Response 1

 1.)     Ragtime music became a popular form of music, especially in North America, back in the early nineteen hundreds, and originated in African American communities. I find it ironic that it became popular considering how prevalent racism was back in that time period. This form of music often used racial slurs which eventually created a number of derogatory imitation songs which were referred to as “coon songs”. The title seems to work perfect because racism is a major theme portrayed in this book by a number of characters such as Father, Coalhouse, Booker T. Washington and more. 

Coalhouse  Walker is a very interesting character when you talk about racism during the early nineteen hundreds. He was a African American ragtime pianist and the father of the baby that was found buried alive by Sarah, and eventually gets Sarah’s courtship. Coalhouse was also well-off and drove a Ford Model-T which was a good car at the time. Not many African Americans were well off back then because there was still much racism and segregation. Coalhouse is a very well spoken, proud individual unlike many other African Americans during this time. Later in the novel, a number of things happen to him which make him change. He is confronted by fire chief Willie Conklin and his crew who vandalize his car, he is arrested by the police when trying to seek help, lawyers will not help him, the courthouse “loses” his paperwork, and his wife, Sarah eventually dies after being beaten by secret service. Because of his expectations of how he should be treated clash with how other people treat him, he eventually breaks from his original persona and becomes the “angry black male”. He eventually leads a rebel group to J.P. Morgan’s library with the intent to kidnap him and kill Conklin. This is when his new personality clashes with Booker T. Washington’s, who urges him to not set his race back by acting out on his intentions. He eventually agrees and after letting his rebel friends escape, he surrenders but it gunned down in a hale of gunfire. It was said that he was reaching for something and that is why he was fired upon.                                                                                                                                                                                                   The function of Coalhouse in this novel is to portray how African Americans were treated back then. There was racism everywhere to the point that when Coalhouse needed the help of police officers, he became the subject of their scrutiny. His character functions as a way to describe what type of race relations African Americans were going through at the turn of the century. Although many African Americans did not speak up against racism, or challenge the way they were treated, some of them did, so Coalhouse was in a way representing all of the African Americans  of his time who had also challenged the racist consensus or doxa. In a way, Doctorow was reenforcing homogenized myths, such as black people not having the rights and respect they should have, and being, in my opinion, slaves of the system, but he does this uniquely in how he first portrays Coalhouse as a well spoken, well off, proud African American. To introduce his character with qualities that go against the general consensus of society during that time period, he was able to show the subjective view of a black man who was economically well off in society, change into what society refers to as the  stereotypical”angry black male”.

2.) As we talked about in class, a metonym is a way of describing someone or a situation indirectly by referring to things around it. I believe Coalhouse wasand still is a metonym for strong African Americans who stand up for their rights and who demand respect. In a way, he could be a metonym for the Black Panther Party. They fought for black power, and although Coalhouse was not necessarily fighting for black power, he was in a way fighting for himself as a black person againest the general consensus when he became a rebel. He used agitation to get his way much like the Black Panthers did during the 1960’s and seventies. They also fought against police brutality, which Coalhouse’s wife was a victim of, and so was Coalhouse himself in a way. Doctorow could have had social movements such has theirs in mind when creating Coalhouse.                                                                                                                                 While I agree that a social network is not homogenous, in that people change as the time changes, I will say that general consensus can be homogenous throughout history in the way some people think about different race’s or gender. Maybe I did not quite understand the question, but I really did not get a new understanding of American society after reading this.