Sacrifice and the American Dream in the Works of E.L Doctorow Essay

Sacrifice and the American Dream in the Works of E.L Doctorow Throughout the works of E.L. Doctorow, many facets of American society argon explored, ranging from the plight of the homeless to the idiosyncrasies of the rich. A persistent theme prevalent in all of his novels is the existence of the American dream. He looks fascinated by up social mobility, especially when it involves the impoverished and underprivileged. Yet Doctorow also points out that with the supremacy or attempted success of the American dream, one must strive sacrifices, compromising morality, physical well-being, conscience, or identity. The overall benefits, though, of achieving prosperity, equality, or acceptance seem to always outweigh the adverse affects that result from chasing the enduring dream. In his just about acclaimed novel to date, Doctorow tells a story of the intersection of three very antithetic families(Weiss n. pag.) during the gilded era of the 1910s. Titled after the ubiquitous mu sic of the decade, ragtime chronicles the clashing social, economic, and political ideas that plagued the beginning of the century. The three seemingly separate families fork over a cross section of the diverse American culture predominating this point of history. The first household represents the White Anglo-Saxon Protestant(WASP) culture, one which supposedly has already achieved the American dream. The other two families represent certain ethnic and racial groups who strive to attain the dream throughout the novel. But in prosecute this, they are each forced to pay a certain price. In most of his novels, Doctorow seems particularly compelled by the storiesof...poor immigrants(Righteous 112) Ragtime is no excepti... ...September1980. pp 38-40. Rpt in nineteenth Century Literary Criticism. Detroit Gale, 1981 pp. 78 Johnson, Diane. The Righteous Artist. Terrorists and Novelists. New York Knopf 1982 pp. 141-149 Rpt. In nineteenth Century Literary Criticism. Detroit Gale, 1981, pp. 112-115 ______. Waiting for Righty. The New York Review of Books Online http//www.nybooks.com/nyrev.htm 5/7/99, n. pag. Litz, A. Walton ed. American Writers Part I Angelou-Hogan. London Scribners, 1996, pp. 222-231 The National Experience. Orlando, Florida Harcourt, 1993, pp. 429 Prescott, Peter S. getting Into Dutch Newsweek February 13, 1989, pp. 76 Weiss, Heidi. The Revolutions of Ragtime. Chicago Sun-Times October 25, 1998 Willis, Garry. Jugglers Code The New York Review of Books Online http//www.nybooks.com/nyrev.htm5/5/99, n. pag.