Ragtime

Back in New Rochelle, Mother grows frustrated over the fact that her brother is growing increasingly distant. She reflects on how close they used to be as children. Distressed, she goes to her garden for comfort. The little boy watches his mother traverse the backyard. Suddenly, he sees her stop and dig at a spot in the garden. She pulls up a crying Black infant who has been buried alive. Mother’s maid helps her bathe the child. A doctor and policemen arrive to inspect the baby and investigate. The mother, a young Black woman, is soon located. The doctor tells Mother that the woman will likely face charges for attempted murder. Mother offers to house the young woman and her infant in a spare room upstairs, taking responsibility for the two and saving them from legal harm.

In the Arctic, Father writes letters home every day. The leader of the expedition, Peary, bonds with Father over the fact that they were members of the same college fraternity. The expedition lives amongst the Eskimo people. They wait for spring to arrive before trying to locate the North Pole. Father observes the Eskimos with bemusement, noting how different their social and cultural relations are from those in America. When spring arrives, Peary choses his Black assistant, Matthew Henson, as his companion to the North Pole. The other men of the expedition are made to traverse the path ahead of Peary, chipping away at the Arctic ice and clearing the way for Peary and Henson to claim the official discovery of the Pole.

One day, Peary’s expedition reaches the approximate location. An anxious Peary is unable to decipher the precise location, and randomly picks a spot to officially label the North Pole. He takes a photograph with his expedition crew and an American flag flying on the Pole, which was gifted to Peary by Father.

The trial of Harry K. Thaw has begun, and Evelyn provides her testimony in his defense. She has established a friendship with Emma Goldman, and the two women regularly write one another. She has also begun a romantic relationship with Mother’s Younger Brother. As a result of her technical infidelity, she only gets a sliver of the funds she wants when trying to negotiate a divorce from Thaw. The jury for Thaw’s trial cannot reach a verdict, and his case is retried. He is eventually sent to the Matteawan Hospital for the Criminally Insane. Evelyn asks Emma what she thinks about the new love triangle between herself, Thaw, and Mother’s Younger Brother. Evelyn becomes more involved with Emma’s political circle, donating her money to Goldman’s magazine, Mother Earth, and funding defenses for arrested anarchists. Evelyn realizes she does not love Mother’s Younger Brother because he is not as cruel to her as other men.

After the police break up Emma Goldman’s speech, Tateh becomes fed up with New York. He considers it “the city that had ruined his life” (91). He takes his little girl and moves out of his apartment. They take the streetcar out of the city, into Connecticut, and then into Massachusetts. Tateh studies the girl as they travel and realizes that for the first time, she is happy. As they travel toward Boston, Tateh watches the tracks speed by outside.

One day in New York, a group of men are working on a new tunnel under the East River from Brooklyn to Manhattan’s Lower East Side. They encounter a blowout, wherein a rush of compressed air escapes and causes an explosion. Only one of the men survive. Harry Houdini is fascinated by the sole man’s escape. He visits the survivor in the hospital, only to be thrown out by his family. Houdini becomes increasingly obsessed with the natural world, forming new magic tricks focused on the outdoors. He goes on tour to Europe. When there, he encounters a fascinating invention called the biplane that allows for human flight. He buys one instantly and trains to fly it, addicted to the feeling of flying above the world. One morning as he lands his biplane, he notices an Imperial German Army car waiting for him. A group of officers escort him to meet the Archduke Franz Ferdinand, heir to the Austrian-Hungary throne. The Archduke’s wife, Sophie, is also in the car. The Archduke, not knowing who Houdini is and what he is famous for, congratulates the magician on the invention of the biplane.