The ending of the novel was quite unlike the way the rest of the book flowed. There were multiple complex stories and characters coming together to form one narrative. Along the way we got to see mother and her character development, along with fathers lack of it. We saw Houdini navigate his inner struggles and even finding his worth in some way as he continues to preform. We saw Coalhouse Walker and Sarah and their impact on the family and the world. We followed Mother's Younger Brother who's narrative seems to always be driven by other people, much like his name suggests. The book was relatively slow paced for the most part until the ending. The book took a deep inside look into all the characters and showed us how each reacts differently to the same situation. Such as how each family member reacted in a different way to Walker entering the home and coming into their lives. And even how he impacted them after.
The very end of the book seemed very rushed and vague. Almost like Doctorow took a step back and watched the rest of the characters from a birds-eye view. It took the very cliché turn of how at the end of a documentary or movie it shows where the characters are at now. The other odd thing was how Doctorow briefly mentioned WW1 like it was just another event. Although one can say that is classic Doctorow nature as we've seen in other parts of the novel. It just didn't do the book justice, it didn't really feel as though the story closed per-say, more like it came to a sudden stop.
Ragtime music is kind of similar to how the book is written in the sense that there are multiple parts coming together to create a piece of music. However, at the end as described in the scene where Walker plays for the family, it tends to leave a ring or a lasting boom. The ending of the novel didn't really give that vibe. More like a confused sudden stop, rather than a wow moment. Also most characters kind of just died off which kind of made it feel like he need a way to get rid of them so that he didn't have to essentially close their stories.
Great post! I definitely agree with you that the ending felt rushed. It's weird how at the beginning of the novel, all of the characters' stories are elaborated on well and detailed. At the end of the novel though, once Coalhouse's story comes to an end he just abruptly ends everyone else's stories.
ReplyDeleteI definitely agree that the story ended with a bit of a whimper, but I do also think it was purposeful on Doctorow's part. The ending feels like Doctorow just shrugging and saying "but what does it all matter", and closing the book on the stories of the characters within. But for me personally, I don't think that took away from the story or diminished it with a lackluster ending. That desolate, more-bitter-than-sweet conclusion, that zooms out and makes the rest of the story feel a little pointless or like ants scurrying around on the ground, brought together the rest of the novel for me. It grounded, albeit in a depressing way, a story that had been flying in every direction beforehand.
ReplyDeleteI very much enjoyed your depiction of the novel as a piece of music, and your interpretation of the ending as a sudden stop is spot on. Well, perhaps not a sudden stop, but almost like the last 30 seconds of the piece were put in 2x speed and then there was suddenly silence. You're completely right that it doesn't flow, and that the reader is felt feeling almost betrayed. To really read a novel and to invest ones emotions into the stories of the characters is hard work, and we didn't get the careful detailed solution we all wanted. Maybe it would even have been okay if we got the same result for the characters, but in a longer format that fit more with the previous tone. Great post.
ReplyDeleteI also agree that the ending of Ragtime felt very off and strange. Despite Doctorow stating that the era of ragtime is coming to an end, I still feel like a more deep conclusion would have highlighted n already great story. If Doctorow is going to go through all that effort to create his own interpretation of the ragtime period, the least he can do is give us readers a slightly deeper look into the future of this world. Good post :)
ReplyDeleteGreat post! I definitely agree that the ending deeply contrasted the pacing of the rest of the novel. After all the build up and the connections we built with the characters it I definitely felt betrayed, and disrespected. Its almost as if Doctorow was trying to flaunt his power as the author. Chaotic and a bit confusing, I'm not sure if Doctorow was trying to make a statement with this abrupt ending. I disagree a bit with your point that the ending doesn't really match the melodic cadence of ragtime. In a way the last chapter felt like I was watching one of those black and white videos of people bustling about while ragtime plays, especially the ones that are sped up. However, I completely agree that this was not similar to the satisfying ring or lasting boom that ragtime pieces typically leave.
ReplyDeleteI thought the same thing about it ending like a weird documentary. I wonder what the story would have been like if Doctorow had decided to follow a different era that accounted for a different portion of these characters lives. He seemed to clock out after the ragtime era ended, but ragtime itself actually didn't have as big of a role in the novel as I thought it would, so i wonder if he could have followed something else and ended differently. Call the book Automobile or something.
ReplyDeleteI think your comparison of the ending of Ragtime to Ragtime music is so interesting - I had never thought of it that way. The ending of the novel definitely felt like more of a staccato and abrupt ending. Something that left you waiting for more. It felt like a a music piece had ended, but the audience wasn't sure whether to start clapping or not. I think Doctorow might have done this intentionally, to show that the ending of an era is rarely as cut and dry as we think it is, and can definitely end in awkward ways at times.
ReplyDeleteI also thought that the ending was very different from the rest of the book. Doctorow manages to kill off a lot of his characters really fast -- within a single chapter, actually. The ending was a little anticlimactic and unexpected, like someone suddenly hit the "fast forward" button and let the rest of the movie zoom by without fully fleshing out the details. I do think the way he did it was kind of postmodernist. You mentioned that he zoomed past the big and important WWI like it was nothing, and yet he hyperfocused on the lives of what many would argue were "less important than WWI" people and events in America. But who are we to define what "important" and "less important" are, when every person has differing values?
ReplyDeleteI think the ending reminded me a lot of how Doctorow started off the book. The short choppy structure, with a complete lack of empathy, is what we saw in the first chapters. Although I agree that the ending was unsatisfying, I think it fit perfectly into a major theme of the book: "history goes on". In typical pieces of fiction, we would expect full conclusions where the story is wrapped up and leaves you with no dying questions, but history isn't the same. It simply keeps moving whether we want it to or not. Great post!
ReplyDeleteIn many ways, I think the ending and it's seemingly "rushed" and "vague" nature, as you described, shows the power that Doctorow has as the fictional writer. While many storylines still may have deserved further descriptions or in-depth conclusions before the novel ends, Doctorow ultimately holds the decisions to end the narrative in whatever manner he likes, despite the continued story that we were expecting and deem necessary to a proper conclusion. We don't deserve the full explanation of a given event, start to finish, as we might in a history book. As much as Ragtime builds historical characters and societal ideals/issues that seem quite real to us, Doctorow reminds us of Ragtime's fictional nature.
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