The Ending of Ragtime
If the first 39 or so chapters of Ragtime filled in the blanks like a crossword puzzle—each little piece fitting neatly into place—the final chapter filled in the blanks like a game of Mad Libs. It wasn’t badly written, but compared to the other chapters I found it deeply unsatisfying. This is perhaps best exemplified by the final few lines of the book, where Doctorow writes “The anarchist Emma Goldman had been deported. The beautiful and passionate Evelyn Nesbit had lost her looks and fallen into obscurity. And Harry K. Thaw, having obtained his release from the insane asylum, marched annually at Newport in the Armistice Day parade. (336)” I can just imagine him, holed up in his office, with the deadline for his manuscript looming over his head. “You know what?” he says. “Screw it. I’m just going to make up something random.” Of course, these were real historical figures, the events he described were anything but random, but it still feels like they were. His typically meticulous attention to detail vanished.
The ending was pretty merciless, too. The characters were cut down one by one: Coalhouse Walker, then Mother’s Younger Brother, then Morgan (although I won’t pretend that I was particularly torn up over this one), then Archduke Franz Ferdinand and Countess Sophie (who had barely been mentioned in passing before their sudden deaths), Grandfather is thrown in for good measure, and finally Father dies. It’s as if it’s written in defiance of the traditional happy ending—except for Tateh and Mother’s suspiciously perfect love story.
The best explanation I can provide for this is that Doctorow is trying to signify the harsh, abrupt end of one era and the beginning of another. Just as he finishes his description of Mother and Tateh's idyllic life together, he writes “And by that time the era of Ragtime had run out, with the heavy breath of the machine, as if history were no more than a tune on a player piano. (Doctorow 336)” He leaves nothing as he left it in the beginning of the novel: Mother's family with Father is completely shattered and replaced with a new one. Evelyn and Emma, who once figured prominently in the story, are nowhere to be found. Coalhouse is dead, and his movement seems to have died out with him. Tateh’s radical politics have been subdued. Especially once Franz Ferdinand and Countess Sophie are killed, it becomes clear that a new age is on the horizon: one where the struggles that almost every character is confronted with—fights for justice, for revolution, for equality—are overshadowed by international conflict.
*****
Works Cited:
Doctorow, E. L. (2007). Ragtime. Random House.
I love the framing of the seeming perfection of Tateh and Mother's new relationship as "suspicious", I also found it very odd that out of all the characters those two were chosen for some sort of happily ever after. I couldn't agree more with your characterization of the writing in your last chapter. It really was rushed and almost carelessly written when compared with the rest of the book. Ut seemed like a betrayal of all the vibrant personages we've spent hundreds of pages building an image of in our minds. Great post.
ReplyDeleteI think when it comes to the ending it does leave a lot to be desired. It feels like we fell in love with these characters throughout the book (or grew to hate them), and we want to have good closure for those characters. I think Doctorow might be trying to get at the fact that in real life, or in historical events, some people don't get good closure, some even disappear without a trace. Nice post.
ReplyDeleteI completely agree! Eras definitely blend into each other - there is rarely a time where culture can shift within one year in terms of social attitudes, fashion, etc. Yet, I agree with you that Doctorow is clearly trying to make it seem like the turn of an era truly is this black and white event. This harsh tone at the end of the novel seems to counteract the irony throughout the book.
ReplyDeleteAlthough the last chapter is unusual for the book, it seems very much like Doctorow. He likes to find something and wreck havoc, so I can't say I was particularly surprised to see many characters die or totally disappear. Although he ends the book in a weird note, his abrupt ending is very much like the shift in life that happened during the start of WW1.
ReplyDeleteAlso, I kind of like knowing what happened to each character. I know for a lot of people it doesn't bring closure, but it is very satisfying for me.