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…

…essed that one small incident would change Coalhouse into a criminal, a murderer, and running from the law. This example perfectly illustrates the atmosphere of high chaos in the book. It is clear that Doctorow believes the early century to be a random and crazy time. Doctorow believes that in the early 1900's anything could happen. Little on the earth was regulated and many laws were not enforced to the extent they should have been.