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Chapter 1
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Ragtime, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
The American Dream
Replication and Transformation
Freedom, Human Dignity, and Justice
The Cult of Celebrity
Women’s Roles
Social Inequities
Summary
Analysis
Houdini’s surprise arrival interrupted Mother and Father in the act of having sex. They don’t resume their relations until the night before Father’s departure. Mother genteelly closes her eyes and holds her hands over her ears. She worries that the happy years of their lives are ending.
Mother and Father’s sexual relationship also harks backward to the 19th century and stands in stark contrast to the salacious rumors about the White-Thaw-Nesbit love triangle with which the book opens. Here, Mother plays the role of angel of the home—caring and loving but without carnal desire.
Themes
The next day, the family sees Father off. At the train station, he shakes Little Boy’s and Mother’s Younger Brother’s hands. He kisses Mother’s cheek. When Peary’s expedition sets sail from New York City with great fanfare, it all seems surreal to Father, at least until they’re out at sea. Not far out from New York, they pass an inbound vessel bearing hundreds of immigrants. Father feels a stab of despair at the sight, even though he knows that immigrants are among his best customers.
Like Houdini’s chance visit, Father’s voyage interrupts the carefully balanced structure and order of the family’s lives. When Father leaves, his family (and, in his mind, his country) is orderly, predictable, and old-fashioned. What will happen in his absence remains to be seen. The immigrants cause Father despair because they represent the changing fabric of the American character.
Themes
