Examining the Limitations of Law in E.L Doctorows Ragtime

The novel Ragtime written by Edgar Lawrence Doctorow, introduces us to the United states social and political climate of the early 20th century. Doctorow’s Ragtime novel deals with three families namely, white Anglo family, black family, and an immigrant family. The narrative focuses on the study of the system and not individual work. At the beginning of the novel, we see that all three families had a segregated way of existence, but by the end of the story, the three families have become one in a uniquely American type of ethnic heterogeneity. While reading Doctorow’s novel, one will notice many issues coming up in different chapters, some of them are morality, change, time, injustice, woman and fraternity, repression, etc. Through this novel, we also understand the difficulty of accepting change. We understand the change through the reactions of different characters. Some characters welcome the change with a warm heart and smile while others reject the change and struggle with it.The main ideas of the novel are to find ‘the truth of the American nature’, ‘the motion picture and photography’ and ‘the ambivalence in the Narrators voice’. The focus of Gerard Genette is to reveal how Doctorow combines history as the hypo text and his novel. The novel challenges the reader to question the nature of historical truth. Keywords – ragtime, American, families, Gerard Genette.