Throughout the book there are so many coincidences and events that have about a 1% probability of happening. Examples include Houdini crashing his car and meeting the fictional white family, Evelyn Nesbit avoiding the "1900s paparazzi" and by chance encountering Tateh and his girl on the Lower East Side. Emma Goldman pops up multiple times with Evelyn Nesbit and Younger Brother is everywhere just happening to be there at that time: Zapata, Coalhouse, Evelyn, etc.
In the final scene where Coalhouse Walker brings the book to its climax by taking the Morgan Library hostage, there are really so many situations that are just by chance. Many are overlooked, for example, Father, who went to Atlantic City purposely to get away from Coalhouse's further actions, goes back specifically to talk to Coalhouse. Or possibly the fact that Coalhouse could have escaped the situation with the aid of his man when their case became desperate.
Staying within history was probably important to Doctorow, and while he puts in fictional characters and has them interact quite a bit with famous historical figures, he doesn't contradict any historical evidence. He doesn't have one of Coalhouse's men "pull the plunger" on the Morgan Library, or have Evelyn Nesbit marry Younger Brother. But there are still the whatifs.
I love whatifs because they not only allow you to envision so many outcomes from a single decision, but they also sometimes can make you feel fortunate that the path history took was the one it did. Of course, Ragtime isn't totally history, but that point aside, it is historically accurate (without the evidence, of course). Feel free to add your own version of history and ending to this.
If Coalhouse had not agreed to anything but his demands, I feel one of many possibilities could come true as a result, excluding explosion for historical. Either people would enter the Morgan Library and storm Coalhouse and his men before they got to the bomb, resulting in a lot of bloodshed, or the black group (plus Younger Brother) could hold off the stormers and allow Coalhouse to escape. But I think white privilege would win either way in the end, maybe the notion that led Coalhouse to change his demands.
But what about the beginning of the epilogue chapter? It is not directly stated how Coalhouse reacted to the firing squad in front of him, except for a questionable report that he ran. What if Coalhouse had admitted defeat and not wavered? We can guess he would die in the end, but who more could he reach out to in order to spread his message of justice and equality? Or would he become a martyr all around America for his "heroics"? It is impossible to tell.
I love what ifs! I think it's really cool how there were so many in Ragtime. Doctorow really does an excellent job with keeping all of the books happenings in this grey area. He makes it realistic to the point where if we assumed the documentation for everything was errased, it could fit in well.
ReplyDeleteI love what ifs! I think it's really cool how there were so many in Ragtime. Doctorow really does an excellent job with keeping all of the books happenings in this grey area. He makes it realistic to the point where if we assumed the documentation for everything was errased, it could fit in well.
ReplyDeleteIt's strongly implied (although, cheekily, Doctorow reminds us that it can't be "verified," as we only have police reports to draw on) that Coalhouse commits what is known as "suicide by cop." We know he has no desire to live, that he considers his pride restored and his demands met, and as he gives himself up, we're told he's aware that the slightest movement will cause the officers to fire. With the guns all drawn on him, all he has to do in order to die (if this is indeed his desire) is to make a sudden movement. Doctorow implies that this is what he does. (Although there is a degree of uncertainty surrounding the events, and Doctorow's narrator pretends not to know for sure what happened.)
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