The Progressive Era of American History Illustrated in the Novel, Ragtime

The mother being a local beauty was raised in a fishermen family. She believed everything should be spotless and in order, the way her brothers ran their ships. She was a typical fishermen house wife; she grew beautiful gardens and raised broods of ducks and hens and would go digging in the mud for clams. At one point she might have loved her husband but it was quite evident that she despised him and his books. There were moments when they clashed fiercely with each other and she was disgusted with his inability to retain his children in the fishermen lifestyle. The mother was very ignorant and closed-minded towards other traditions. This is proven when the daughters marry men from different lifestyles and the mother wants nothing to do with them. She believes that they are lazy, dishonest, and the unknown in which she

The roaring 20’s was an astounding time in the history of the United States of America. Many authors published novels, poems, and other works of literature to show their readers what it would be like to experience this time frame. Some examples of these works include The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald and “Harlem” by Langston Hughes. Both of these pieces of literature include literary elements to appeal to the reader’s senses and imagination. A prevalent theme that has been found in works of the roaring 20’s is the wealth that someone may or may not achieve. Literary elements such as figurative language, irony, and symbolism are profound in both The Great Gatsby and “Harlem”, adding depth to both literature works.

In the 19th century racism was a considerable problem. E.L. Doctorow presents the racism that was occurring in reality through fictional Coalhouse Walker. He is also able to indicate to the reader the effects of discrimination. In Ragtime, Coalhouse Walker stands as a symbol and an advocate for the black people that want to go against the stereotypes that white people make about them.

The minister then questions her but after his unsuccessful attempt, Mother’s actions become a scandal throughout the town because “any deviation from the ordinary course of life in this quiet town was enough to stop all progress in it” (C670). This does not bother Mother and she successfully continues with her plans. By overcoming this alienation both characters achieve feminine empowerment.

Ragtime is an interesting depiction of cultural and political change. It can be argued that the story is not just a reflection of the events in the 20th Century but the novel reflects the events that continue to happen until today in socialism. For instance, the novel gives a glimpse of the kind of life experienced by many African Americans. They were victimized by the society and the persons in authority refuse to help them. Even in the 21st Century, it cannot be denied that African Americans are still subjected to discrimination in socialism. Throughout the stories in this novel character represent that change and partiality.

Her Mother seemed to be more put together than her father at times, even getting a job at one point helping the family out. Though her mother was a hedonist and did not contain the motherly love and sacrifice for her kids, this job helped Jeanette’s future. She helped grade papers which increased her knowledge of the outside world and “...the world was making a little more sense” as she read the papers and projects of her mother’s students (Walls 205). Her parents had such an opposition to the outside world that she hadn’t gotten every aspect of

The Roaring Twenties and the Jazz Age describe an era of prosperity and entertainment. With fancy parties, cars, houses, and a multitude of wealth, people go about their day with frivolity. However, not all were willing to accept the social changes that goes with the 1920s. One such novel that addresses the liberal era and some reluctance is Eudora Welty’s novel Delta Wedding. Beginning with Laura McRaven travelling to visit her extended family, the Fairchilds, at their plantation in the Mississippi Delta, she experiences the turmoil surrounding her departed mother’s family: the uproar of the oncoming wedding, the tension between her aunts, and the difficulties one must face in becoming a Fairchild. Despite Laura playing the main role of the novel, Welty uses her minor character Robbie Reid to explore the compact Southern family and the polarity between precedent archetypes and the liberal woman of the 1920s.

The blues have deep roots embedded within American history—particularly that of African American history. The history of the blues originated on Southern plantations in the 19th century and was created by slaves, ex-slaves, and descendants of slaves. They were created by individuals who endured great hardship while performing endless hours of arduous labor and blues served as a form of escapism. To these individuals, songs provided them with the strength to persevere through their struggles. Blues songs depicted individuals who persevered in the face of adversity. They were symbols of hope to those squandering in the depths of oppression. In relations to the blues, every song has a story behind it and within every story, there is something to be said. Blues artists, through their struggles, detail how they overcame hardship and laughed at the face of oppression. They defied the rules and in doing so, showed African Americans that they too are beacons of hope for the hopeless. The best blues is instinctive, cathartic, and intensely emotional. From irrepressible bliss to deep sadness, no form of music communicates more genuine emotion than that of the blues. Like many bluesmen of his day, Robert Johnson applied his craft as a lonely traveling musician on street corners and in juke joints. He was a lonely man whose songs romanticized that existence. With Johnson’s unique vocal style, haunting lyrics, and creative guitar techniques, Johnson’s innovation embodied the essence of

“My mother and I were separated when I was but an infant—before I knew her as my mother. It is a common custom, in the part of Maryland from which I ran away, to part children from their mothers at a very early age…I never saw my mother, to know her as such, more than four or five times in my life; and each of these times was very short in duration, and at night.”

In the novel, Ragtime author, El Doctorow, depicts America during the Gilded Age. Jacob Riis, one of the characters in the book, is a journalist who exposed the condition that immigrants lived in during the 19th century. Jacob Riis photographed the tenements that immigrants settled in and how they were all clustered into one small apartment. During this era, Robber Barons such J.P Morgan controlled the financial industry and resources in the United States. Despite that El Doctorow creates an appearance that the 19th century is a place where business is thriving and the public is living a decent life, Doctorow’s actual intention is to reveal the hidden story where people are suffering due long work hours and unsafe conditions. Doctorow uses

“Revolt of Mother” is a short story that was written by Mary Wilkins Freeman, which is told in third person. The short story is a narrative that has a main character, “Mother”, who after a long time of being submissive stands up for herself when she discovered her dominant husband goes behind her back to build more barns for cows, rather than fulfilling his promise of building her a better house. Freeman introduces us to the character, Sarah, who is represented as a “Mother”. To be referred to as “Mother” at the time period of which the story was written, simply means that the person has been brought up right from childhood to basically be submissive to men. During these era, in America, men were dominant, and so the society was shaped in a patriarchal

Her world outlook differs from her kids’ ideas, as she states, “You ain’t satisfied or proud of nothing we done. I mean that you had a home; that we kept you out of trouble till you was grown; that you don’t have to ride to work on the back of nobody’s streetcar – You my children – but how different we done become” (1568). By making this comment, Mama highlights the situation they ended up to be are due to passive mental activity and the spoiled attitude. The most evident thing is that Mama appreciates her past and her ancestors. She cares deep sense of motherhood and possesses numerous dreams for the family, and the most important one is to move from poverty into a life that meets some of their needs without the kind of struggle that they are having right now.

One of the quotes from the novel that I enjoyed was “As much as I desperately wanted to be like my father, I knew that I was meant to be an extension of my indestructible mother: a do-over to make real the life she deserved and should have had” (17 Jahren). I feel that her parents had a big influence throughout her life, especially in her career. Her father drove her towards being in a laboratory, and her love for science. He helped her to realize that working in a laboratory is where she truly belonged just like him. Her mother helped her to flourish in her love of plants.

The novel Ragtime written by E.L Doctorow takes place in New Rochelle, New York. The book begins in 1902. This is also the time of the progressive era. The progressive era was a period in time in the United States where legislative reforms and civil activism was widely spread. Mechanical advancements expanded mass production. For Example, in chapter eighteen it says “the men who build products be themselves interchangeable parts.”(page 136). This conveys the idea that the narrator believes that with all the changes in production it is causing men to lose their jobs. Advances in technology have the potential to overcome workers.

Up until the late 1900?s, the American populace on the whole had assumed a very optimistic view of American history. Glossing over disgraceful events, emphasizing the brighter points in our history, our culture has attempted to ignore the obvious fact that we have had, and still have, our fair share of problems. In Ragtime, E.L. Doctorow unabashedly exposes some of the worst aspects of American life in our more recent history. Doctorow doesn?t hold back anything, providing detailed examples of human cruelty and sacrifice, and the evolution of American society. While critiquing American society was not the sole purpose of his novel, Doctorow does expose and examine many issues that people tended to ignore like