During this time period, a very important speech known as the Atlanta Compromise was given by Booker T. Washington, who makes an appearance in the …show more content…
The only non-white who has a “happy ending,” is Tateh, but only after he sells his soul by abandoning his old political beliefs and cultural identity. In the beginning of the novel, Doctorow portrays him as hardworking and respectable. He goes as far as to disassociate with Evelyn when he learns of her worldly and promiscuous Hollywood life, but in the end of the novel, he is producing the same type of Hollywood movies that she starred in. Only after he abandoned his anarchist ways, stopped fighting for his rights, and decided to assimilate, was he allowed by the white population to be successful. Tateh even goes as far as to dye is hair in his efforts to assimilate and forget his