Ragtime-Themes and Motifs

In the classic E.L. Doctorow novel, Ragtime, we see the combination of many motifs to represent Doctorow's view of the early century. The biggest and perhaps most important theme Doctorow applies in the novel is social tension, or the battle of the rich versus the poor. Other important themes include rebirth, racial tension, and high randomness of events. By uniting history and fiction Doctorow allows himself to write a semi-accurate interpretation of the early 1900's while also being able to strongly express his own biases and opinions of the era
It is apparent that Doctorow clearly favors the poor, lower class, in their struggle for economic and social mobility against the few, rich, and upper class citizens. Doctorow's thoughts are best depicted through the novel's characters. …