Why talk about Ford?
In the midst of all the stories happening in Ragtime, with Emma Goldman the activist, Evelyn Nesbit and her obsession with Tateh and his daughter, and Mother and Father’s family, E.L. Doctorow inserts a short chapter sequencing a short, but very relevant scene, in the Ford factory. Ford, the arrogant and confident manager of the Ford automobile factory, watches from the side as his new method of using an assembly line to manufacture cars is tested for the first time. The new strategy allows cars to be made at a fraction of their previous time, and Ford is extremely pleased with the results.
The scene
gives context to the general climate around labor at the time and what
historical changes were happening. Ford talks about his workers, not as people,
but as machines. He talks about how he can control their speed by adjusting the
speed of the conveyor belts, how every person is replaceable, and how no
thinking at all is required to operate the system. This shows how little the
workers are thought of as human, which gives context to the strikes and
movements that are going on at the time in Ragtime.
Tateh
and his daughter have a direct interaction with the labor issue while they are
fleeing their city. Tateh observes the strikes, and it causes him to think
about the world he and his daughter are living in and the changes that are
taking place. The chaos of the strikes directly affects him, but he seems to
come to the conclusion that any real change for lower class families like
himself is unlikely. He expresses being generally fed up with machines and the
Ford-era technologies, so it provides an interesting background when Doctorow
brings us in to the other side, right in the factory where it’s happening.
The introduction
of Ford also brings Morgan in to the narrative, which is important for the story
that follows.
The contrast with Morgan, which you allude to at the end of this post, is an important aspect of the characterization of Ford more generally: if Doctorow's Ford portrait seems satirical and mocking at times (timing his expression of celebration to the second on his stop-watch), the picture of Morgan is far more satirical and critical. At least we see Ford as that quintessential American paradigm, the self-made man whose "genius" and innoveation enable him to amass wealth and power. Contrast this portrait to Morgan, who is identified with heavy irony as the classic American example of a man born into tremendous wealth who has multiplied that wealth much further. Ford is "new money," and Doctorow has a lot of fun when he brings these two together, with Ford's self-conscious projection of his "rube" persona constantly undercutting and satirizing Morgan's high-minded ideas about reincarnation and a special race of great men who will advance history. It's like, Ford seems satirical UNTIL you get to Morgan, and then he doesn't seem all that bad!
ReplyDeleteHello Anya, I enjoyed reading your post! This section about Henry Ford really helps in giving us a complete picture of what the sentiments towards the labor force was like from different perspectives. With this depiction of Ford it is even easier to sympathize with the poor working class, Tateh, and the attitude towards the working class. Its much easier to imagine how business owners just viewed workers as tools instead of real people after reading that chapter.
ReplyDeleteI liked your point about how entering Ford's mind allows us to see the labor movement and industrialization from an angle opposite to other characters like Tateh. Ragtime is filled with characters who represent the different roles in American society at the time, and even though it's brief, not representing the position of people like Ford and Morgan might feel wrong. Also, especially since these wealthy men are mostly thought of as symbols of innovation and/or greed, representing them as people kind of complicates the book's theme of class tensions and equality, or at least adds more layers to it.
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