Younger Brother's Morality

In Doctorow’s Ragtime, Younger Brother spends the whole story searching for a higher meaning in life. He finds it in the creation of weapons and firearms and in the terrorist activities that he participates in for both Coalhouse Walker Junior’s gang and later the revolutionaries in Mexico. Yet, despite the killing and death and violence that Younger Brother is a part of throughout the story, he still exemplifies all the “good” qualities of a moral person. The question of Younger Brother’s morality is best answered by his creations throughout the story. After his death, the reader learns that “Younger Brother invented seventeen ordnance devices, some of which were so advanced that they were not used by the United States until World War II. They included a recoilless rocket grenade launcher, a low-pressure land mine, sonar-directed depth charges, infrared illuminated rifle sights, tracer bullets, a repeater rifle, a lightweight machine gun, a shrapnel grenade, puttied nitroglycerin, and a portable flamethrower…” (317). Obviously, Younger Brother worked hard throughout the story to pay back the debt that he owed father for his continued employment, and hard work is something valued by American society. But perhaps more important than the means by which Younger Brother invented his weapons are the weapons themselves. Every single one of Younger Brothers weapons was used with great effectiveness in World War II. For example, the M1 Garand Semi-automatic repeating rifle gave allied forces an advantage in World War II as they could fire off the 8-round magazine in less time than it took a comparable German soldier to fire off the 5-round magazine of his Bolt-action rifle. This advantage allowed the United States military to beat back the German invasion of Europe, and eventually liberate the concentration camps where the Germans had systematically murdered 12 million Jews and other minorities. The portable M2 flamethrower gave the Americans a significant advantage in the war in the Pacific, where American soldiers where captured American soldiers were tortured and brutally executed by the Japanese military. The other example of Younger Brother’s morality is shown in his diction towards father in the bathroom of J.P. Morgan’s library shortly before Coalhouse’s death: “You think it’s a crime to come into this building belonging to another man and to threaten his property. In fact this is the nest of a vulture. The den of a jackal…” (297).
The most important part of Younger Brother’s rant is the end, where he talks about Morgan. The comparison of Morgan, the symbol of wealth and the upper-class, to a jackal and a vulture, animals characterized for their excessive fear and stealing of others’ food, shows Younger Brother is trying to improve society through his allegiance to Coalhouse. He is aligned with progressivism, the main political movement of the ragtime era, and his metaphorical attack on Morgan shows that he is not a simple terrorist, but a confused moralist using his only means to try and improve his country.

By Jack Shumway

Bibliography:
"Garand rifle." Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica Online. Encyclopædia Britannica, 2011. Web. 10 May. 2011.

VIDEO:
"Army Tests New Weapons as Invasion Looms." Films Media Group. American History Online. Facts On File, Inc. http://www.fofweb.com/activelink2.asp? ItemID=WE52&iPin=FMG067184&SingleRecord=True (accessed May 10, 2011).

"jackal." Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica Online. Encyclopædia Britannica, 2011. Web. 10 May. 2011. .

Ross, Bill D. Iwo Jima: Legacy of Valor. New York: Vanguard, 1985. Print.

VIDEO LINK:
http://www.fofweb.com/activelink2.asp? ItemID=WE52&iPin=FMG067184&SingleRecord=True