Ragtime

by

E. L. Doctorow

Robert Peary Character Analysis

Robert Peary is a historical character and arctic explorer famous for discovering the location of the geographic north pole in April of 1909. Father and Matthew Henson accompany him on this expedition, which Peary accomplishes with the help and borrowed expertise of the Indigenous Inuit peoples of Greenland, although he makes it very clear to everyone that credit for the discovery should belong to him alone.

Robert Peary Quotes in Ragtime

The Ragtime quotes below are all either spoken by Robert Peary or refer to Robert Peary. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
The American Dream Theme Icon
).
Chapter 13 Quotes

Houdini walked through the streets. His ears burned with humiliation. He wore a hat with the brim turned down. He wore a tight-fitting double-breasted linen jacket and he kept his hands in the pockets of the jacket. He wore tan trousers and brown and white shoes with pointed toes. It was a chilly autumn afternoon and most people wore coats. He moved swiftly through the crowded New York streets. He was incredibly lithe. There was a kind of act that used the real world for its stage. He couldn’t touch it. For all his achievements, he was a trickster, an illusionist, a mere magician. What was the sense of his life if people walked out of the theater and forgot him? The headlines on the newsstand said Peary had reached the Pole. The real-world act was what got into the history books.

Related Characters: Tateh (Baron Ashkenazy), Harry Houdini, Robert Peary
Page Number: 98-99
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 14 Quotes

It was apparent to them both that this time he’d stayed away too long. Downstairs Birgit put a record on the Victrola, wound the rank and sat in the parlor smoking a cigarette and listening […] She was doing what she could to lose her place. She was no longer efficient or respectful. Mother marked this change to the arrival of the colored girl. Father related it to the degrees of turn in the moral planet. He saw it everywhere, this new season, and it bewildered him. At his office he was told that the seamstresses in the flag department had joined a New York union. He put on clothes from his closet that ballooned from him as shapeless as the furs he had worn for a year.

Related Characters: Father, Mother, Sarah , Robert Peary
Page Number: 110
Explanation and Analysis:
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Ragtime PDF

Robert Peary Quotes in Ragtime

The Ragtime quotes below are all either spoken by Robert Peary or refer to Robert Peary. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
The American Dream Theme Icon
).
Chapter 13 Quotes

Houdini walked through the streets. His ears burned with humiliation. He wore a hat with the brim turned down. He wore a tight-fitting double-breasted linen jacket and he kept his hands in the pockets of the jacket. He wore tan trousers and brown and white shoes with pointed toes. It was a chilly autumn afternoon and most people wore coats. He moved swiftly through the crowded New York streets. He was incredibly lithe. There was a kind of act that used the real world for its stage. He couldn’t touch it. For all his achievements, he was a trickster, an illusionist, a mere magician. What was the sense of his life if people walked out of the theater and forgot him? The headlines on the newsstand said Peary had reached the Pole. The real-world act was what got into the history books.

Related Characters: Tateh (Baron Ashkenazy), Harry Houdini, Robert Peary
Page Number: 98-99
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 14 Quotes

It was apparent to them both that this time he’d stayed away too long. Downstairs Birgit put a record on the Victrola, wound the rank and sat in the parlor smoking a cigarette and listening […] She was doing what she could to lose her place. She was no longer efficient or respectful. Mother marked this change to the arrival of the colored girl. Father related it to the degrees of turn in the moral planet. He saw it everywhere, this new season, and it bewildered him. At his office he was told that the seamstresses in the flag department had joined a New York union. He put on clothes from his closet that ballooned from him as shapeless as the furs he had worn for a year.

Related Characters: Father, Mother, Sarah , Robert Peary
Page Number: 110
Explanation and Analysis: