In the first chapter of "Ragtime," Doctorow creates a very monochromatic view on race through the eyes of a stereotypical, fairly wealthy, white family. In New Rochelle, New York, there are "no immigrants," and certainly "no negroes" (4 pg). This statement is proven to become rather ironic, as some of the main characters of the novel are African- American. However throughout the first half of the book, the issue of race in the early 20th century is rarely even discussed. Once we are introduced to Sarah, her baby, and especially Coalhouse Walker, the reader not only learns the horrors of racism from the time period, but also gives us an insight on Doctorow's personal views on the topic as well.
One aspect of Sarah and Coalhouse Walker's story I find significant, is the fact they are the first characters we see develop in a cohesive arrangement of chapters from start to finish. This allows the reader to feel more sympathetic towards their story because it is easy to get drawn into. Sarah is depicted as "innocent," primarily following the standards of how a colored women should behave such as working in a low paying job as a laundry women. However, Coalhouse Walker acts as an outlier to the unspoken racial hierarchy, acting outside the limits of his race through the way he dresses, acts, and carries himself with pride. From his persistent courtship of Sarah every Sunday, the reader grows to trust Coalhouse Walker because of his respect and dedication for Sarah and his child.
When Coalhouse Walker is completely disrespected by the white firefighters, the narration is told through his own point of view. I find this choice of narrator to be reviling to Doctorow's own personal views on racism by depicting the white fire chief and workers as the "bad guys." While he could have easily written the scene from the perspective of the fire chief, he specifically chose Coalhouse Walker to show the horrors of racism. Because the novel was written in the mid 1970's after the end of the civil rights movement, racial equality in American was still a fairly new concept. While a typical white person from the time period of the early 20th century would probably hate the way Doctorow portrayed the racist scene due to the socially constructed standards of race of the time that blacks are inherently "inferior", readers from the 1970's to today would be horrified reading the scene through the fire chief's perspective because of the new shift towards gender equality. Through the racist scene, the reader is able to get an accurate idea of the challenges blacks had to face in order to be respected, and also see how Doctorow feels on the subject as well.
I also like the way in which the narration is told through Coalhouse's point of view during this whole situation with the firefighters. I agree with you that it was an interesting decision on Doctorow's point to make the point of view to Coalhouse's instead of the Chief's. I think that it is easy to imagine the way in which the firefighter's view this situation, but something valuable is gained when we get an insight into what Coalhouse thinks. It shows,as you said the horrors of racism, but also lets you know more about Coalhouse, especially his pride. Good post!
ReplyDeleteDoctorow's portrayal of race in this book is particularly interesting. I agree that Sarah and Coalhouse's story was very interesting and insightful. You brought up the fact that the characters have a cohesive development, so the story is easy to get drawn in to. I also think that this part of the book was the most interesting, both because of the plot and how it lets us see Doctorow's views on race. I think Doctorow wants us to pay extra attention to this story because of the importance of the topic. I think one way he does this is by giving us that full character development, and also by giving Sarah and Coalhouse real names (they are the only fictional characters who aren't just referred to by nicknames). I too thought the racial issues brought up in the book were very significant, and I enjoyed reading your post!
ReplyDeleteYou make a good point about the important effect of immersing the reader in Coalhouse's story--his very respectable, patient and persistent "courtship" of Sarah--from the start, so we understand the personal significance of his car and his general self-presentation, and aren't even remotely offended by it, the way the firefighters are. Simply from a narrative perspective, we are aligned with Coalhouse as he encounters this absurd and infuriating obstacle to his freedom.
ReplyDeleteBut, as we discussed in class, it's important to point out that while Doctorow aligns us with Coalhouse in this way, he doesn't try to portray the emotional experience of the conflict from Coalhouse's internal point of view, and it's at this point that a certain distance starts to emerge--the "Perhaps" and "apparently" and references to the historical record, or the "facts as far as they can be determined." Doctorow lets the outrage and injustice speak for itself, but doesn't presume to tell us how it "felt" to be Coalhouse. Like Younger Brother, perhaps Doctorow is aware that the white author and reader might feel "only one hundredth" of what Coalhouse is feeling.