E.L Doctorow Novel - Research Paper Example

?Ragtime and Evelyn Nesbit Symbolism of the Wealthy and the Poor Ragtime is a novel that is set during the turn of the century, and it vividly depicts the harshness and cruelty of this age. The novel makes the audience aware of what the poor has had to sacrifice to make our industrial giants wealthy. Through depictions of cruelty, in that children are violently killed in the novel when they are on the job, miners are burned alive, strikers are violently attacked and women and children are sold into white slavery, Doctorow makes the world of the early 20th Century look like a world in which the rich takes advantage of the poor in every way possible. At the same time, the plight of the poor is, by and large, treated sympathetically. Doctorow needed a character who was able to bridge the chasm between the wealthy and the poor, in order to contrast the two more vividly, and this character was in the form of Evelyn Nesbit. Evelyn Nesbit was used by Doctorow in Ragtime as a symbolic figure, in that she not only was a girl who came into poverty and became rich by marrying well, but, in the novel, she attempted to become part of the poor once more, when she became obsessed with Tateh and his daughter. Therefore, she came to symbolize, in the novel, both the plight of the poor and the obscene excesses of the rich. The central figures in the melodrama surrounding Evelyn were Harry Thaw and Stanford White. Thaw, from the descriptions in both the book Ragtime and other books, seemed to have some sort of mental illness. He once drove his car into a department store after an argument with the salesclerk. It also appeared that, despite his wealth, he was not accepted by the upper-class in society, perhaps because of his violent behavior (Uruburu, 2008). White was a renowned architect. And Evelyn was, according to Uruburu, not just the girl who essentially caused the murder, but was symbolic of the end of the era and the beginning of a new one (Uruburu, 2008). Research on this particular figure gives a fascinating background and really brings not only Evelyn to life but the surroundings and the era through which she lived. As Uruburu explained it, the turn of the century was the dawning of a new age. It was a time when America was going from the horse-drawn carriage to the automobile, and a time when America was on the precipice of the industrial age, which was heralded by Henry Ford (Uruburu, 2008). This analysis is a way to understand Doctorow’s novel, for the setting is during this time in the early industrial age, and Uruburu makes clear that Evelyn was symbolic of a lot of the excesses and degradation that takes place during this period. This was a time in which the wealth distribution became ever more unequal, with the super-rich living in gilded mansions, and the poor being consigned to the streets, with their women and girls being sold into white slavery. This is all captured quite vividly in Doctorow’s Ragtime, as it is with Uruburu. Evelyn was a woman who was representative of all the macro changes that were occurring in America at the time. For Evelyn was poor, then she was rich. She was born during the Victorian age, yet had a modern sensibility that propelled her to superstardom. And, most importantly perhaps, Evelyn helped unmask for the public the foibles of the very rich, as the story of her abusive, super-wealthy? yet super-crazy husband made the news and people were able to see that the wealthy could be just as insane as the poor. The excesses of the rich, and the way that some of the super-wealthy treated women, were also exposed by Evelyn. Stanford White, who was the victim in the murder, was a very wealthy and renowned architect who, as partner in McKim, Mead & White, helped design the Washington Square Arch, Madison Square Gardens and the Fifth Avenue mansions owned by the Vanderbilts and Astors (Dworin, 2007). Yet, for all his renown, fame and wealth, White was basically a lech who was unsavory when it came to women. There was a woman who popped out of a giant cake for White, then had a brief affair with him. When the story came to light, the girl’s life was ruined, yet White suffered not at all (Nesbit, 2005, p. 28). White raped Evelyn by getting her drunk and having sex with her while she was passed out – as she said “I went into that room a virgin. I did not come out one” (Nesbit, 2005, p. 37). Among the salacious details that came out through his Harry Thaw’s trial, was the detail that White had a red velvet swing that he would stand beneath so that he could look up the dresses of the girls on the swing (Deutsch, 2000, p. 745). Meanwhile, Harry Thaw’s antics in Pittsburgh were wild enough that he was not accepted into high society, even though some quarters tolerated him because of his wealth (Nesbit, 2005, p. 46). As stated above, Thaw was evidently insane, as he spent his life after the murder of White going from one insane asylum to the next (Deutsch, 2000, p. 745). Doctorow brings out the characteristics of Thaw well – “He was a violent man who all his life had created incidents in restaurants. He drove cars up sidewalks. He kept syringes in a silver case. He injected things into himself. He had a habit of clenching his fists and beating them against his temples. He was imperious, possessive and insanely jealous” (Doctorow, 1974, p. 20). He was also violent, as he whipped Evelyn with a dog whip and attacked her with a razor (Doctorow, 1974, p. 21). It was this kind of wealth that is at the heart of Doctorow’s novel. The wealth in Doctorow’s novel is the kind that destroys people. It is the kind of wealth that is accumulated on the backs of children who die violently in the factories amid mild warnings to watch their step. It is the kind of wealth that crushes unions with violence. It is the kind of wealth that uses women and children who are stolen off the streets for white slavery. The obscenity of the early barons who got rich by exploitation is a major theme in Ragtime, which is why Doctorow chose Evelyn’s case to be one of the major sub-plots of the novel. For Evelyn was in the middle of a triangle with two extremely wealthy men – one a pervert and the other one violent and insane, and these two men are representative of the way that wealth is portrayed in this novel. That Evelyn was being used in the novel as a kind of symbolism for the raw excesses of the rich is made clear in the encounter with Emma Goldman, the radical anarchist. Goldman saw Evelyn in the audience for one of her speeches, and held her up as an example of a woman who has been used and abused by the capitalist system. Evelyn was also seen by Goldman as being representative of the subjugation of women. According to Goldman, at this time, women were not allowed to vote, did not have freedom and were sold in white slavery. Marriage was the equivalent to white slavery in Goldman’s eyes, and this probably was not far from the truth. While Goldman thought that women should be revered for their minds, the more successful ones got that way by their bodies, and Evelyn was an example of this – “There sits among us this evening one of the most brilliant women in America, a woman forced by this capitalist society to find her genius in the exercise of her sexual attraction – and she has done that, comrades, to an extent that a Pierpont Morgan and a John D. Rockefeller could envy” (Doctorow, 1974, p. 46). Evelyn was an example of the way that capitalists treated women, and the way that the capitalist society kept women subjugated. At the same time, the poor are represented in the novel in a kind of beatific way. Hard-working Tateh, peddling his wares on the street for pennies, is an example of Doctorow’s portrayal of the poor. Tateh is basically a hard-working immigrant who is striving to provide the best for his family. He first tried to provide by selling silhouettes on the street. Then he ended up at a mill in Massachusetts, where there was union violence that included women being shot in the street. During this conflict, Tateh got involved by drawing up picket signs, and was going to be even further involved, which led him to attempt to send his daughter to a different family for a few weeks. The overall image of Tateh in the novel is that of a struggling immigrant who finally makes good with the production of flip books. Of course, this does not mean that Tateh is a saint. With regards to his relationship with Evelyn, he did not treat her very well. Evelyn was more than kind to Tateh, buying his silhouettes by the dozen and caring for his daughter when his daughter was sick. Yet Tateh never thanked Evelyn for her kindness, nor seemed to appreciate her. Then, when Evelyn was pointed out by the radical anarchist Emma Goldman as being symbolic of the plight of women, Tateh left Evelyn without a word of goodbye. Still, Tateh was not shown with the cruelty that the rich are shown in this novel. As with the wealthy, Doctorow sought to associate Evelyn with the poor by injecting her into the story of Tateh and his daughter. Evelyn came into their lives because she became obsessed with Tateh’s beautiful daughter, to the point where the daughter became the center of Evelyn’s world. Evelyn was described as having fallen in love with the girl, and the girl brought her happiness, despite the fact that the girl barely communicated with Evelyn. There was never an explanation for why Evelyn felt so for the little girl. Perhaps the little girl reminded her of herself – poor, yet beautiful. That would be the most likely explanation. This particular sub-plot helped to plant the character of Evelyn squarely into the world of the poor, as well as the world of the rich. Evelyn passed herself off as an immigrant in order to be around the little girl, wearing the rags of an immigrant and scarves as an immigrant would wear. She immersed herself in that world, the same way that she immersed herself into the world of the wealthy, so that she essentially became one of the poor. In the end, Evelyn really was a member of the poor society, much more than she was rich. She came from modest beginnings, and only was wealthy because she was beautiful, therefore could catch a wealthy suitor. As with the typical portrayals of the poor in the novel, Evelyn was shown in a sympathetic light throughout the novel. There was no hint of her being spoiled or avaricious. There was no hint that having wealth changed her at all. In this way, Doctorow was able to make Evelyn symbolic of the poor, as she also had a tragic life, much like that experienced by the poor in the novel. Conclusion Evelyn was used as a device to represent both the rich and poor, and to symbolize both of the these groups. Doctorow used her to symbolize the degradation of wealth by using her case as a major sub-plot of the book. Evelyn was caught in a triangle that involved an insane, cruel man and a pervert, and this is the way that wealth in general was portrayed in the novel. The wealthy was seen as either being cruel and violent, or salacious, and this was represented by these two men. At the same time, by injecting Evelyn into the sub-plot involving Tateh and his daughter, Doctorow was able to make the plight of the poor come to life as well. Evelyn was a character who straddled the worlds between the super-wealthy and the super-poor, which makes her a bridge between the haves and have-nots. Since the chasm between these two groups are what makes up the heart of the novel, Evelyn was used effectively to represent both groups, essentially bridging the gap. Conclusion Deutsch, Linda. “Trials of the Century.” Loyola of Los Angeles Law Review 33 (2000): 743-746. Dworin, Caroline. “The Girl, the Swing and the Road House in Ruins.” The New York Times 4 November 2007. Nesbit, Evelyn. Prodigal Days. New York: Random House, 2005. Uruburu, Paula. American Eve. New York: Penguin Group, 2008. Read More