Research Paper
Undergraduate
Culture Clash and Change in Doctorow's Ragtime
Ragtime is a novel that deals with change and some people's inability to deal with it. The author addresses this idea through techniques such as irony, signifiers f name and behavior, juxtaposition of dramatic difference between past and future, historicism (such as reducing celebrities to commonalities), and other metaphors that point to shiftiness of time.
Ragtime is a novel with enduring meaning since change occurs constantly, all the time and its results lead into the same meaninglessness and feelings of angst that we see denoted in the novel. Many of the themes are still enduing factors. Prejudice, for instance, still exists, as does snobbishness, and parochialism. On the other hand, we have noble traits too that endure. An Evelyn exists in all generations. Ragtime is therefore a novel with enduring appeal which may be why it is voted one of the 100 of all American classics.
Literature: themes, analysis, and applications
This is a paper that analyzes the black experience in American culture as presented by Hughes, Baldwin, Wright and Ellison. It has 20 sources in MLA format.