the times, they are a-changing

            Perhaps paradoxically, one of the most constant aspects of Doctorow’s Ragtime is the persistent reminders that nothing really is constant. Instead, throughout the book there is the feeling that the world is rapidly changing on a large scale, and each character is simply swept up in the current, left to deal with it as best they can on their own.

            The time period Doctorow chooses, the first few decades after the turn of the century, is a time of profound, and complicated, political, social, and economic change. There was increasing wealth and prosperity that followed growing industrialization, and yet still deep poverty and exploitation perpetrated by those same industrialists. The same racial exploitation that had always existed in America was experiencing a resurgence -- D.W. Griffith’s Birth of a Nation, a hugely influential film that played a large part in furthering white supremacy in the 20th century, was released in 1915. And there continued to be demographic shifts, as immigrants from foreign countries traveled to America.

             As he tells the story from a detached, future perspective, there are moments when the theme of characters and their responses to change is particularly obvious. One such moment is the brief sub-plot of Father embarking on the North Pole expedition. As he sails away on the ship, he is unnerved to see the boat full of immigrants making their way towards America -- symbolically, he is unnerved that they are replacing him as he goes away. When he returns, he is a profoundly changed person, and is even more uncomfortable as he realizes that the life and the world has moved on without him. His wife is reading feminist literature and running the family’s lives herself. Soon, his family is taking care of Sarah and her baby, and Coalhouse Walker, a black ragtime musician, becomes the family’s regular visitor. Father realizes that the world he is used to, one where he (the white middle-class man) is comfortably at the forefront of everything, is slowly changing into something else.

             On the other side of the coin is Tateh’s story, at least at first -- rather than feeling left behind, he strongly believes in the value of being part of the optimistic fight against oppression that Emma Goldman leads, and holds out hope for a socialist future in which he is no longer exploited as a factory worker. His ideas fairly rapidly change, and eventually he becomes a capitalist himself -- but still the general theme is the same. He is inspired by the same wave of capitalist inspiration that propelled J.P Morgan and Ford to vast wealth as well.

              In addition to exploring various characters and their perception of societal changes, Doctorow adds deliberate references to societal changes as well. In the same way that he weaves prominent historical figures into the narrative as characters, he brings in references to events, too, that hint at the great changes in store, as illustrated by how Houdini’s exploits in flying and his meeting with the Archduke Ferdinand hint at the coming war.

              Throughout the novel, the theme of change is an integral one. In keeping with the creative way that Doctorow uses historical figures to explore the lives of fictional ones, the historical changes that happened during the time period also become plot devices as well.