E. L. Doctorow's "Ragtime"

Paper Summary:

This paper explains that E. L. Doctorow's "Ragtime", which has an ethnic tone, presents a highly visible black man, proud protagonist Coalhouse Walker, who throws the white American world into mass confusion and forces black American's entry into white America. The author relates that Coalhouse Walker calls himself President of a Provisional American Government, which suggests that the old order of government has failed and thus, as the founders of America once revolted against an unjust government; he, too, has the right to demand a better government. The paper concludes that the assassination of Coalhouse Walker was similar to other assassinations of black people, who suffer under the ignorance and tyranny of a government, which would not address the needs of the black people.

From the Paper:

"The inventor of ragtime music, for which Doctorow titled his book, was the Black American Scott Joplin. Scott Joplin admonished not to play the music too fast and this offers the novel's epigraph and the principal character of the books last half is Coalhouse Walker. Coalhouse Walker play's Joplin's music. The title clearly asserts it focus in the activities of the Black Americans and more widely in those of marginalized social groups outside the established male and WASP hegemony, the working class Jewish immigrants like Tateh and Harry Houdini, political radicals such as Emma Goldman and budding feminists like Mother. Doctorow's Coalhouse Walker is the black proto-revolutionary. Doctorow emphasis of the dissatisfaction of people such as these contrasts what historians wrote about this era that they called "The Progressive Era"."

More papers on E. L. Doctorow's "Ragtime":

• Analytical Essay # 141612 : "A Look at "Ragtime" by E.L. Doctorow"
• Book Review # 68824 : "E. L. Doctorow's "Ragtime"
• Book Review # 1695 : "E.L. Doctorow's "Ragtime"

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