АНАЛИЗ RAGTIME

Alex Chudinovskih ED-09-412

Analysis of “Ragtime” by E.L.Doctorow.

The author, E.L. Doctorow, an American writer, is famous for his novels which include “Welcome to Hard Times” and “The book of Daniel” which was nominated for a national Book Award.

The story “Ragtime” is written in the third person narration. The narrator is omniscient and unobtrusive as he doesn’t interfere and doesn’t show his opinion. The setting is dynamic and it is given explicitly. We may see that the action takes place in United States of America as such words as “New York”, “Manhattan” are mentioned. The time covers few weeks. We may also guess the season. By the words “a bouquet of yellow chrysanthemums which in this season had to have cost him a pretty penny” we may say that it was a cold time of the year, may be it was winter. But this information is given implicitly.

So the composition consists of exposition, complication, climax and denouement.

The exposition gives us information about Coalhouse Walker, but this information scatters all throughout the extract. The complication gives us information about the situation referring to Coalhouse Walker and Sarah. The complication gives us information about the situation referring to Sarah and Coalhouse Walker. As for me the climax of the story is silence after Coalhouse Walker’s playing: “There was another silence”, the narrator says. This moment is the most tense. The last sentences form the denouement and so we come to know that Sarah didn’t appear in front of Coalhouse Walker.

Having read the extract we may point out the following conflicts: the external conflict, between Sarah and the comer, and the internal conflict, inside Sarah, in her heart and soul. On the one hand, Sarah loves Coalhouse Walker, on the other hand she can’t forgive him and she suffers because of it.

Speaking about the style we may say that it is neutral. One thing should be mentioned that in the text some sentences are short, some sentences are long. And this fact has much in common with Ragtime music. Ragtime is the form of music in which the strong note of the tune comes just before the main beat. The title “Ragtime” is supposed to be the symbolic representation of the atmosphere which characterizes the scene of the novel. We may even feel the rhythm and the intonation of it.

In order to make the language of the story more beautiful the narrator uses such stylistic devices as, for example: metaphor “the warmth of the comer” which proves the fact that Coalhouse Walker was not nonchalant towards his baby and that he wanted to be again with Sarah and their child; inversion “such was the coming” with the help of which the narrator makes us realize that everybody in the house was surprised by Coalhouse Walker’s visit. They didn’t know what the purpose of his coming was and couldn’t imagine what to expect from him. The next stylistic devices are meiosis “pretty penny” which the narrator uses in order to underline that it was difficult to get the bouquet of yellow chrysanthemums at that time of the year and that it might cost him a packet. In order to pay stress on the fact that Sarah was really offended by Coalhouse Walker’s actions and that he really wound her feelings, the narrator uses the epithet “unforgiving Sarah”. And at last such similes as “melodies like bouquets” and “chords like flowers” prove that everybody in the house was inspired by the beauty of the piece of music played by Coalhouse Walker and that they couldn’t remain indifferent to it.

I like the story very much. Having read it I understood that if we want to be happy, we need not only love, but also an ability to forgive. That is the idea of the extract. I hope that they will be together, because they have their child and their love.