History vs. Fiction

After finishing Ragtime, I realized that it was an example of a novel that was fiction, but could've very well taken place in real life. That isn't to say that nothing happened and it was a bore, but that there was nothing extraordinary in the book, yet it managed to keep my attention. Before, when I thought of fiction, I usually thought of magic, fantasy, or sci-fi books. Now, I realized, that something can be fiction without it needing to be impossible. 

That being said, fictional authors often do a great job of making a book entertaining, even if it isn't necessarily filled with action. Although Ragtime does have a lot of action in it, especially when Coalhouse is committing his crimes, it doesn't have an overwhelming amount. Yet we keep reading. Why don't we just skip the seemingly inconsequential parts of the book and get right to the good stuff about the bombs and murders? Doctorow does a great job of keeping us entertained through parts of the book that may not matter in the long run. 

Before reading Ragtime, I viewed fiction and history as two entirely different things. I thought fiction was completely untrue. When I thought fiction I thought about novels that I've read for various english classes and in my own time. When I thought history, books rarely came to mind. I thought of history class and the way everything since the beginning of history had lead to the next as a never ending flow of events.

After reading Ragtime, some new things about the comparison between fiction and history have come to mind. I've realized that history can be intricately intertwined into fictional works. As obviously as in Ragtime with Henry Ford, JP Morgan, Emma Goldman, Evelyn Nesbit, Harry K. Thaw, Stanford White, and Harry Houdini but also not so obviously in other works. The entirety of history is unknown. Nobody knows everything that happens. Even to an author whose writing may appear fictional to everyone except a couple people. What is being written about may have happened at some point to someone. Furthermore, the fictional events that truly have not taken place are just waiting to take place. Fiction is the future history. Even science fiction novels may become reality someday. When that happens, there will be new science fiction novels to take their place. History and fiction is an endless string of events, fiction only being slightly ahead of history in the grand scheme of things. 

Need for a Cause

In Ragtime, the unnamed character Mother's Younger Brother has an inherent need for something to do. Be it chasing Evelyn Nesbit, fighting with Coalhouse Walker, or participating in the Mexican Revolution. Initially, his obsession and subsequent ejaculation on, and sexual relationship with Evelyn Nesbit seems just like a short and intense obsession. However, when we look at his actions in the rest of the book, it may have been more. This obsession may have been to fulfill a need beyond that of his sexual desire. Mother's Younger Brother just had a need to be doing something for some sort of cause, whether it be personal or for a greater cause. 

At first, with Evelyn Nesbit, Younger Brother seems to have nothing else in his life. He seems to be immediately infatuated with her because she gives his life purpose and something to actually pursue. This obsession reminds me of Borat's obsession with Pamela Anderson in the movie Borat. In Borat, the main character, Borat, a native of Kazakhstan goes to the USA to learn their ways to help better improve his home country. When he's just sort of wandering around in the states, looking for something to learn and do, he sees a TV program about model Pamela Anderson in his hotel room. He then drives from NYC to LA to try and find her and marry her. He hilariously fails, but that's not the point. The point is, he's looking for something to do and a cause to follow, so he finds a woman. Contrary to in Borat, Younger Brother Surprisingly succeeds. Another comparison I thought of when reading about Younger Brother and how he hired a prostitute just for the company and not the sex. Jake does this in The Sun Also Rises. This shows the extreme loneliness in Younger Brother's life that not even sex with Evelyn Nesbit, the sex symbol of that era, can fulfill.

To fulfill his extreme loneliness and need for something to fill the void of cause in his life, Younger Brother turns to a more significant cause in helping Coalhouse in his cause. When Younger Brother devotes himself to this cause, I feel like it isn't because he believes in what Coalhouse is fighting for, which at this point, is more than his vandalized car, but because he truly needs something in his life before he starts to self destruct. He's a very degenerate character who could, at any point, do something rash that could hurt himself or others. Ironically, he makes bombs. This incident that Coalhouse was victimized, happened at least in the same town as Younger Brother, and he could've believed in the related civil rights cause. However, Younger Brother's final stand in trying to fill the void in his life whose origins we don't even know, has seemingly nothing to do with Younger Brother in any way. He may have read about the Mexican Revolution in the newspaper, but to actually go all the way from New York to Mexico to participate and ultimately die for this cause seems a bit far. The only thing I can come up with as to how this relates to Younger Brother's story is that he must've been extremely desperate to find something to do after Coalhouse's surrender. He must've been addicted to the feeling of rebellion and living for something, which is what, in the end, killed him. 

Nonfictional characters

I've read many non fiction books before, and I've read many fiction books before, but I've never read a book that incorporates nonfictional historical characters into a fictional story like Ragtime does. Additionally, each "real" character serves a different purpose in the overall landscape of the book. JP Morgan, for example, can be used to show the vast contrast between the lifestyle of the rich and the lifestyle of the poor or even upper middle class. He lives so lavishly that it makes us readers wonder if he really needs every ancient Egyptian artifact.

Another historical character in Ragtime is Harry Houdini. Houdini relies greatly on his motherland cannot function very well when she dies, so he starts spending time looking into the supernatural and communication with the dead. In reality, Houdini was very close to his mother, even presenting her in style at a ball one time. In the book, Houdini is seen as a character with upper class wealth but still finds himself performing and hanging out with lower class people. This creates a wonderful contrast between Morgan, a man who gained his wealth through banking and being in a wealthy family, versus Houdini, whose wealth was attained by performing amazing feats of escape. The difference here is obvious, banking is an upper class way to get wealth while performing escape seems more like saloon entertainment.

Henry Ford is another well known character in history who is placed in this book to create a backdrop for what is happening at the time of Ragtime. Ford comes from a non-wealthy background but makes gobs of money with Ford Motors and the invention of the assembly line. Ford seems somewhere in between Morgan and Houdini, having risen from nothing, but having inserted himself --unlike Houdini-- into the upper class. In the course of history, As well as creating a long lasting car company, Ford helped industrialize the nation, reducing the need for skilled workers and making factory workers less personalized and more like machines.

Some nonfictional characters are introduced into the novel to help or hinder the arguments of the more important fictional characters in the book. Specifically, Emma Goldman and Booker T. Washington. Goldman is introduced earlier in the book as a political activist who initially spurns Tateh's hatred for Evelyn Nesbit, the sex symbol of the Ragtime era. Goldman is reintroduced in the novel near the end to back up Coalhouse Walker's rebellious cause. Booker T. Washington, however, is brought into the novel for quite a different reason. Washington is extremely against Walker's cause. He believes that black people should earn their rights through peace and friendship to get help from white people.

Washington and Goldman, as well as many other nonfictional characters are brought into Ragtime in order to connect and to contrast with the arguments of the more important fictional characters in the book.