Characters In Ragtime

her father trusted him. It makes her sad and fearful of the power that her father possesses. She is

As Doctorow states, “He wandered through the house finding everywhere signs of his own exclusion. His son now had a desk, as befitted all young students. He thought he heard an Arctic wind but it was the housemaid Brigit pushing an electric suction cleaner across the rug in the parlor” (109). Father’s “treasures” brought home from his expedition, are not perceived as valuable or even desirable to his family: “He pulled Arctic treasures from his trunk…incredible treasures in the North, but here in the parlor the embarrassing possessions of a savage. The family stood around and watched him on his knees. There was nothing he had for them” (110). Father is embarrassed by his family’s response and lack of interest. Father is struggling to reconcile the dream he left behind and the dream he pursued but does not accomplish. As the book progresses, Father grows increasingly distant from his family. At one point in the novel Father realizes he is no longer attracted to mother in a lustful way, most likely symbolizing the increasing separation he is experiencing from his family. As the narrator details, “Once accustomed to life together after his return from the Arctic, they had slipped into an undemanding companionship in which he felt bypassed by life, like a spectator at an event” (216). Father’s quest for personal fame and historical

Teddy Brewster- The nephew of Martha and Abby and the brother of Johnathan and Mortimer. He is certified insane and thinks he’s Theodore Roosevelt. He lives with his two aunts.

A young boy who quickly became chaotic because of where he came from and the people that surrounded him. His mother, his brother

The brother is the person who has the most information about the family. His knowledge of his uncle’s account and conversation with his mother contribute to the overall completeness of the story that would have been missing otherwise.

She seemed to have been in denial that she has a parent that doesn’t love her and a mother that isn't on earth anymore. She begins to see how her mother didn't actually live a perfect life. She denies the truth about her mother and this quote shows that she really hates herself more for believing she killed her mom and believing she once had a perfect mom. Chapter 13, Page 262 “I looked at the row of seashells on the window ledge, knowing how truly they belonged here even though we were a hundred miles from the ocean.”

At the beginning of the play she is yearning for a new life when she says “Let this be the year we both travel”(Athrens 0), the audience gets a glimpse that she is happy Father is leaving, she is hoping she will be able to find more of her independence. However, once Mother is on her own and finds herself in the odd predicament of finding a child she exclaims“Why in Gods name is my husband not here!” (Ahrens 39) and “Where are your instructions, my dear?” (Ahrens 39), we realize she knows nothing of decision making. As the play goes on Mother keeps learning and eventually finds herself doing everything father used to do. She is no longer the exemplary symbol of what a wife with children should be. She is now an empowered woman who realizes she can accomplish a great deal more than what she had originally thought possible of

She is a young, flirtatious, outgoing cousin of Zeena, who also loved nature just like Ethan. She was a vibrant woman who brought life to the house. Ethan ends up falling in love

All she wanted to do was kill him the animals and her parents. She didn’t like people and didn’t want to be around people.

24 year old, Chris McCandless, is a man born into a wealthy family from Washington D.C. Chris is almost “born” into the wild, he goes on an adventure in Alaska, leaving all his possessions behind, even all his money. About 4 months of adventuring in Alaska, Chris’s body is found dead. Throughout the story, the reader learns more about Chris’s family and their relationships with eachother. The relationship that stands out to the reader most, is the relationship between Chris and his father. His father is abusive and not truthful towards his family members, which is not a healthy relationship that Chris and his father have.

In her criticism of Ragtime, Barbara Foley argues that Doctorow was well aware of the racial oppression that was occurring at this time in history, and this oppression sparked the conflict within the novel (Foley

She never wants to talk about her father. Also her tone was partly happy and confused. She was happy when she was telling Calvin how her mother and father always used to send letters; but then her tone had a confused vibe when she told Calvin that the letter just stopped coming one day. After that Calvin suggested that maybe her father was dead,

He is eager to get better at his speeches, and works hard with Brother Hambro to improve. As time goes on however, the narrator realizes that being a part of this group is not what he expected. He is restricted and criticized for his actions and does not have the voice he previously believed he had. After the death of a fellow member, Brother Clifton, the narrator gives a speech from the heart, disregarding the guidelines set for him. This angers the leaders of the Brotherhood and the narrator realizes that he has no individuality and cannot think on his own.

reluctance to admit her father’s death. When he dies, she refuses to let anyone remove his body from their house. It’s as if she feels she needs his comforting and protection.

Whether it is escaping from a certain person, a specific event, or a particular place, the theme is addressed with the idea of avoiding some undeniable problem. Characters in the story help underline this specific problem of how to “escape” and with that comes historically important factors the developed during the early 1900’s. Through the characters in his book, Doctorow, brings alive the history of the early 1900’s, as well as concentrating the theme of the time period, “escaping.” The key problems of the period in Ragtime are racism, the growth of sexual nature in society, the always-changing modern America, and