Tateh's Great Escape

    In E.L. Doctorow's Ragtime, the motif of "escape" appears in many places and in many ways throughout the story. In fact, one of the most central ideas the book repeatedly explores - the near-omnipresent optimism in the "American Dream" at the dawn of the 20th century - closely relates to this central motif. At the core of that belief was the thought that anyone could succeed, regardless of their social status or any other characteristics, hence, "escaping" from societal constraints. The stories of almost all characters in Ragtime relate to this motif of escape too, whether they do so literally (like Houdini,) figuratively, or through a mix of both. Several characters' lives also include elements of the American Dream as well, moving up from situations where it sometimes seemed like the odds were completely stacked against them to become extremely successful and wealthy people (except for J.P. Morgan, of course, who is so disgustingly rich that nothing will satisfy him except escaping the bounds of mortality itself.)

    There is one character in Ragtime, though, that clearly exemplifies this combination of the motif of escape with the idea of the American Dream. That character is Tateh (and, to an extent, his daughter too.) Tateh and his daughter were Jewish immigrants who left their home country to seek a better life in New York. But not everything is going well for him and his daughter when Evelyn Nesbit first meets them. He is an incredibly skilled artist ("He began to create more and more intricate silhouettes, full-figured, with backgrounds [...] Most of these are today in private collections." (Doctorow, 45),) yet works on a street corner unprofitably selling his portraits for 15 cents each. And he lives in a filthy tenement where he struggles to take care of his daughter after divorcing his wife for having sex with her boss in exchange for money ("His own wife, to feed them, offered herself and he has now driven her from his home and mourns her as we mourn the dead." (Doctorow, 43).) All of this information shows the incredible difficulty of the situation Tateh finds himself in and the stress and guilt associated with his current way of life. It seems as though he wants desperately to leave, but his pride won't let him. Even when offered money, he refuses to take it; he is dead-set on only escaping his situation through his own efforts.

    Due of this, later in the book, Tateh attempts to escape multiple times from the conditions that lower-class people found themselves in during this era. First, overwhelmed by grief and guilt over his wife ("The little girl quietly prepared their simple meals in ways so reminiscent of the movements of his wife that finally he could bear the situation no longer," (Doctorow 90)) he packs up everything he and his daughter own and spends much of his savings to "escape" from New York by rail. As for where he's going, he simply doesn't know. He just can't stand living in New York anymore. But after this incredible multi-day journey, he just finds himself in a Massachusetts textile mill where he is overworked and underpaid while living in a cramped, dirty tenement no different from the one he occupied back in the Lower East Side. Eventually, unsatisfied with their situations (like Tateh before) the workers at his factory go on strike. Tateh joins them despite some internal conflict, but a plan to move the children of those workers out of town for their safety goes wrong, causing police to swarm the train station the workers had gathered at and forcing Tateh to once again mount a hasty escape to save his daughter. 

    This time they arrive in Philadelphia, and it is here that Tateh's luck seems to change for the better. Tateh walks past a Franklin Novelty Company shop while exploring downtown Philadelphia with his daughter. But some force drives him to linger outside the window even while his daughter walked on. He decides to enter, and on a whim demonstrates the flipbook of an ice skater he created back in Massachusetts to an employee of the company. Within the hour, he enters into a contract to publish that book, and four more over time, with the company, instantly becoming richer than ever before. His success is not short-lived, either; later in the book, it's revealed that he spins his skills as an artist into a lucrative career as a filmmaker. Finally, he is able to enjoy life with his daughter without worry. He is his own boss, and has escaped from the cycle of abuse and poverty that has defined his life up until this point. And he can treat his daughter, at last, in the way he's always wanted to: "Come, Tateh said to his child, we'll find a boardinghouse in a good neighborhood and then we'll have ourselves a meal and a hot bath." (Doctorow 133)