Contradictions in Ragtime

In Doctorow's "Ragtime" there were several things that stood out to me, but the most prominent was the contradictions depicted in America's society throughout the first few chapters. On one hand the top levels of society lived in lavish homes, some were even palaces. “He had designed her home in the style of a doge palace.” (p. 32). On the other hand the immigrants lived in tenements that were poorly designed and were so tightly packed that they quickly became centers of disease whenever some new disease broke out. When the father left on Perry’s expedition to the North Pole, the expedition left with much fanfare and expectations were high for them. However when a ship of immigrants came in to port no one even noticed besides the officials on Ellis Island, even though the immigrants would probably have a greater impact on America than whether or not Perry’s expedition managed to make it to the Pole. The poor lived harsh lives full of suffering and hardship, while the rich had their every whim catered to. Yet they lived in a constant state of flux, both classes lived side by side. Doctorow illustrates this through his continued switching of the viewpoint of the novel. First one character is described and the plot flows around them, and then a character they interact with or think about is used. Then the next character is referenced and the viewpoint switches to them. And through the continued use of this style Doctorow manages to illustrate how interconnected all the levels of society were. So the question is what kind of influence did this constant intermixing and flux have on the characters? Also how much of it is real, and how much of it was invented by Doctorow in order to have the novel flow properly. Assumedly there was a fairly large amount of interconnectedness among the people of that time frame. The ranks of the rich and the poor were constantly changing as some poor families realized the American dream and made their fortunes, while some members of the rich lost their fortunes through bad luck or bad decisions. The constant stream of new immigrants also contributed since as the older generations of immigrants settled into the culture of America and became integrated, they also rose in the ranks of society. At which point a new wave of immigrants would fill the lowest slots.