Father's Return Home

     In chapter 14 Father returns home from his trip to the arctic. The first thing he notices is that Mother is holding a stranger's baby. Doctorow writes, "He wandered through the house finding everywhere signs of his own exclusion" (109). Father notices many other differences in the household from before he left. This change surprises him because it is his own home and he has always been up-to-date in everything that is going on in it. So what does this mean in the context of the historical time period?

    Another change Father notices is the role Mother plays in their family and in the community. She has become much more independent and confident in her identity and behavior. Mother has started making decisions for the company, she decided to take legal responsibility for Sarah and the baby, she has started reading literature from more perspectives, and she has become less "vigorously modest" in the bedroom. This relates to the time period, as this was a period where there was a lot of activism for women's suffrage. Near the end of the Ragtime era women had also gotten the right to vote. So in this aspect, Mother represents the changing social perspective of people during this time period.

    If the idea of a more modern social perspective for the time is represented by Mother, what does Father represent? Father, could be seen as the exact opposite; his behavior can be compared to the traditional perspective of the time. When he arrives home his character could be represented as the traditional mindset being met by progressive ideas. One example of this is the way Father sees himself in the mirror. When he is on the arctic mission and not yet familiarized with modern ideology, he sees himself as strong and independent in the mirror. When Father returns home and is met with the new ideas, he sees himself as much weaker and deteriorated. He feels estranged from his family. He realizes that he needs Mother and is not able to do everything on his own.

    With Mother's change influencing Father's realization that he is weak on his own, we can also draw a connection between their representations. The novel might be saying that the changing social perspective of the time period (Mother), made certain people with traditional ideology (Father), realize that they are hindering themselves and society by restricting the adoption of these new ideas. Essentially, Doctorow might be showing us a metaphorical comparison to the changing points of view during the time period of this book.

    

Comments

  1. Vraj P.February 1, 2022 at 9:15 AM

    I agree that Mother and Father's dynamic represent the changing viewpoints in the era. Mother is depicted as more open to the changes and willing to embrace those changes, while Father is more hesitant. The family as a whole kind of symbolizes the progressive shift that happened during this time period. Great job!

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  2. Emily SFebruary 10, 2022 at 10:54 PM

    i didnt really think about that, so kudos to you. i think there's for sure a connection between the switch of activism (especially considering like the national women's party and stuff like that that we conveniently just learned about in history class) with the changing and empowerment of women. I think its safe to say Father is the embodiment of the traditional period, dying with the "death of Ragtime".

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  3. SAhmad DastFebruary 18, 2022 at 9:28 PM

    I feel like this is also shown by the scene where Father sees the immigrant boat coming by as he is leaving. The immigrants represent the future of America and the changing times, which are coming towards the modern society. At the same time, Father is leaving, showing the older ideas phasing out. I believe this symbolism is shown throughout the entire boat, even up to the ending with Father's passing. His death completes the loop, along with Mother's new marriage to an immigrant (Tateh) showing that the old ways are gone now and the new ways have finally settled down.

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  4. Ethan RobertsFebruary 23, 2022 at 3:03 PM

    Hi Lukas. I also wrote a blog about this thread throughout the story, and it's pretty consistent. By the end of the book, Mother has become the embodiment of the progressive movement, while Father has literally died. This is symbolic for progressivism becoming more popular and mainstream, while conservatism had the opposite trend. Good blog.

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