The Evolution of Social Commentary in Ragtime
Ragtime can be a bit confusing at first; it jumps back and forth between storylines, half of which are about unnamed characters. Once the reader manages to get a grasp on the different storylines, it becomes interesting to watch them overlap and become more intertwined. However, at this point in the book, the beginning feels like a completely different book because of the shift. The first half of the book seems to be focused on the issues of class, juxtaposing the upper-class Henry Thaw with the immigrant life Houdini. Later, Doctorow seems more focused on the racial aspects of Coalhouse’s storyline. This narrows on the racism Coalhouse faces despite his efforts to be an upstanding citizen, as well as his responses to continual discrimination. Along the lines of criticism of class differences, Houdini is placed in the same setting as Henry Thaw when he is in prison while Houdini is performing an escape. In class, we talked a lot about how Houdini became an icon fo