Ragtime

by

E. L. Doctorow

Willie Conklin Character Analysis

Willie Conklin is the chief of the Emerald Isle volunteer fire company in New Rochelle, New York. An Irish American man, Conklin takes offense when Coalhouse Walker Jr. begins frequenting the neighborhood on his visits to Sarah because Walker drives a brand-new Model T and wears flashy clothes. Conklin’s harassment of Walker, which culminates in ruining his car, helps to precipitate Walker’s campaign of violence. Even after this begins, Conklin holds himself as an aggrieved victim since he expects the white people of the community to rally in his support.

Willie Conklin Quotes in Ragtime

The Ragtime quotes below are all either spoken by Willie Conklin or refer to Willie Conklin. 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 24 Quotes

There is no question then that Younger Brother was fortunate to conceive a loyalty to the colored man. Standing at the pond he heard the lapping of the water against the front fenders of the Model T. He noted that the hood was unlatched, and lifting and folding it back, saw that the wires had been torn from the engine. The sun was now setting and it threw a reflection of blue sky on the dark water of the pond. There ran through him a small current of rage, perhaps one-hundredth, he knew, of what Coalhouse Walker must have felt, and it was salutary.

Related Characters: Coalhouse Walker Jr. , Father, Mother’s Younger Brother, Evelyn Nesbit, Willie Conklin
Related Symbols: Model T
Page Number: 182-183
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 31 Quotes

But now the authorities were embarrassed. The Ford stood as tangible proof of the Black man’s grievance. Waterlogged and wrecked, it offended the sensibilities of anyone who respected machines and valued what they could do. After its picture was published people began to come see it in such numbers that the police had to cordon off the area. Feeling that they had compromised themselves the Mayor and the Board of Aldermen issued a new series of condemnations of the colored madman and said that to negotiate with him in any way at all, to face him with less than an implacable demand to surrender himself, would be to invite every renegade and radical and black man in the country to flout the law and spit upon the American flag.

Related Characters: Coalhouse Walker Jr. , Willie Conklin
Related Symbols: Model T
Page Number: 237
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 37 Quotes

It is a great honor for me to meet you, sir, [Coalhouse] said. I have always stood in admiration for you. He looked at the marble floor. It is true I am a musician and a man of years. But I would hope this might suggest to you the solemn calculation of my mind. And that therefore, possibly, we might both be servants of our color who insist on the truth of our manhood and the respect it demands. Washington was so stunned by this suggestion that he began to lose consciousness. Coalhouse led him from the hall into the West Rom and sat him down in one of the red plush chairs. Regaining his composure Washington […] gazed at the marble mantle of the fireplace as big as a man. He lanced upward at the polychrome ceiling that had originally come from the palace of Cardinal Gigli in Lucca.

Related Characters: Coalhouse Walker Jr. (speaker), John Pierpont Morgan , Willie Conklin, Booker T. Washington
Page Number: 282
Explanation and Analysis:
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Willie Conklin Quotes in Ragtime

The Ragtime quotes below are all either spoken by Willie Conklin or refer to Willie Conklin. 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 24 Quotes

There is no question then that Younger Brother was fortunate to conceive a loyalty to the colored man. Standing at the pond he heard the lapping of the water against the front fenders of the Model T. He noted that the hood was unlatched, and lifting and folding it back, saw that the wires had been torn from the engine. The sun was now setting and it threw a reflection of blue sky on the dark water of the pond. There ran through him a small current of rage, perhaps one-hundredth, he knew, of what Coalhouse Walker must have felt, and it was salutary.

Related Characters: Coalhouse Walker Jr. , Father, Mother’s Younger Brother, Evelyn Nesbit, Willie Conklin
Related Symbols: Model T
Page Number: 182-183
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 31 Quotes

But now the authorities were embarrassed. The Ford stood as tangible proof of the Black man’s grievance. Waterlogged and wrecked, it offended the sensibilities of anyone who respected machines and valued what they could do. After its picture was published people began to come see it in such numbers that the police had to cordon off the area. Feeling that they had compromised themselves the Mayor and the Board of Aldermen issued a new series of condemnations of the colored madman and said that to negotiate with him in any way at all, to face him with less than an implacable demand to surrender himself, would be to invite every renegade and radical and black man in the country to flout the law and spit upon the American flag.

Related Characters: Coalhouse Walker Jr. , Willie Conklin
Related Symbols: Model T
Page Number: 237
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 37 Quotes

It is a great honor for me to meet you, sir, [Coalhouse] said. I have always stood in admiration for you. He looked at the marble floor. It is true I am a musician and a man of years. But I would hope this might suggest to you the solemn calculation of my mind. And that therefore, possibly, we might both be servants of our color who insist on the truth of our manhood and the respect it demands. Washington was so stunned by this suggestion that he began to lose consciousness. Coalhouse led him from the hall into the West Rom and sat him down in one of the red plush chairs. Regaining his composure Washington […] gazed at the marble mantle of the fireplace as big as a man. He lanced upward at the polychrome ceiling that had originally come from the palace of Cardinal Gigli in Lucca.

Related Characters: Coalhouse Walker Jr. (speaker), John Pierpont Morgan , Willie Conklin, Booker T. Washington
Page Number: 282
Explanation and Analysis: