Houdini

Okay, so upon finishing ragtime, a lot of questions entered my head. One of them being what is the point of Houdini. I mean throughout the book I was always wondering how Houdini would tie into the main story dealing with the family. However the only part in the book where the story intertwines is in the beginning when Houdini crashes his car and is invited in by the family. The only reason I believe Doctorow created this scene is to show just how he can manipulate these characters in anyway he wants.

My views on Houdini recently changed though when I heard the presentation from Milee, Sarah, and Christina on an article they were presenting. Their main point on Houdini was that Doctorow used Houdini as a symbol for the Jews. Because Jews were commonly used blackface in minstrel shows, this relates to Houdini who under went ridicule while performing his magic shows. Another main point that I took from their presentation is that Houdini is used to relate the struggle of the Jews and the Blacks with symbols of Houdini hanging upside down from a rope which could represent lynching.

While my sudden reaction to these points was wow I would have never thought of that! I believe that his the points given strongly help provide further meaning behind the book, and provide Houdini with some use in the book. Despite this, I still feel somewhat doubtful of the importance of Houdini. The points given seemed like somewhat of a stretch. I feel that Doctorow did not mean for Houdini to relate the struggle of the blacks and Jews. I feel that Doctorow simply just wants to show the struggle of Houdini with the death of his mother and how he overcomes it. I feel that the other points were somewhat try hard.

In the end, I still come to the conclusion that Houdini is still not that important in the story. He provides some interesting back story, but even without him I feel the story would just carry on.