctorow weaves gender tensions into the relationship between Mother and Father. During a time when women were becoming more and more recognized in different aspects of American culture, conservative men were more resistant toward embracing these changes. When Father came back from his voyage, he returned to a house that had begun to change with the fashions of the times, and this change was driven by his wife, whom he seemed to have more control over when he left. And when Mother welcomed Sarah and her son into their home, Father was even more resistant to embrace the idea of housing a black woman and her illegitimate child. With Sarah’s presence came Coalhouse’s drama, and Father was far from happy about that.

We are suffering a tragedy that should not have been ours, he said

to his wife. What in God’s name possessed you on that day? The

county has facilities for indigents. You took her in without sufficient

thought. You victimized us all with your foolish female sentimentality. (210)

With this statement of direct discourse, Father blames Mother for allowing Sarah into their home, which caused the family to become involved in the drama with Coalhouse Walker Jr., whom he blames for Sarah’s death. With Sarah’s death, Father also comes to resent the fact that Mother takes on the responsibility of raising her child. In expressing these strong opinions, Father also blames Mother’s womanhood and her “foolish female sentimentality” for her actions. While this may seem like a radical opinion, Father reflects his times with his seemingly sexist statements.

Throughout the novel Doctorow weaves the different ideologies of the times and combines fiction with history using his unique voice to “break down the wall between the real and the written, between formal fiction and the actual palpable sense of life as it is lived.” He “invents memory”, by twisting the stories of the fictional Coalhouse Walker and the very real J.P. Morgan to create a three dimensional perspective of America in the early 1900s. While Mother and Father may not have existed, their tensions reflect the changing ideologies of times. Doctorow’s depiction of the family gives the reader the sensation of living in the presence of people like J.P. Morgan whose influence is still very present in our country, and whom many would describe as “the most influential financier in this country's history”, and experiencing America during a time of change and struggle.

Elizabeth Huebsch

Sources:

Steinberg, Sally Levitt. "DOCTOROW: INVENTING MEMORY - New York Times." The New York Times - Breaking News, World News & Multimedia. Web. 16 May 2011. <http://www.nytimes.com/1987/12/20/nyregion/doctorow-inventing-memory.html?

pagewanted=1>.

Boyer, Paul S. The Enduring Vision : A History of the American People: . 3rd ed. Lexington, Mass.: D.C. Heath and Co., 1996.

"The Morgan Library & Museum - History of the Morgan." The Morgan Library & Museum, New York, Founded by Pierpont Morgan. Web. 16 May 2011. <http://

www.themorgan.org/about/history.asp>.