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This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. Who did Houdini meet at a private function thrown by Mr. Stuyvesant Fish?

2. Who does Mother call after she and the maid clean up the baby?

3. Where are the immigrants ushered as they enter New York Harbor?

4. What is the newspaperman, Jacob Riis, writing about at this time?

5. What does Mameh finally do to make extra money?

Short Essay Questions

1. What sight as they sail out of New York Harbor depresses Father?

2. What causes Harry K. Shaw to propose marriage to Evelyn Nesbit?

3. Who are the famous psychologists who visit New York at this time and what is their reaction?

4. What becomes the fashion among the rich in turn of the century America?

5. What does Younger Brother do for a political rally in Rye, New York?

6. What does the Franklin Novelty Company do with Tateh's books?

7. What does The Boy recover from the trash?

8. What is it that Evelyn Nesbit does not understand when she sees The Girl tied to her father?

9. Explain how Harry K. Shaw gets to see Harry Houdini.

10. What is Mother's concern about Younger Brother?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Coalhouse Walker, Jr., plays Scott Joplin ragtime in the novel. Do some research and write a brief paper about the composer Scott Joplin. Why does Doctorow use the musical genre as the title of his book? To what extent do you think the music of an era defines that era?

Essay Topic 2

Write a paper on racial discrimination in the North at the turn of the century. The commonly held belief is that racial discrimination is exclusive to the South. The story of RAGTIME takes place in New York, Philadelphia, New England, and Atlantic City. Point out the many examples Doctorow gives of discrimination against blacks and Jews in the novel.

Essay Topic 3

Describe the rags-to-riches story of Tateh, aka Baron Ashkenazy. Tateh's story is the embodiment of the American dream--the poor immigrant who eventually achieves success. While you write this account focus on the moral shift in Tateh's thinking. Note the difference in his uptight morality that drove his wife and Evelyn away in the early part of the story and his romping with Mother in Atlantic City as the reinvented Baron Ashkenazy. There are even sexual overtones to the scene where they are searching for The Boy and The Girl and eventually they marry.

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