Six Degrees of Ragtime

Ragtime by E.L. Doctorow tells a unique story about the Ragtime era. There is no main character, no antagonist, and a very confusing plot. Instead, it jumps about seemingly aimlessly at the beginning, emulating some kind of omnipotent camera zooming in on random people. Doctorow doesn't use names for fictional characters but does for real historical figures in the book (with the exception of Coalhouse Walker). Things get interesting when historical figures interact with fictional characters, because Doctorow writes Ragtime in the gaps of history, making it impossible to know whether these events really happened. 

Although all the characters are seemingly disconnected, they end up all having some connection to each other by the end of the book. The Family of Mother, Father, and the Little Boy meet Houdini in a rare coincidence, who meets Harry K. Thaw, death row convict and estranged husband of Evelyn Nesbit, who has an affair with Mother's Younger Brother. Coalhouse Walker's character arc is the main plot of the novel, and every character in the story can be in some way connected to the Coalhouse plot through other characters, similar to the 6 degrees of separation theory. This story brilliantly demonstrates how separate narratives are entwined to produce history. 

Comments

  1. TaehanSeptember 18, 2023 at 10:57 AM

    I completely agree. Watching characters interact and have far-reaching relations is really cool. Doctorow is a genius for being able to write something like this. It is somewhat reminiscent of a story like Pulp Fiction or Bullet Train that has many different characters that intertwine with their own stories. Great post!

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  2. timSeptember 18, 2023 at 11:07 AM

    I agree. It's very entertaining to read books with unpredictable plotlines. It makes the story more tense and ambiguous while also almost making it appear to be more realistic. It was impressive of Doctorow to introduce a large cast and weave their stories together in Ragtime, which added to the book's appeal.

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  3. Miranda BurgosSeptember 18, 2023 at 3:26 PM

    I like how you connected the six degrees of separation theory to this book. Though I at first did not understand where this story was going, I realized everything was connected in some way in the end.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Deven GalvezSeptember 18, 2023 at 7:19 PM

    This is an interesting take of the book. The fact that this book is very spontaneous gives the author almost the freedom to intermix all of these almost random historical and fictional characters. Great article!!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Ansh SinghSeptember 21, 2023 at 7:20 PM

    Absolutely incredible work Gabe. I enjoyed reading about your perspective of the book and how it the storytelling emulated "some kind of omnipotent camera zooming in on random people" (paragraph 1, sentence 2). Furthermore, I completely agree with your view that all characters in Ragtime end up making some sort of connection in the book. Superb work as always!

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  6. MitchellSeptember 22, 2023 at 1:00 PM

    It's fun to think about how the Coalhouse narrative manages to bring together Emma Goldman (who comments with approval on his rebellion), J. P. Morgan (whose library he takes hostage), and Henry Ford (whose Model-T is ironically reconstructed in a NON-Fordian manner in the street by Chief Conklin), in addition to every member of the family, including Tateh, who becomes the stepfather of Coalhouse's child.

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  7. Luke F.September 24, 2023 at 4:41 PM

    I love your point about seemingly unrelated characters that eventually converge throughout the plot. For me, these unique connections were the best part of the book. Whenever a new character was introduced, I would attempt to anticipate the circumstances in which the character would connect with other characters and become a part of the larger narrative.

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