Ragtime

Ragtime is a historical fiction novel by E.L. Doctorow published in 1974. It was Doctorow’s fourth novel and among the most famous of his many works. In Ragtime, Doctorow weaves in real figures and events to situate his narrative in American history. He places Ragtime’s characters in historical moments to speak to the socio-politics of his own time in the 1970s. The Modern Library ranked Ragtime as one of the 100 best English-language novels in the 20th century (1998). Similarly, TIME Magazine awarded Ragtime a spot in its “100 Best English-Language Novels from 1923-2005” list. Ragtime was adapted into a film of the same name in 1981, and was later turned into a Broadway musical in 1998.

Plot Summary

Ragtime opens in 1902 in New Rochelle, New York. The character “Father” builds a house which his home with Mother, their son (referred to as “the boy”), Grandfather, and Mother’s Younger Brother. Father owns a company that manufactures and sells patriotic goods such as American flags and firecrackers. The company makes the family a comfortable member of the upper class. Mother’s Younger Brother is a dispassionate employee in Father’s company. Lost and aimless, Mother’s Younger Brother obsesses over the infamous muse, Evelyn Nesbit. Nesbit’s husband, Harry K. Thaw, is in the midst of a murder trial after killing Nesbit’s lover, Stanford White.

One day, the famous magician Harry Houdini crashes his car outside of the family’s New Rochelle house as he tours the area for property. They welcome Houdini into their home, where Father brags that he will be traveling to the North Pole in a few days. Houdini, fascinated by Father’s ventures, becomes consumed with building his own legacy and pushes himself to invent increasingly extreme illusions that shock his audiences.

Father goes on the Arctic expedition with Robert Peary to discover the North Pole. When he returns, he notices a stark difference in his physical and mental states. He believes his best days are behind him. Evelyn Nesbit wanders New York after a day in court and meets an artist named Tateh and his beautiful daughter. Nesbit becomes drawn into their world and spends every day with them, including attending Tateh’s Leftist meetings. She attends the speech of prominent anarchist Emma Goldman, who lectures New York’s socialists and anarchists on the oppressive nature of marriage. Tateh is disgusted by the lecture and abandons Evelyn and the city altogether, believing New York only leads to ruin. He and his daughter move to Lawrence, Massachusetts. Evelyn, meanwhile, becomes enraptured by Emma Goldman. The two become friends. After Mother’s Younger Brother is discovered following Evelyn, she begins to date him. He, too, is drawn into Emma Goldman’s circle. He becomes impassioned by Leftist rhetoric, believing he has found the direction his life has lacked.

One day, Mother discovers an abandoned Black infant in her yard, the child of a local woman named Sarah. Instead of turning her over to the authorities, Mother houses Sarah, to the chagrin of Father. Soon after, a wealthy Black man named Coalhouse Walker, Jr., who is the father of the baby, begins calling on Sarah. While Sarah refuses to see him, Coalhouse strikes up a friendship with the rest of the family through his routine visits. Sarah eventually warms to Coalhouse and goes to live with him as his fiancée. Coalhouse has a treasured Model T Ford automobile and drives it from the New York suburbs into the city for his job as a ragtime pianist. One afternoon on his route, a group of firemen harass him. They block his route so he is unable to drive awayf. When Coalhouse ditches his car to get the police, the firemen vandalize the Model T. The police refuse to help Coalhouse and bring him into custody when he becomes agitated.

Father bails Coalhouse out of jail. The family is drawn into Coalhouse’s clash with the New York authorities. Lawyers refuse to help Coalhouse, and state employees claim any legal action will take months to initiate. Sarah tries to go to the New York authorities to get help for her fiancé, but she is brutalized by militiamen who think she is a threat. Sarah dies from her wounds, and Mother adopts her son. Coalhouse turns to radicalism and creates a movement that promises to terrorize New York’s firefighters until the Model T is restored. Father is disgusted by Coalhouse’s actions and cuts off ties, while Mother sympathizes with the movement but does nothing. Mother’s Younger Brother, disgusted by the rest of his family, joins Coalhouse’s movement.

The movement’s violence intensifies. Eventually, Coalhouse and his men occupy Pierpont Morgan’s private library in New York City. Father is called to the scene to help negotiate Coalhouse’s terms. Meanwhile, Mother, the boy, and Sarah’s son enjoy a vacation in Atlantic City, New Jersey. Mother meets a man named Baron Ashkenazy and strikes up a close friendship with him. The Baron turns out to be Tateh, who has refashioned himself as a rich artist and filmmaker. His little girl becomes best friends with Mother’s boy. In New York, Father helps to negotiate the restoration of Coalhouse’s Model T. To the disappointment of his followers, Coalhouse promises to surrender and end his radical movement. He orders his followers to escape so that they do not waste their lives in custody. After his followers flee in the restored Model T, Coalhouse exits the library. The police murder him.

Mother’s Younger Brother takes Coalhouse’s restored Model T and drives it to Mexico. He fights in the Mexican Revolution and is eventually killed on the battlefield. After Younger Brother dies, Mother leaves Father. In 1915, Father dies aboard the Lusitania, a ship carrying American passengers that is torpedoed by a German U-Boat during the First World War. One year later, Mother marries Tateh. They move to California with the little girl and the boy where they enjoy a happy and prosperous life. Evelyn Nesbit, aged and alone, fades into obscurity. Harry K. Thaw, freed from a mental asylum, happily marches in the Newport Armistice Parade every year.