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Symbols
In Ragtime, The Model T represents the promise of the American Dream and the failure of American society to follow through on the promises of justice and opportunity it makes to its citizens. Although in one way, the Model T presages the massive upheavals in the American economy brought about by increasing industrialization and automation (one scene has Henry Ford’s backers and employees in tears when his assembly line successfully cranks out one complete car every six minutes), it also signifies the country’s growing prosperity and expanding middle class. The Model T was also the first car inexpensive enough to be available to middle-class individuals. It’s thus telling that this is the kind of car Coalhouse Walker Jr. owns. It visibly telegraphs his comfortable financial status, but it also suggests that this success has a hard limit. As a Black man, he can only rise so far up the social and economic hierarchy.
Because the Model T represents Coalhouse’s successful American Dream, however, it becomes the object of Willie Conklin’s violence. And by displacing his violence from Coalhouse to Coalhouse’s car, the novel makes a bigger point about the fractures and failures of American society. Coalhouse demands and pleads for the authorities to ensure the return of his car—for justice, in other words. But by the time he goes to the authorities, the car is already damaged beyond repair. Then it spends weeks in the bottom of Firehouse Pond, rusting and deteriorating further. When Charles S. Whitman forces Willie Conklin to rebuild the car, it requires a truckful of replacement parts, apparently suggesting that practically no parts of the original remain. The rebuilt, facsimile car confirms promises readers that there a better society can be made, but only insofar as people are willing to abandon the old ways. This echoes ideas espoused by Emma Goldman and her anarchist circle to the effect that some systems are so corrupted that they can’t be modified or improved but must be torn down entirely so that society can rebuild itself in a newer, better, more just and equitable form.
Model T Quotes in Ragtime
The Ragtime quotes below all refer to the symbol of Model T. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
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Chapter 24
Quotes
There is no question then that Younger Brother was fortunate to conceive a loyalty to the colored man. Standing at the pond he heard the lapping of the water against the front fenders of the Model T. He noted that the hood was unlatched, and lifting and folding it back, saw that the wires had been torn from the engine. The sun was now setting and it threw a reflection of blue sky on the dark water of the pond. There ran through him a small current of rage, perhaps one-hundredth, he knew, of what Coalhouse Walker must have felt, and it was salutary.
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Chapter 31
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But now the authorities were embarrassed. The Ford stood as tangible proof of the Black man’s grievance. Waterlogged and wrecked, it offended the sensibilities of anyone who respected machines and valued what they could do. After its picture was published people began to come see it in such numbers that the police had to cordon off the area. Feeling that they had compromised themselves the Mayor and the Board of Aldermen issued a new series of condemnations of the colored madman and said that to negotiate with him in any way at all, to face him with less than an implacable demand to surrender himself, would be to invite every renegade and radical and black man in the country to flout the law and spit upon the American flag.
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Get the entire Ragtime LitChart as a printable PDF.
Model T Symbol Timeline in Ragtime
The timeline below shows where the symbol Model T appears in Ragtime. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Chapter 18
...steps and assigns each one to a single worker. At first, the time between one Model T rolling off the assembly line and the next is six minutes. This impresses everybody but...
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Chapter 21
...Black man (subsequently identified as Coalhouse Walker Jr.) drives up in a shiny new Ford Model T and asks if this is where Sarah lives. Little Boy says yes. The man parks...
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Chapter 23
...playing nearby, Coalhouse calls them over and asks them to keep an eye on the Model T while he leaves on foot.
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...issue. But when Coalhouse returns to Firehouse Lane, he finds that someone has pushed his Model T into an adjacent field. The top is torn and there is a “mound of fresh...
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...a lawyer. Coalhouse is reluctant, but he continues to insist he will not retrieve the Model T until it is restored to the condition in which he left it. The next day,...
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Chapter 24
Younger Brother stands regarding Coalhouse’s now utterly destroyed Model T . He has been struggling mightily for what feels like a long time, staving off...
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...One night, when Father tells Sarah what he thinks Coalhouse should have done (taken the Model T and left when he still had a chance, never mind the damage and the desecration),...
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Chapter 25
Throughout the summer—between accepting Coalhouse’s proposal and the Model T incident—Sarah had blossomed. As they worked together on Sarah’s wedding dress, Mother realized that Sarah...
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...a word with Chief Conklin. He’s even ready to bribe the firefighters to fix the Model T (they are, he reasons, “town dregs” and thus susceptible to bribery) to fix the damage....
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Chapter 28
...happened, he visits the crime scene at lunch time. He can see Coalhouse Walker Jr.’s Model T submerged in the pond across the street from the station. Father goes straight home, where...
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...he left at the local newspapers warning that he’d keep attacking fire stations until his Model T is returned “in its original condition.” The police keep quiet about the letters while they...
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Chapter 31
...and reporters rove the streets. The newspapers begin calling for the city to pull the Model T from the Firehouse Pond, where it has rested for weeks, because it will make front-page...
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The ruined Model T does make front-page news, and it stands as a silent but damning witness to Coalhouse’s...
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Chapter 32
...of the second firehouse attack. When the papers print stories about Conklin’s flight and the Model T ’s rescue from the pond, they feel empowered.
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Chapter 37
...and turn himself in. Tearfully, Coalhouse says he will—if Chief Conklin repairs and returns his Model T . Washington, failing to realize that this represents the first concession Coalhouse has offered since...
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Chapter 38
...reply from J. P. Morgan finally arrives, directing the authorities to “give [Coalhouse] his [ Model T ] and hang him.” Whitman is reluctant to give in to Coalhouse’s demands, fearing the...
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And so, Whitman has city workers pull the Model T from Firehouse Pond and bring it to the library. He leans on his political connections...
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At dawn, the Model T sits in the street outside the library and a handcuffed Willie Conklin sits inside the...
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Chapter 39
...to fix the car and the authorities force a humiliated Willie Conklin to repair the Model T , overseen by two qualified mechanics. It takes all day.
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While Conklin works on the Model T , the various members of Coalhouse’s band beg him to reconsider Whitman’s offer. He knows...
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...the entrance hall in their matching outfits. Coalhouse explains how to start and drive the Model T . He instructs them to call on the telephone when they’ve escaped. He embraces all...
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Chapter 40
After returning to Harlem with the rest of the gang, Younger Brother takes the Model T and drives south and west across the country. Eventually, he winds up in Mexico where...
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