In Ragtime (1975), Doctorow blurs the line between reality and fiction in order to emphasize the validity of historical accounts. It interweaves historical facts and figures with fictional events and characters to recreate history and produce historiographical metafiction. Hutcheon (1989, p. 4) comments that “historiographic metafiction seeks to situate itself within historical discourse without renouncing its autonomy as fiction.” Doctorow uses historical figures such as Henry Ford and JP Morgan and interweaves their lives with fictional characters in order to blur the lines between history and fiction. While the text focuses on the Ragtime era, Doctorow introduces earlier historical figures to comment on the early years of the 20th century. The novel does not follow the conventions of the historical novel and encourages readers to re-examine the accuracy of historiographical representation. Additionally, Doctorow questions literature's ability to accurately represent history by employing an unidentifiable narrator. Through the use of these techniques, Doctorow uses fiction to tell the events of the story. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get the original essay In Ragtime, Doctorow presents elements of the past through earlier historical figures and events belonging to later characters. According to Hutcheon (1989), "Doctorow's ironic mixture of the factual and the fictional as well as his deliberate anachronisms underline his distrust of the objective presentation of history." After Sarah's death, Coalhouse Walker and his followers blow up a fire station and call themselves the "Interim American Accord". This is a deliberately anachronistic parody that projects the black activists of the 1960s rather than the ragtime era. Additionally, Doctorow imbues his characters with anachronistic foresight. The Little Boy predicts the assassination of Duke Ferdinand at the beginning of the novel when he tells Houdini to “warn the duke.” Parks (1991) argues that Ragtime "is not so much about the era of ragtime as it is about how that era is perceived, composed, and recomposed." Thus, Doctorow's use of anachronism in the novel suggests that knowledge of the past is closely related to later events. Ragtime does not follow the conventions of a classic historical novel where a "progressive theory of historical development" or "a cyclical view of history" is presented. Rather, Doctorow highlights the role of transformation in the dynamics of history. In his efforts to disclose the fictional construction of the past, Doctorow intentionally imitates the received version of that past. Highlighting the idealized image held by the white middle class during the ragtime era, it openly exposes the erroneous sentimental images of the past. This is described early in the novel when Doctorow presents an account of the ragtime era: “Women were bigger then. They visit the fleet carrying white parasols. Everyone wore white in the summer. Tennis rackets were heavy and had elliptical faces. There was a lot of sexual fainting going on. There were no black people. There were no immigrants.” Doctorow intentionally presents this naïve image of the past in an attempt to prompt the reader to re-examine the entire concept of historiographical representation. Savvas (2011, p. 140) emphasizes that nostalgia plays a key role in producing an image of the past that is “distorted, based on and constructed from the exclusion of undesirable elements; undermining the reliability of patriotism, at the same time as invoking it.” At the end of the paragraph,Doctorow evokes an aspect of the past that nostalgia had forgotten through the character of Emma Goldman when she says: “Apparently there were black people. There were immigrants.” The first shot of the novel is populated by three fictional families; each was elected to represent different classes of American societies in the early 20th century. According to Wright (1993, p. 14), the beginning of the novel demonstrates that "entire racial groups were erased from American history simply because they were not mentioned, and the task of the novelist, as conceived by Doctorow, is to rewrite them.” in". The narrator paints a portrait of the opinions held by upper-middle-class white families at that time and questions the level of wealth attributed to this region, presenting two families who represented the marginalized members of society neglected by historians Through the characterization of Coalhouse Walker, Sarah and their baby, Doctorow presents the issues of racism that were prevalent during the Ragtime era. Walker is portrayed as a successful man who embraces wealth through the era. progressive Ramin (2014, p. 163) describes that Walker's progression to wealth and car ownership represents the very essence of the "American myth of the transition from rags to riches". this myth could never be experienced by a black man This is illustrated in the text when the narrator states: "As he passed by, they were silent and looked at him. He was not unaware that, by his dress and in. as a car owner, he was a provocation to many whites. Through this depiction, Doctorow uses fictional characters to depict a revised version of history, rather than creating his own version of historical events. Harter and Thompson (1990) argue that Doctorow puts history into his fiction by "imagining new facts rather than imagining new facts." than change the facts.” Doctorow uses verifiable historical events, such as Freud's trip to America and Emma Goldman's deportation to Russia. He mixes it with the invention of new events that seem unlikely to happen in history and with the interaction between fictional characters and historical figures. For example, Doctorow incorporates secret meetings between Henry Ford and JP Morgan and Coalhouse Walker taking over JP Morgan's library. By incorporating his own invention of events, Doctorow challenges the reader to question their pre-existing ideas about the veracity of the depiction of the past. Doctorow presents historical figures in an eccentric manner throughout the text and frees them from historiographical frameworks. According to DeLillo (1997), “fiction slips into the skin of historical characters. It gives them sweaty palms and the terror of restless nights. This is how human truth is freshly presented and consciousness expands.” Through the incorporation of these historical figures, Doctorow illustrates a new human truth. In this approach, Doctorow recovers historical figures such as JP Morgan and Henry Ford to present an alternative view of the history of opposing peoples during that era. Although historical figures are not the focus of the novel, their occasional presence creates confusion about the nature of the novel as a work of fiction or as a historiographical account of the past. Throughout the story, Doctorow detaches himself from the narrative voice "through the use of storytellers who compose the tale of the past that we read." No decisive reference is made to the identity of the narrator, thus producing an unidentifiable narrator. By detaching the language from a source, it can evoke numerous 20.1 (1993).