American Society: as Seen Through a Baseball Game
As psychologist Robert Johnson noted,”History has always been a series of pendulum swings, but the individual doesn't have to get caught in that.” The social ‘pendulum’ swing has been evident throughout history, but particularly evident during the period of the early 1900s leading up to the roaring twenties. In E.L. Doctorow’s Ragtime, Father, a main character, has trouble fitting into the new world. One must inquire deeper into the work to find that the author’s use of literary devices and writing style reflect Father’s discontent with his own life, and the new America being built around him. During the story, taking place mainly in the New York City area from 1902 until 1912, Father takes his son, referred to by the author as “Little Boy”, to a baseball game, a classic American sport, and the passage can be analyzed to reveal a deeper meaning in the context of the plot, and in the context of the country during that time. …show more content…
An important personal theme for Father is the lack of care for his son, and the baseball game is representative of that. He takes Little Boy to the baseball game, hoping to bond with him at a traditional American sporting event, but is annoyed when he arrives to find how different it is, remembering instead when he played at Harvard and the game was played "avidly, but as sportsmen" (194). He had been away for a long time on the Peary expedition, and he attempts to make up for his emotional absence from Little Boy but unsuccessfully, only to realize his failure as a Father. Later during the baseball game, Father has a realization as
As psychologist Robert Johnson noted,”History has always been a series of pendulum swings, but the individual doesn't have to get caught in that.” The social ‘pendulum’ swing has been evident throughout history, but particularly evident during the period of the early 1900s leading up to the roaring twenties. In E.L. Doctorow’s Ragtime, Father, a main character, has trouble fitting into the new world. One must inquire deeper into the work to find that the author’s use of literary devices and writing style reflect Father’s discontent with his own life, and the new America being built around him. During the story, taking place mainly in the New York City area from 1902 until 1912, Father takes his son, referred to by the author as “Little Boy”, to a baseball game, a classic American sport, and the passage can be analyzed to reveal a deeper meaning in the context of the plot, and in the context of the country during that time. …show more content…
An important personal theme for Father is the lack of care for his son, and the baseball game is representative of that. He takes Little Boy to the baseball game, hoping to bond with him at a traditional American sporting event, but is annoyed when he arrives to find how different it is, remembering instead when he played at Harvard and the game was played "avidly, but as sportsmen" (194). He had been away for a long time on the Peary expedition, and he attempts to make up for his emotional absence from Little Boy but unsuccessfully, only to realize his failure as a Father. Later during the baseball game, Father has a realization as