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

Sacrifice and the American Dream in the deeds of E.L Doctorow Throughout the works of E.L. Doctorow, many facets of American society argon explored, ranging from the troth of the homeless to the idiosyncrasies of the rich. A persistent theme prevalent in exclusively of his fabrications is the existence of the American dream. He seems fascinated by upward kind mobility, especially when it involves the impoverished and underprivileged. Yet Doctorow also points out that with the success or attempted success of the American dream, one must make sacrifices, conciliatory morality, physical well-being, conscience, or identity. The overall benefits, though, of achieving prosperity, equality, or acceptance seem to invariably outweigh the adverse affects that result from chasing the enduring dream. In his intimately acclaimed novel to date, Doctorow tells a story of the intersection of three very different families(Weiss n. pag.) during the specious era of the 1910s. Titled after the ubiquitous music of the decade, Ragtime chronicles the strike social, economic, and political ideas that plagued the beginning of the century. The three seemingly separate families provide a cross section of the diverse American culture predominating this period of history. The prototypal 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 pass on to attain the dream throughout the novel. But in pursuing 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 19th cytosine Literary Criticism. Detroit Gale, 1981 pp. 78 Johnson, Diane. The Righteous Artist. Terrorists and Novelists. New York Knopf 1982 pp. 141-149 Rpt. In 19th ampere-second Literary Critic ism. 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.