Why Can't Father Live On?
In class, an interesting idea was raised that Father, Younger Brother,
and Coalhouse's lives ended before the end of the book because their personas could not live on in history. Their styles of life were all expired. They were unfit to live in the post-Gilded Age Era, and they needed to die.
and Coalhouse's lives ended before the end of the book because their personas could not live on in history. Their styles of life were all expired. They were unfit to live in the post-Gilded Age Era, and they needed to die.
It's interesting to say that their styles of life were expired when their styles seem so different from each other. Father seemed to be trying to embody a Victorian style of life. He clearly had "outdated" perceptions of gender roles, racial relations, etc. so it doesn't seem to be much of a surprise to me that Father has to die.
However, Younger Brother was a character that seemed to at least be trying to modernize (aspiring to be "woke" as one may say.) Why did he have to die? Well, I'm honestly not too sure, but one theory is that Younger Brother is too dependent for the next era. First Evelyn, then Coalhouse, then the Mexican revolution. Even when he is working, he works for his sister and brother-in-law's company. And even housing-wise, Younger Brother lives with his sister's family. He isn't really ever independent and so maybe that's why Doctorow needed to kill him.
And then Coalhouse. Coalhouse was representative of ideas that were beyond his time. His ideas needed to die in order to be reincarnated later during the 20th century.
So then as readers, we are left to wonder why Mother and Tateh survive. What did they do differently and what ideas do they represent in the post-Gilded Age.
I think that the reason that Mother and Tateh survived and made it through the Gilded Age is that they weren't radicals (by the end) but they were both able to change. Mother became much more independent as the book progressed and Tateh became more successful and less radical.
ReplyDeleteTo me Younger Brother died because he was always giving his life to a cause, and it wouldn't make sense for him to survive that dangerous commitment. I think there's also a lot of validity in the idea that he died because his commitment was less about individual movements, and more about trying to find a purpose, and Doctorow may be criticizing that. Mother and Tateh serve as a surface level wrap up to the American ideal of the "melting pot", but in fact actually is dark and upsetting because of the way the kids are seen and Tateh's sexism and I think it's Doctorow reminding us that there wasn't a happy ending. No matter how hard we look for one.
ReplyDeleteAlthough Father doesn't live, I think it is notable that he dies perfectly successful. In fact, he's probably at the height of his career financially when the Lusitania goes boom boom. And Morgan, who I would've assumed to be part of the same archaic generation as Father, remains successful as well. I think Doctorow is acknowledging that although they're leaving, the times have not changed all that much and the years to come will be shaped by the impact they've left.
ReplyDeleteI wrote a recent blog post about Mother's development, and I think her mindset moves into the new era, but Father is left behind, so he dies with the era that was marked by happy, prosperous patriotism. It seems to me like younger brother follows a different specific thing each time in several points in his life, and they grow more mature over time and more connected to a real political consciousness. However, the ideas he associates with fade after Emma Goldman's deportation, so Younger Brother first leaves the United States, then dies in Mexico. Coalhouse's ideas are not in any way left behind, however. His death, I think, has more to do with the end of his story than the end of the ideas, especially as those ideas persist under the surface of society until they reemerge after WWII.
ReplyDeleteHmm. Interesting. I think you're definitely right about Coalhouse and about Father, but I'm not sure about Younger Brother. Younger Brother really is a dependent character through the novel, he has to latch onto the next movement - maybe Doctorow kills Younger Brother because he represents a generation which needs to be part of a movement? So in a sense, he dies not because he can't adjust to the change of times, he dies because he as a character seeks no individuality - he always wants to be someone else, or to be anonymous. I don't really know what this means in the allegory of the book about the social issues of the ragtime era, but I think maybe Doctorow kills him because it's what he really wants - to slip out of sight under a larger narrative.
ReplyDeleteI think Doctorow killed off Younger Brother for a somewhat romantic reason, which is ironic in a postmodern book. Given he aspires to be a part of something greater than himself the entire book, it would make sense for him to die only after he truly feels as if he is part of a group. Once he dies , his name fades into obscurity while the beliefs he advocated for so strongly live on. This permanently completes his transformation from individual to group-member.
ReplyDeleteI feel more strongly about this idea with Father than with Younger Brother. Within the fictional-historical frame, Father can't "survive" into the modern era because in so many ways the world has already left him behind--these shifts have been happening steadily since the first pages of the novel, so by the end, there really seems to be no place for him anymore. (The future belongs to commercial artists in the entertainment industry, like Tateh.) In so many ways, as you imply, YB represents the future--young white people who want to renounce their privilege and align themselves as allies with various oppressed groups. This was certainly a common MO for a white radical college student in the years during which _Ragtime_ was written--we could say that YB is "ahead of his time" in his anticipation of groups like the Weather Underground or would-be white allies of the Black Panthers. But Doctorow does seem ultimately cynical about the efficacy of white participation in minority causes, as for all his good intentions, YB disappears into obscurity in Mexico, as if swallowed whole by history itself. By the same token, though, Goldman--a recurring voice of radical reason in this novel--also must be deported in order for America to maintain its self-image. She too can't survive into Doctorow's twentieth century.
ReplyDeleteGreat post, Ayah. I think that Younger Brother had to die to show his worth in the novel. Doctorow does criticize him at times for being a bit selfish in mixing with different people and movements. But I think Doctorow held a certain respect for Younger Brother, letting him die in a revolution. Maybe we don’t know Younger Brothers sincere intentions at the time, but Doctorow lets him die to show the reader he was serious and has changed in many ways.
ReplyDeleteThe way that I see it is that Mothers Younger Brother didn't specifically die because his cause and beliefs died - he died because that's what his beliefs were. He was willing to sacrifice himself for his cause, and he did. I agree with your points about Father and Coalhouse dying along with their beliefs in a sense, but I think MYB's death is in its own thread, especially because we hear that he lives for much longer until he dies his painful death.
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