Ragtime by E.L. Doctorow. Specifically,

¶ … Ragtime by E.L. Doctorow. Specifically, it will contain a review of this historical novel. Doctorow's historical novel tells the story of a simpler time, when families were stronger, and defined a large and important part of American Victorian society. The family in "Ragtime" is made up of misfits and dissidents, just as American society is made up of a wide variety of nationalities, outcasts, dissidents, and family units. The family in Doctorow's novel represents the melting pot of American society, with all its good, evil, and misunderstandings.

Doctorow's work is set in 1902 in New Rochelle, New York. The family unit consists of Mother, Father, their little boy, and Mother's Younger Brother (and later the baby of washerwoman Sarah). The novel also follows the immigrant family of Mameh, Tateh, and their little girl. The lives of these two families, outrageous as it would have been at the time, slowly become intertwined, and they each experience some spectacular and dangerous times. The novel opens by introducing the New Rochelle family. It is clear they are well off, and they represent "normal" Victorian society of the day, but at the beginning of the 20th century, lives were in transition all around America, and that is what this family in transition represents. The family lives through some outlandish and quite amazing happenings, which all point to the changing Victorian mores in a society on the brink of war, the roaring 20s, and much more. As the two families become more blended together, Mother and Younger Brother become radicals, while Father goes off to the Arctic with Admiral Peary. Father represents many Americans, who could not come to terms with a changing world, and so, turn their back on it so their own, non-progressive lives will make any sense at all.

America was going through major transitions during this time, in work, play, and social acceptance. In the beginning of the novel, Doctorow says of New Rochelle, "There were no Negroes. There were no immigrants" (Doctorow 3-4). However, by the end of the book, there were all those things, and many more. They represent the changing American family, which grew farther apart and farther from strict Victorian morals. By the end of the novel, Mother married Tateh, an unheard of mingling of white and Jew, but at the end of this novel, that seems quite appropriate, because each of the family members is light years away from where they were at the beginning of the novel. The plot is convoluted at times, and the real-life figures that are woven into the novel often seem to have larger-than-life experiences that sometimes seem like fantasies. This represents how Americans still view celebrities, and where this view may have begun. Evelyn Nesbit represents a new order of celebrity, and Doctorow uses people like her to show how America was changing. Just a few years before, a family would never have accepted a woman like Evelyn Nesbit into their lives. She would have been viewed as scandalous and evil. Many people may still have seen her that way, but society was changing, and she became a sex symbol as much as a symbol of excess. She is just one symbol in the novel that represents how the American family would change during this time, and would never be the same. Impressionable young men like Younger Brother would take up radical causes, Father's would fail to move forward in their lives, and Mother's would begin to vocally fight against societal wrongs, including poverty and women's rights. America was in transition, the family was in transition, and even industry was in transition. It was a time of great expansion in the country, and only those who could grow with the changing society would be successful. Henry Ford knew how to change, and J.P. Morgan did not. That is why Ford succeeded, and Morgan died still looking for something more in his life. There are many symbols in this novel, but they all relate somehow to the great changes taking place in society, and many Americans' inability to accept and move along with these changes. Doctorow's use of two different families who become one symbolizes how America once saw itself as "white," but was becoming increasingly integrated with blacks, immigrants, and migrants. The world was changing, and people had to learn how to keep up or be forever left behind.

Doctorow's work is quite interesting, although much of the history presented in this odd novel is a bit over the top. He weaves in real-life characters in larger than life situations, and uses this method to show just how amazing this time in American history was. His style is certainly different, and one thing the reader notices immediately is that none of the characters, except the real-life figures sprinkled through the book, have real names. They all have generic names that could apply to anyone of the time, and Doctorow does that for a reason, he wants them to represent the stereotypical immigrant and middle class families of the time. It is a compelling look into a time in American history that was like no other. Things were moving so quickly, that people like Father, rooted in his Victorian past, simply could not keep up, while people like Mother adapted quickly and changed their views. They had more open minds, and allowed society to change and grow into the Progressive Era and far beyond.