Defining the argument of Doctorow's Ragtime is not an easy task. What at first glance seem like separate stories featuring completely different characters who exist in the same place and time, are actually a complex structure in which all the characters seem to intertwine in one way or another. from another. However, the title of the novel is an important clue to understanding the argument of the novel. The Ragtime musical genre is characterized by its irregularities and melodies that seem to avoid metrical rhythms by emphasizing weaker ones (which normally are not). The accentuation of rhythms gives rise to a melody that invites the listener to move through it, thus avoiding stability. In trying to relate this metaphor to the text, the reader can detect multiple examples of characters who exhibit conflict between their "strong" and "weak" rhythms, whether because of their race, gender, or any other reason. . It is this conflict (trying to find a happy medium between who they are and who they should be) that causes the characters to constantly evolve throughout the novel. This essay will therefore prove, by analyzing the characters of Houdini and Mother's younger brother, how Ragtime is a novel that depicts the creation of identity, with race being the most concerning aspect that causes the characters to reflect on who they are and how she defines them. them.Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get the original essay My mother's younger brother is one of the characters least told to readers, but it is nevertheless possible to infer his thoughts by reading carefully about what little information the narrator offers. As a young white man living in the epicenter of capitalism in the early 20th century, his family expects him to earn a living, either by starting his own business or contributing to his father's business. However, from the beginning of the novel, he shows no intention of accomplishing any of these goals, but he does not show any other type of intention either. The mother's younger brother is a very mysterious character, as he does not manifest a clear identity, probably because he does not have one. He is always hiding or disguising himself as other people, always protecting himself from all the expectations and stereotypes he is expected to adopt; it is not possible to know what its identity is, but it is possible to know what it is not. For me, my mother's younger brother is the perfect example of a person in the making. When he feels any sort of threat of being discovered, his first instinct is to hide, as happens in Chapter 8, when he hides in the closet to avoid being discovered by Goldman and Evelyn. In addition to hiding, the mother's younger brother also adopts disguises. Because he lacks an identity, disguising himself as another person allows him to adopt an identity, even if it is not his own. This occurs several times throughout the novel, with the adoption of Coalhouse's cause in Chapter XXX being the most notable. At the end of the novel, he dies fighting for a cause that is not really his, but so, in a way, one could consider that it is not really him who dies; it is his body that dies, but not him as a person, as an identity, because he never really existed. Additionally, Houdini is also a perfect example of a character who struggles with his identity because of his race. As a Jewish immigrant, he is lost in the “limbo” of a society divided between blacks and whites, because he is neither. Therefore, he adopts an Italian surname in hopes of creating a new identity for himself,. 247-260.