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Chapter 11
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Ragtime, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
The American Dream
Replication and Transformation
Freedom, Human Dignity, and Justice
The Cult of Celebrity
Women’s Roles
Social Inequities
Summary
Analysis
After Tateh learns who Evelyn is at Emma Goldman’s meeting, he hastily retreats to his tenement apartment, where he spends the night and all of the following day brooding on his bad luck. Then, he packs up his and Little Girl’s meager possessions and they take the streetcar north. At the end of the line, in the Bronx, they continue their journey by switching to another line that carries them as far as Mount Vernon, New York. They sleep overnight in a public park there before boarding a streetcar bound for New Rochelle. The kindly conductor gives Little Girl a free bottle of milk for her breakfast. When Tateh and Little Girl change streetcars in New Rochelle, Mother and Little Boy happen to be in the street; Little Girl and Little Boy catch each other’s eyes for a moment.
Tateh’s obsession with female sexual purity extends to a woman whom he barely knows but whose actions he sees fit to judge as harshly as he judged his wife. His and Little Girl’s flight from the city becomes another attempt to claim the American Dream. It mirrors their flight from Europe and their streetcar voyage offers the hopeful idea that fresh starts aren't just made possible by coming to America but that they can be found within the country’s borders, too. Still, there are limits—at this point in time, the chance encounter between Little Boy and Little Girl seems to emphasize the gulf between their experiences of privilege and trauma.
Themes
In these days, it’s possible to travel quite far and very inexpensively by transferring from one interurban line to the next. Partway through the second day, Tateh and Little Girl are in Connecticut. They spend one night sleeping at a New Haven students’ boarding house before resuming their trip, which Tateh now knows will take them at least as far as Boston. After a while, Tateh realizes with a shock how happy the trip is making Little Girl, and he has his first glimpse of hope since arriving in America.
Getting out of New York City and leaving their tragic history there behind them certainly does seem to lighten the mood for both Tateh and Little Girl. It's important to keep in mind, however, that Little Girl rarely if ever speaks for herself in the book. So, readers must take Tateh’s word that the trip is good for Little Girl at face value rather than as Tateh superimposing his own feelings on her.
Themes
