Unseen Prose from Ragtime by Edgar Lawrence Doctorow

Insight and Analysis

The novel Ragtime published in 1975

• Captures the spirit of America in the era between the turn of the 20th century and the first world war;

• Blends fictional characters and historical figures into narrative framework that revolves around characters, events, and ideas important in American history;

• The novel – unusual for the irreverent way that historical figures such as Henry Ford, Harry Houdini, JP Morgan, and Emma Goldman are woven into the narrative;

The Scarlet Letter: A Romance published in 1850

• Captures the spirit of immigrants from England making up the Puritan community of New England in the 1640s before it became independent America in 1776 following the American War of Independence;

• Blends fictional characters and historical figures, notably Governor Richard Bellingham (1592-1672), and the Reverend Mr. John Wilson, (1591-1667)

• Also blends the real with the imaginary – that of elements of fantasy within an allegorical narrative framework springing from The Custom House, and symbolically centered on the three Scaffold Scenes around which are presented characters, events, and ideas from different narrative points of view, and alternate versions of events;

Examples of elements of Fantasy from The Custom House p32 and End of Chapter 3, p64

I happened to place it on my breast. It seemed to me, then, that I experienced a sensation not altogether physical, yet almost so, as of burning heat; as if the letter were not of red cloth, but red-hot iron. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~With the same hard demeanour, she was led back to prison, and vanished from the public gaze within its iron-clamped portal. It was whispered, by those who peered after her, that the scarlet letter threw a lurid gleam along the dark passage-way of the interior.

From Chapter 4 p67

As he spoke, he laid his long forefinger on the scarlet letter, which forthwith seemed to scorch into Hester’s breast, as if it had been red-hot.

Reminder / Remember • This blending / fusion of the fantastical dimension / element in

Hawthorne’s narrative method is central to his concept of Romance; in what Hawthorne refers to as the ‘imaginative faculty’; blending / fusing – the Actual and the Imaginary; ‘the real world and fairyland’

• the novel for that reason is subtitled ‘A Romance’

• The details and justification for this narrative approach / method is made apparent to the reader in the prefacing Custom-House chapter - See in particular pages 35 to 37

Hawthorne’s Narrative Style applied to the Doctorow Passage

The immigrants were immediately sensitive to the power of the immigration officials which seemed so agonizingly strange and enormously threatening that it seemed to manifest itself through a dazzling nightmarish green light that radiated from their eyes as if they were beings from an otherworldly demonic dimension. After the immigrants were name-tagged, the ignominious letters of their new name forthwith seemed to scorch into each one’s breast, as if it had been red-hot. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~How does adopting elements of Hawthorne’s narrative method to this passage modify / alter intended Effects?

Unseen prose from the novel, RagtimeOpening two paragraphs of Chapter 3

• Central framework of ideas: Presents a descriptive account of American immigration officials and the arrival of European immigrants in the United States at the turn of the 20th century from a third person narrative perspective;

Structure of the Passage – (Development / Progression of the central tension)• First paragraph the narrator describes their arrival and initial

experiences of New York;• The second paragraph – shift in angle of narrative perspective

to focus on what is for many immigrants their eventual fate;

Methods of Presentation

• Critical Insight: The narrator presents the immigrants throughout as passive; they do not act; rather things happen to them, and as a result they react;

How? Stylistic Analysis:• The grammatical subjects of most of the first few

sentences refer to the immigrants, but NOTICE - • the verbs they govern are predominantly expressed in the

passive voice of the verb – ‘they were taken,’ ‘they were tagged’, ‘they were given showers and arranged on benches, ‘they were somehow absorbed in the tenements, ‘they were despised’;

Analysis (cont)

• It is only when the narrative point of view shifts to convey the prejudices of the already established community of New Yorkers, that actions are attributed to them such as –

• ‘They stole. They drank. They raped their own daughters. They killed each other casually.’

• The brevity of these syntactic descriptions are indicative of the New Yorker’s dismissive attitudes, thus suggestively calling into question their authenticity, their reliability.

Analysis (cont)Contrasting Power and Passivity

Contrasting the passivity of the immigrants are the active verb forms used to describe the behaviour of the Immigration Officials they meet on their arrival that demonstrates the force of their authority and their dazzling power: • ‘These officials changed names they couldn’t

pronounce and tore people from their families…’

Analysis (cont)Note Connotations

• The noun phrase ‘human warehouse’ together with the narrator’s description of the immigration process, characterize the American society of the time as mechanized, dealing with people in much the same way as it deals with goods;

• Their passivity in the face of this social machine continues in the second paragraph with their final submission to this process:

Analysis (cont)

• ‘Wagons picked up derelicts’ (Note connotations) • These derelicts are then laid to rest in a wholly

mechanical setting where the human response to their American experience seems to be taken over by machinery (again noting connotations) -

• ‘The faces of the dead were upturned into the streams of water that poured over them like the irrepressible mechanism in death of their own tears,’ whose precision is then dispassionately described in clinical expository detail:

Analysis

‘The corpses lay on tables of galvanized iron. From the bottom of each table a drainpipe extended to the floor. Around the rim of the table was a culvert. And into the culvert ran the water sprayed constantly over each body from an overhead faucet.’ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Note diction, and connotations of key words;Intended effects?

Synoptic OverviewNoting also the Irony

• The passage overall effectively encapsulates the progressive degradation and final destruction of these immigrants by a dehumanizing society;

• At the end of the first paragraph there are two expansions of narrative perspective:

• One social, giving the views of the New Yorkers;• The other perspective is historical – ‘Among those who

despise them the most were the second-generation Irish, whose fathers had been guilty of the same crimes’ – ironically suggesting that the whole process is doomed to repetition.

Two Narrative Prose Styles

• Is the voice of the narrator intended to be understood as being spoken or written?

1) Loose style / Additive or Coordinating Style / ‘Go-with-the-flow’ casual type of narrative style• The effect of not being planned, of no order, no

control, but of spontaneity, haphazardness, and chance; mirroring thought in free motion;

2) A more deliberative, subordinating style • Suggestive of thought being carefully rehearsed; achieved

by being carefully planned in advance; more controlled;

Extract from Engleby a novel by Sebastian Faulks

I don’t do much these days, but I find listening to music helps distract me. I’m allowed a radio and CD player in my room and I’ve been hearing one or two of the old records I used to like at university. What I’m looking for is songs that buy into the human illusion in a really simple way, but have just a touch of comfort in them. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Illustrative of the Loose / Additive Style