One of the most interesting facets about this book is how Doctorow plays with history, as we often discussed in class. Not only does he place historical figures into a fictional narrative, expressing thoughts, actions, and conversations the characters have with no proof of them having happened in history or how, if they did, the information coul've possibly gone to Doctorow, but he also completely disrupts the flow and known, exact facts of history that he had been so careful to stick to before that point. By having his fictional character of Coalhouse Walker Jr catch the attention of the nation with violent acts of revolution and protest, Doctorow in fact creates a historical character that never lived in the era of Ragtime -- but could've.
The first half of the book seems to pertain almost completely to the retelling of the various stories of the historical figures, with Evelyn Nesbitt, Emma Goldman, Houdini, and others leading the plot. The two fictional families - Mother, Father, Mother's Younger Brother and the little boy along with Tateh and his daughter - appear less often, and when they do it is often because their story intertwines with one of the historical characters. This all changes with the appearance of Coalhouse Walker Jr. Notably, he the first named fictional character, and the focus of the novel quickly shifts to him, with now only small interludes from the historical figures we had previously heard so much about, and usually in relation to his story.
At first, Coalhouse is treated with some distance, but rather similarly to the other fictional characters. Doctorow never quite enters his full perspective, with few - if any - direct thoughts from him, but his story does get followed. It is after the Fire Chief destroys his car and sets in motion the series of events to Coalhouse's death that Doctorow begins to treat him like a historical figure. Using phrases such as "It is known" and by stating "even at this date we can't condone the mayhem done in his cause but it is important to know the truth insofar as that is possible" implies Doctorow doesn't know the full truth (despite Coalhouse being a character of his creation) and that these events that take place are known fact. Additionally, once Younger Brother joins Coalhouse's cause, he's given similar treatment. Despite us having gotten full perspective from Younger Brother before, he now vanishes from us, and Doctorow tell us all the information he knows and is reporting to us comes from Younger Brother's diaries from the time of these events.
As the historical characters that loomed over the first novel fade to the background, the climax of the story revolves around the consequential actions of Coalhouse Walker Jr and the two fictional families. Doctorow breaks all the "rules" by having Coalhouse's actions widely reported on, something that one wouldn't be able to miss if looking up historical accounts of the era. Within the novel, however, Doctorow treats him as the only true historical figure, addressing sources of information for his actions and thoughts with efforts he didn't provide for the real historical figures in the story. Therefore, Coalhouse becomes a fictional historical figure.
This is a great illustration of how, when we say "historical" in reference to these novels, we really mean a particular category of ontology within this fictional world. In that respect, Morgan and Ford occupy a similar plane as Coalhouse Walker, who is even treated as "more" historical than they are, since information about him is limited (as it in fact would have been for many African American real-life historical figures at the time). It is a remarkable illusion that Doctorow pulls off--worthy of Houdini!
ReplyDeleteYes! I love how you include your perspective about how the purely fictional characters (Mother, Tateh, etc.) are only included because of their connection with real life characters (Evelyn Nesbit, Harry Houdini, etc.). I also feel like these characters and their names are also just titles, in a way, Coalhouse Walker included. They're just figures, representations of what COULD have happened to average Americans in the 1910s. They fill in the gaps that larger-than-life figures like Houdini and Ford, by the nature of their historical importance, cannot.
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