Doctorow's Views on Coalhouse Walker
For most of Walker's story, I definitely felt that Doctorow respected the man. He wrote about him with integrity and humbleness, making the reader feel inclined toward the good-mannered Ragtime player who loved Sarah. I felt that Doctorow makes the reader like the old-fashioned ways of Walker's approach to Sarah, and makes the reader feel with Walker when we see the treatment and feelings of Mother and Father's family, as they grow to understand more about him, and eventually respect him more. However, the story takes a turn with the Model T's destruction. Doctorow holds Walker in more of a mysterious manner, and although we take him seriously, we feel more for Sarah. With Walker's refusal to marry Sarah until he gets his car back, and with the spirit of Sarah going down, Doctorow makes us feel like Walker isn't taking care of Sarah the way we want him to, and is too focused on the symbolic injustice of the Model T to give time to Sarah. Especially with Sarah...