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Study Guide
Bibliography
Course Hero. "Ragtime Study Guide." Course Hero. 13 Mar. 2017. Web. 19 Apr. 2018. <https://www.coursehero.com/lit/Ragtime/>.
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(Course Hero)
Bibliography
Course Hero. (2017, March 13). Ragtime Study Guide. In Course Hero. Retrieved April 19, 2018, from https://www.coursehero.com/lit/Ragtime/
In text
(Course Hero, 2017)
Bibliography
Course Hero. "Ragtime Study Guide." March 13, 2017. Accessed April 19, 2018. https://www.coursehero.com/lit/Ragtime/.
Footnote
Course Hero, "Ragtime Study Guide," March 13, 2017, accessed April 19, 2018, https://www.coursehero.com/lit/Ragtime/.
| Chapter | Summary |
|---|---|
| Part 1, Chapter 1 | The novel opens in New Rochelle, a suburb outside New York City, in 1906, and introduces the audience to a wealthy white... Read More |
| Part 1, Chapter 2 | Houdini's visit interrupts Father and Mother's scheduled lovemaking, which leaves Father feeling frustrated. He is about... Read More |
| Part 1, Chapter 3 | Most of the immigrants coming to America are from Italy and Eastern Europe. They arrive in New York and are "somehow abs... Read More |
| Part 1, Chapter 4 | At a political party where he helped design the fireworks display, Mother's Younger Brother daydreams about Evelyn Nesbi... Read More |
| Part 1, Chapter 5 | For his new trick Houdini decides he would like to escape from the jail where Thaw is being held. The warden isn't pleas... Read More |
| Part 1, Chapter 6 | Freud arrives in New York with his "disciples" Jung and Ferenczi. During his tour of the city, Freud rarely speaks, stru... Read More |
| Part 1, Chapter 7 | After leaving the Tombs one afternoon, Evelyn realizes she's not being trailed by reporters. She asks her driver to simp... Read More |
| Part 1, Chapter 8 | Tateh, a socialist, invites Evelyn to join him at a meeting where famed anarchist Emma Goldman will be lecturing. Evelyn... Read More |
| Part 1, Chapter 9 | Back in New Rochelle, Mother is annoyed because Younger Brother has left without notice. Trying to figure out his motiva... Read More |
| Part 1, Chapter 10 | Father is working hard aboard the Roosevelt with Peary and his team. Peary lives rather extravagantly aboard the ship—he... Read More |
| Part 1, Chapter 11 | Evelyn begins her testimony in her husband's court case. She testifies beautifully in the widely reported trial, propell... Read More |
| Part 1, Chapter 12 | At the same time, Tateh and The Little Girl are traveling by train across the United States. Tateh has no idea where the... Read More |
| Part 1, Chapter 13 | All across the United States, cities are building train tracks above and below ground, which fascinates Houdini. He hear... Read More |
| Part 2, Chapter 14 | Father returns home from his Arctic adventure to find much has changed in his year's absence. The most obvious, of cours... Read More |
| Part 2, Chapter 15 | The Little Boy fishes the silhouettes out of the trash and, finding one he admires of The Little Girl, hangs it on his w... Read More |
| Part 2, Chapter 16 | Tateh and The Little Girl have been living in Lawrence, Massachusetts, since autumn. Tateh works backbreaking hours at a... Read More |
| Part 2, Chapter 17 | Two conductors pull Tateh onto the train and attend to his injuries. He drifts in and out of consciousness until, "someh... Read More |
| Part 2, Chapter 18 | As Tateh's sale of the silhouette books shows, America is interested in mass production. "The value of the duplicable ev... Read More |
| Part 2, Chapter 19 | The man at the top of the American business hierarchy is J.P. Morgan, the American financier responsible for consolidati... Read More |
| Part 2, Chapter 20 | Desperate to connect with Henry Ford about his theories of reincarnation, Morgan invites the businessman for lunch. It p... Read More |
| Part 2, Chapter 21 | Back at the home in New Rochelle, a ragtime musician driving a brand new Model T car arrives looking for Sarah. Mother i... Read More |
| Part 2, Chapter 22 | Younger Brother resumes his trips to New York. He is still hung up on Evelyn yet he doesn't know where to find her. He m... Read More |
| Part 2, Chapter 23 | As he's leaving the New Rochelle house one afternoon, Coalhouse is stopped by a group of racist volunteer firefighters w... Read More |
| Part 2, Chapter 24 | A depressed Younger Brother searches for ways to keep his mind off of his broken heart. All the while, his desire to fin... Read More |
| Part 2, Chapter 25 | Since accepting Coalhouse's proposal, Sarah is a new woman, beaming with happiness. She is filled with joy and love for ... Read More |
| Part 2, Chapter 26 | Sarah has a lavish funeral in Harlem. Coalhouse spares no expense, using the money he had saved for the wedding to fund ... Read More |
| Part 2, Chapter 27 | Spring arrives. Houdini spends the new season mourning for his mother who had passed away some months earlier while Houd... Read More |
| Part 2, Chapter 28 | The explosion happened two miles away from Houdini's performance as Coalhouse and his men bombed the Emerald Isle Fire S... Read More |
| Part 3, Chapter 29 | This chapter gives background on Father's character. His mother died when he was young, and he had a distant relationshi... Read More |
| Part 3, Chapter 30 | Father splurges at the baseball game to get good seats, excited to make a good impression on his son. He is disappointed... Read More |
| Part 3, Chapter 31 | Father leaves the game worried and disappointed, yet he feels heartened when his son takes his hand in a rare act of aff... Read More |
| Part 3, Chapter 32 | Since his argument with Father, Younger Brother had become more and more distant from the family. After the first fireho... Read More |
| Part 3, Chapter 33 | The family passes a blissful summer at the Jersey Shore hotel. Their surroundings are peaceful and quiet, with "starched... Read More |
| Part 3, Chapter 34 | At the seaside hotel Tateh diligently works on a 15-chapter "photoplay." He is prone to bouts of depression and angst bu... Read More |
| Part 3, Chapter 35 | Coalhouse had actually hoped to take Morgan hostage in his home until his demands were met. Unfortunately, Coalhouse's y... Read More |
| Part 3, Chapter 36 | Morgan's curator is ready to give into any of Coalhouse's demands to ensure the safety of his boss's belongings, but Whi... Read More |
| Part 3, Chapter 37 | Booker T. Washington arrives outside Morgan's gallery and stands calmly in the street asking to be let in. He calls unti... Read More |
| Part 3, Chapter 38 | Father arrives at the makeshift headquarters where Whitman and his men work across the street from Morgan's gallery. He ... Read More |
| Part 3, Chapter 39 | Chief Conklin is dragged from his hiding place and brought to the gallery, where the damaged Model T and all the appropr... Read More |
| Part 4, Chapter 40 | The novel's final chapter brings closure to the novel's different story lines. After a few hours with Father, Coalhouse ... Read More |
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