While discussing Ragtime in class, somebody (I don't remember who) brought up the idea of Emma Goldman's influence being the cause that led to Sarah's death, and therefore Coalhouse's revolution through association. Goldman is always treated with a lack of irony (she 'speaks as herself'), and is one of the few historical characters that Doctorow leaves to act on her own, without any insight into her mind about her thoughts or feelings. Although she isn't given the Doctorow-creative-liberty treatment, she is constantly surrounded by characters of his creation or historical figures that he's retconned, and her sole purpose in the novel is to get them thinking of their place in society. She's a fairly 'one-note' figure, which makes her stand out, surrounded by irony. Goldman doesn't act in the irony, but she does affect it. The fact that she inspired McKinley's assassination, which eventually leads to Coalhouse's revolution is an example of this. I thought that this kind of convoluted irony was very interesting, and in this blog post I want to try to connect the series of unfortunate events/people that Doctorow creates in Ragtime, and how they somehow lead back to Emma Goldman.
First of all, there's Evelyn Nesbit. Near the beginning of Ragtime, after Nesbit and Goldman have already met, Goldman brings her to her room and talks to her about her place in society, urging her to act for herself instead of for other people, and inspiring her to change her way of thinking, which is important later (Mother's Younger Brother is there too but we don't talk about that).
Next is Mother's Younger Brother. He doesn't really meet Emma Goldman until later on, but he is deeply affected by her influence on Evelyn Nesbit. At this point, after being a stalker for a while, MYB is in a relationship with Nesbit, who eventually leaves him for a Ragtime dancer (after a realization about the men in her life and donating to Goldman's newspaper). MYB is absolutely crushed and starts his path towards becoming a radical expert in explosives. He ends up at Goldman's Newspaper's building, and meets her once again after she recognizes him and talks to him. She consoles MYB as she did with Evelyn Nesbit. MYB is compared to McKinley's killer, Czolgosz, who also knew of Goldman and was inspired to kill McKinley because of her ideas. And this is what leads to Sarah's death, when she tries to talk to the vice president and is hit by the Secret Service Agent (extra cautious after the assassination). Emma Goldman didn't directly cause Sarah's death, but she influenced the events leading up to it.
Sarah's death is the catalyst for Coalhouse's revolution, and a now radicalized MYB joins in the cause. They blow up firehouses, and take over Morgan's library. The police immediately suspect Emma Goldman, for no reason other than she was a radical political figure: "There was a national obsession of law enforcement officers to connect her to every case just as a matter of principle whether they believed she was guilty or not" (Doctorow 276), which I thought was ironic, since the police holding Goldman in jail, knowing nothing of her actual involvement in the case, have an important piece of the puzzle right under their noses. (I also thought it was funny that Goldman was completely prepared to be arrested). She gives her opinion on the case, supporting the takeover of the library for political justice. She states, "Wealth is the oppressor. Coalhouse Walker did not need Red Emma to learn that. He needed only to suffer." (Doctorow 277). Her statements are recorded and put into newspapers, which brings Booker T. Washington in to talk to Coalhouse, the beginning of the end.
Goldman's actions and platform move the plot forward, somehow having events being connected back to her until the end of the novel. She has some role to play in almost every character's story. My question is, did Doctorow intend to make Goldman this influential, or is this a bit of a reach? How did he insert so much irony and random characters and somehow make it make sense by the end? How did he manage to juggle all the plotlines?? I could never. Anyway, I thought that Goldman's role in Ragtime was interesting and that she was a fascinating character in general.
I like the idea of Emma Goldman's depiction in _Ragtime_ as a "convoluted irony"--I sometimes compare her relatively irony-free depiction on the page (i.e. she speaks in her own voice and is given long stretches of text where her radical views are interjected without ironic undercutting) to the stock figure of the "raisonneur" in nineteenth-century drama, a "reasonable" figure on stage whose commentary on events is understood to be authoritative (often a doctor or other figure of authority). When she is speaking on the page, Emma does not seem to be treated with anything like the irony that attends Ford or Morgan or Houdini.
ReplyDeleteBut there really is an indirect link between Goldman's affirmation of violence in the name of political progress and Sarah's death (and the whole Coalhouse affair, not only MYB's participation). And it is hard to parse exactly where Doctorow comes down on the question of political violence: Emma Goldman of course approves of what Coalhouse is doing and is quick to point out the logic of justice in the occupation ("Morgan has done some appropriating of his own"). So in an odd way, the police view of Goldman obviously having SOMETHING to do with an event like this is actually affirmed by the novel. But what is Doctorow's view? He does interject with the "editorial" comment about how "even at this late date we cannot endorse the violence done in Coalhouse's name" (a paraphrase, not a quote), but in other ways the novel sort of DOES seem to "condone," or at least sympathize with Coalhouse's desperation. When Doctorow claims that the "absurd" link between Conklin and Morgan is "proof" of Coalhouse's insanity, how does this sit with his generally "sane" and rational depiction of Coalhouse elsewhere? Is he *serious* when he says it's absurd to link the racism of Conklin to the structural inequality created by Morgan's extreme wealth? Or does the novel actually suggest that there IS such a link, and Goldman once again is the one who knows what's up?
Like so much else surrounding irony in this novel, it remains ambiguous.
hi evie! i really enjoyed your blog, especially your noting of how important emma goldman is to the story. i think that because she's treated so differently than all of the other characters of the novel she's more easily written off but i do think she's super important too. i do wonder, though, if just by all fo the characters around her being treated with irony something changes with goldman's character? like, what is doctorow saying about her character by not treating her with irony? is it similar to what he's saying about other characters by treating with them with irony? i'm not sure, but i wonder.
ReplyDeleteYou make a really important point about how Emma influences various characters throughout the novel. Whenever I read a chapter when Emma spoke through the pages, I sometimes found myself captivated by her commentaries on society/life and relating to it. For instance, I deeply agreed with her when, right after Emma calls out Evelyn in front of Tateh and indirectly tears Evelyn from the Little Girl, she says (58) "Don't worry. Truth is better than lies. When you find them again, you'll be able to deal with them honestly as the person you really are". Throughout the novel, Emma takes on an almost god-like influence on the other characters, opening their eyes to a new social paradigm through inspirational speeches, writings, and correspondences. I think Doctrow letting the "real-life" Emma Goldman take over her appearances in her novel really helped channel her power not just to other characters in the book but also to the readers.
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