Theme of Internal Conflicts in Ragtime

 I’d like to talk about what I see as a common theme between the many characters and intersecting storylines in Ragtime: conflict about who you are and where you stand in the world, in terms of class, responsibilities, role. I think most, if not all, characters in the novel had some kind of storyline related to this, or built into their more overarching one. Off the top of my head, the only characters that I think don’t exhibit this theme are Emma Goldman and Coalhouse Walker. Emma Goldman feels like a pretty self-evident example, and I’d argue that while Coalhouse Walker did switch from being a piano player to a perceived terrorist, he did not actually undergo any kind of crisis of faith or certainty in terms of who he was and what his place in the world was - arguably, the whole reason for his plot line and transition into terrorism is because he refused to change his stance.

On the other hand, we have Morgan, Father, Mother’s Younger Brother, Mother, Houdini, Evelyn, and Tateh (who I will not be discussing here for the sake of space). Morgan stands out as an example of someone who was absolutely certain about his place in the world and who he was, but then grew disillusioned in the very last chapter and never really regained any sense of self as strong as he had had when he believed he was a reincarnated pharaoh. Father’s crisis of identity seemed to be mostly within the context of his role in the family - he was increasingly unstable in his position as father and husband of the household, until he left altogether (we also talked about in class how he “couldn’t be allowed to proceed into modernity”). Similarly to Morgan, he never regained any strong sense of self/belonging as he had possessed before his trip to Antarctica, which seemed to kickstart the whole issue. Younger Brother’s conflict was over his beliefs and what he was meant to do with those beliefs, which he ultimately figured out and stabilized - albeit, his new belief was anarchism/revolution, and he decided he was meant to blow things up for the cause of various revolutionary movements, leading to him getting killed. Mother also kind of underwent a crisis and came out changed but steady, although her crisis seemed kind of peripheral/background? Or it was so smooth an easy, like she was already halfway there, that it didn’t stand out to me as much. She was not satisfied and feeling increasingly insecure in her position as wife to Father and mother to Little Boy, and the introduction of Sarah, Coalhouse, & their son pushed her all the way over the edge. She kind of lost her place temporarily - or became fixated on specifically one position (caretaker of Sarah’s baby boy) - but meeting Tateh, she found her place as a wife and mother again, but in a more satisfying, fulfilling, and overall happy way. I also believe we’re under the impression that she’s much more progressive and ready to move forward into modernity than she was under Father — in that household of Father, mother, Little Boy, Grandfather, and Younger Brother, was anyone really ready for modernity? Did it require the collapse of that semi-toxic or at least restricting family unit to push the members out into the world, left to sink or swim on their own, but giving them more of a chance than sticking together would have. I don’t know, just a thought.

Houdini probably had one of the most obvious/prominent character arcs centered around conflict within himself and who he felt he was. Starting as a Jewish immigrant and becoming a hugely famous and successful escape artist, it seemed as though he wasn’t really certain where he fit into the social classes of the world - he mostly sided himself with the “people of the streets”, those were who he performed for, and he refused to perform for that rich party. But, on that topic, his refusal was also driven by another one of his internal conflicts - one over his profession. He felt as though he wasn’t quite leaving his mark on the world, wasn’t on that level as others who created something of permanence, or would show up in the history books. He went through the motions, put on performances, with increasingly less passion and drive, becoming disillusioned with his profession. However, unlike others in the story, he balanced back out without performing any switch in ideology or role, he just managed to become settled and satisfied in the position he held as an escape artist. 

Then there’s Evelyn, of course. She was one of the ones who did a complete about-face, but whose actual position and role in the world didn’t change much. Any change that did happen was on the down-low and discreet, with Evelyn funding and assisting various anarchists. But publicly, she still remained the same Evelyn Nesbit, sex symbol, icon of the American culture, used and tossed away by society once she lost her shiny youthful appeal (implied by the end of the book, & actual history). She never made a public change to her stance in the world.

Anyway, I don’t believe I have an overall point to make here so much as an observation about the nature of inner conflicts that show up consistently throughout the different strains of the story. Apologies that it’s so long and kind of rambly, congratulation if you managed to make it all the way through!