Cultural notes:

Leo Frank - was an American man who became the only known Jew to be lynched on American soil. The manager of his uncle's pencil factory in Atlanta, Georgia, Frank was convicted in the rape and murder of one of his factory workers, 13-year-old Mary Phagan. The case is widely regarded as having been a miscarriage of justice. It was the focus of many conflicting cultural pressures, and the jury's conclusion represented in part, class and regional resentment of educated Northern industrialists who were perceived to be wielding too much power in the South, threatening southern culture and morality. The trial was sensationalized by the media. The Georgia politician and publisher Tom Watson used the case to build personal political power and support for a revival of the Ku Klux Klan.

S hortly after Frank's conviction, new evidence emerged that cast doubt on his guilt. After the governor commuted his death sentence to life imprisonment, Frank was kidnapped from prison and lynched by a group of prominent citizens who called themselves the "Knights of Mary Phagan." The mob was reported to have included the son of a senator, a former governor, lawyers, and a prosecutor.

T he Peace Palace - situated in The Hague, Netherlands, is often called the seat of international law because it houses the International Court of Justice (which is the principal judicial body of the United Nations), the Permanent Court of Arbitration, the Hague Academy of International Law, and the extensive Peace Palace Library.

Francisco Villa - José Doroteo Arango Arámbula (5 June 1878 – 20 July 1923), better known by his pseudonym Francisco Villa or its hypocorism Pancho Villa, was one of the most prominent Mexican Revolutionary generals.

Chapultepec - is a large hill on the outskirts of central Mexico City. It has been a special place for Mexicans throughout Mexican history, and it was on this hill that the Aztecs made a temporary home after arriving from northern Mexico in the 1200s.

Paseo de la Reforma - is a 12 kilometer long boulevard in Mexico City, Mexico, built during the Second Mexican Empire on the orders of Maximilian I of Mexico. When it was inaugurated, the avenue was given the name Paseo de la Emperatriz ("The Empress's Promenade") in honor of his consort, Empress Carlota of Mexico. Nowadays, the name commemorates the liberal reforms of 19th century president Benito Juárez.

C ampesino - is a Spanish language term referring to a farmer or farmworker. A possible English language equivalent term is peasant, with connotations of subsistence or simple farming that aims to survive rather than generate a profit.

Lusitania - was an ocean liner owned by the Cunard Line and built by John Brown and Company of Clydebank, Scotland. She was torpedoed by the SM U-20, a German U-boat on 7 May 1915 and sank in eighteen minutes, eight miles (15 km) off the Old Head of Kinsale, Ireland, killing 1,198 of the 1,959 people aboard. The sinking turned public opinion in many countries against Germany, and was instrumental in bringing the United States into World War I. It is considered the second most famous civilian passenger liner disaster, after the sinking of the RMS Titanic.

U-boat - is the anglicized version of the German word U-Boot (help·info), itself an abbreviation of Unterseeboot (undersea boat), and refers to military submarines operated by Germany, particularly in World War I and World War II.

Howe Caverns - is a cave in Howes Cave, Schoharie County, New York.

CHARACTER LIST

Mother - Mother is part of the upper class family living in New Rochelle. Disappointed by her marriage to Father, she marries Tateh after Father's death. She often feels guilt over her treatment of her brother, referred to in the novel as Mother's Younger Brother. Throughout the novel she experiences many changes through her care for the child of Coalhouse and Sarah, as well as her newfound awareness of her sexuality.

Father - Father owns a company that manufactures fireworks and other accoutrements of patriotism such as flags and banners. He represents the traditional views held by many turn-of-the-century Americans. After his return from his trip to the Arctic, he feels alienated from his family and his environment; this feeling will never entirely disappear. While he grew up with some wealth in his family, his father later lost this wealth and he had to find his own path of success in business.

The little boy - Son of Mother and Father, the little boy is the narrative voice for much of the novel. Precocious, intelligent, observant, and curious, the little boy is constantly learning about the world around him. He forms a close friendship with Tateh's little girl. He represents the next generation of Americans.

Harry Houdini - A character stolen from real life, Houdini is a magician and performer who appears intermittently throughout the novel. He is overly dependent on his mother, and suffers greatly after her death. He begins to conduct research on the afterlife and contact with the dead. At the beginning of the novel, his car breaks down in front of the family's house in New Rochelle, and he meets the little boy, who admires him greatly.

Mother's Younger Brother - Idealistic and difficult, Mother's Younger Brother searches for a sense of self throughout the novel. He falls in love with Evelyn Nesbit, and spends some time with her before she leaves him. He becomes embittered and depressed, and soon joins the forces of Coalhouse to fight injustice. Subsequently, he travels all around the United States and then to Mexico, where he becomes involved in several revolutionary campaigns and where he eventually dies.

Evelyn Nesbit - The real-life figure of Evelyn Nesbit was a symbol of sex and beauty at the turn of the century. She endures the trial of her husband Harry Thaw for the murder of her ex-husband Stanford White. In this novel, she develops an interest in Tateh and his little girl, and attempts to help them escape the poverty of life as an immigrant on the Lower East Side.

Harry K. Thaw - Harry Thaw is Evelyn Nesbit's husband and the murderer of her ex-husband and rival, architect Stanford White. Evelyn begins to question his love for her after talking to Emma Goldman about his treatment of her.

Stanford White - A famous architect, Stanford White dies at the hands of Harry Thaw. Evelyn believes that she truly loved him.

Mameh - Wife of Tateh and mother to Sha, Mameh does not appear in the novel, but other characters allude to her. Having she performs sexual favors for her boss for money, Tateh disowns her and never sees her again. He later finds out she has died.

Tateh - Tateh is a Jewish immigrant from Latvia. In the first part of the novel he lives with his daughter on the Lower East Side, working as a peddler and a silhouette artist. He later leaves with his daughter to travel to Lawrence, Massachusetts, where he becomes a filmmaker. He marries Mother at the end of the novel.

The little girl - Beautiful girl is quiet and reserved at the beginning of the novel, but grows more animated and happier when she leaves New York City. She becomes good friends with the little boy.

Jacob Riis - Riis is a famous journalist and advocate of the poor who wrote How the Other Half Lives, which exposed life in the tenements.

Sigmund Freud - A famous psychiatrist, Freud has a profound affect on ideas about sex and society in America.

Emma Goldman - An anarchist and social activist, Emma Goldman appears throughout the novel to challenge other characters' conceptions.

Coalhouse Walker - Coalhouse is a ragtime pianist. He is the father of Sarah's child. He becomes militant and violent about his cause by the end of the novel.

Sarah - Sarah mothers a child with Coalhouse and dies attempting to fight for Coalhouse's cause.

Henry Ford - Ford invents the concept of the assembly line and makes his fortune through the manufacture of Model-Ts.

J.P. Morgan - Morgan is an incredibly wealthy financier with an interest in Egyptian culture, art, and religion. Coalhouse and his followers take over his residence and library in his absence.

Willie Conklin - Obnoxious and mean, fire chief Conklin acts hostilely toward Coalhouse, and is soon forced out of New Rochelle.

Charles S. Whitman - Whitman is District Attorney of New York and helps to negotiate Coalhouse's evacuation of Morgan's property.

Booker T. Washington - Washington is a well-educated and famous orator and black civil rights leader. He believes friendship and cooperation between whites and blacks is essential to the success of blacks in America.

THEMES AND MOTIFS

THEMES

The Difficulty of Accepting Change

E.L. Doctorow addresses several major societal changes in turn-of-the-century America in his novel Ragtime. He conveys the effects of these changes through the reactions of the characters. Some characters welcome and accept change, while other reject and struggle with it. These differing reactions become one of the ways in which Doctorow develops his characters. For example, Father cannot abide by the changes he faces upon his return from his expedition. Father becomes depressed by his feelings of alienation from his family and from the ways of the new century. He feels helpless in light of the increased self- sufficiency of both his wife and his son. Mother, on the other hand, finds her newfound abilities and freedoms liberating, and thrives in Father's absence. Her duties with the family business and her responsibilities toward Sarah and her child make her realize her potential. At the end of the novel, she has become so separated from the previous societal norms that she marries Tateh at a time when marriage between Christians and Jews had not yet gained acceptance.

The Struggle for Stability and Meaning

Throughout the novel, the characters attempt to derive meaning from their experiences and from the way in which the world challenges and changes them. Doctorow focuses on the process by which the characters attempt to reconcile their own desires for stability with their knowledge that life's events often seem to possess no reason or direction. For example, in Chapter 20, J.P. Morgan asks Ford, "Suppose I could prove to you that here are universal patterns of order and repetition that give meaning to the activity of this planet." Their discussion about reincarnation also reflects this desire to seek more outside the realm of what is known and to give meaning to life. Morgan's musings, as well as his journey to the Egyptian pyramids, demonstrate his search for truth and meaning. Doctorow also briefly alludes to Theodore Dreiser, whom he portrays as constantly shifting the position of his chair to align himself correctly, yet never quite attaining satisfaction. Peary's expedition to the North Pole, and the subsequent inability to pinpoint the precise location of the North Pole express this effort to find peace amongst chaos.

The Impact of Technological Development on Culture

The Progressive Era (1900–1917) during which this novel is set was a time marked by rapid technological developments and industrialization. These years also brought a heavy influx of immigrants as well as an increasingly urban American landscape. Technological advancements enabled increased efficiency and mass production. However, Doctorow clearly brings into question the consequences of this new technology for the average American worker. J.P. Morgan's discussion with Henry Ford about Ford's assembly line innovations brings this debate to the forefront. At the end of chapter eighteen, Doctorow writes, "From these principles Ford established the final proposition of the theory of industrial manufacture - not only that the parts of the finished product be interchangeable, but that the men who build the products be themselves interchangeable parts." Here Doctorow clearly addresses the potential for technology to undermine the value of the individual and his abilities.