Ragtime Essay

Identity in E.L. Doctorow's Ragtime      Written almost thirty years ago, describing an age far removed from its own, E.L. Doctorow's novel Ragtime nevertheless explores issues of identity and ethnicity that still face America in spite of its lofty ideals of individualism and diversity.  It displays for the reader a rich and hypnotic portrayal of the soul of immigrant America, yet still fails to avoid ethnic bias in certain subtle ways.  Whether the lapses into feelings of cultural superiority

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 world has changed vastly since the 19th century especially in the matter of racism. Coalhouse Walker was a professional

Honorable and Courageous Manhood The theme in the book Shane, by Jack Schaefer, portrays that true manhood consists not of bravado or status, but of character, honor, and loyalty. The main character is a man named Shane, who rides into a small valley mysteriously at the beginning of the book and takes a position as the aid of a farmer, Joe Starett. When Shane arrives, Joe and the other farmers of the valley are struggling, while the rancher Fletcher is the highest valley authority. The townspeople

In E. L. Doctorow's book Ragtime, we take a journey to learn the story and struggles of classes, races and ethnicities during the turn of the century. Two such people that fit in these different backgrounds are Tateh (later Baron Ashkenazy) and Coalhouse Walker jr. These men are dissimilar yet at the same time they have many comparisons. One man a jewish immigrant who is doing his best to live the american dream for himself and his daughter and the other an educated black man trying to overcome the

Dawei Hong Dr. Goertzen American Music Dec 3, 2014 William Bolcom and his Ragtime Music William Bolcom, American composer and pianist. He has a wide range of genre for his composition work, Piano Solo, Symphony, Chamber music and songs. He once said “picking up a thread from our American musical history, and taking it to the next step” (Shrude, 1). What is the thread Bolcom picked? And how he made it to the next step from his work? Between 1960 and 1970, Bolcom recorded a lot of works by Scott

music styles that jazz consisted of were ragtime and the blues. Both ragtime and the blues had their beginnings in African-American communities. While both of these music styles strongly contributed to the creation of jazz and have a lot of similarities, they do have their differences. These differences lie within their origins, their elements that make up their styles and how these elements influenced jazz, and their artists and composers. First of all, ragtime and the blues are similar in that they

Art and popular culture were important parts of the 19th century. It was a time of change among three main topics. The three main topics were impressionism, ragtime, and American realism. Impressionism is a style of art which is known by using short brush strokes containing bright colors to represent effects of light on objects. Ragtime is a style of music known for its syncopated melodic line and often being played on the piano. Lastly American realism was a movement which concerned itself with

town of New Orleans, United States. The genre of jazz has many subgenres which have evolved over time to give us current modern day jazz. The two jazz genres which will be compared and contrasted in this essay will be the two subgenres; Bebop, and Ragtime Jazz, which differ but at the same time have some similarities. Bebop Jazz Bebop Jazz is the subgenre of jazz that has its origins during the early to mid - 1940’s in the United States. Bebop Jazz is characterized by its instrumental expertise,

unpredictability — much like American life itself after the Great War” (“Music of the Roaring 20s – 1927: The Diary of Myles Thomas,” 2016). However, it was the 1920’s that escorted in advancements in the music industry through the promotion of ragtime, jazz, and the blues; or as some would coin it, “the introduction of devil music” that would change the course of music history. First,

and served as a teacher and mentor to other ragtime musicians. Joplin soon begun to write songs with other local musicians, such as Arthur Marshall.