The Prison Scene
Our class discussions of Ragtime have explicated lots of
Doctorow’s satire and irony. Most of the time, I’ve left with a satisfying idea
of what’s going on and what the author intended. I cannot say this for the
scene where the two Harrys meet. Harry Thaw’s penis-flapping was the most
baffling thing I’ve ever encountered in an assigned book. I’ve spent hours
wondering what it means to no avail.
The idea of “asserting dominance”
has become a big joke recently, and the jokes often feature some form of
exposing yourself to “assert dominance” over others. Jokes like these initially
turned me away from the idea that Harry Thaw was showing his power to Houdini,
but unfortunately this is the best idea I’ve heard so far. Harry Houdini was
raised poor and worked hard developing his craft to attain fame and fortune.
Alongside his literal escapes are his attempts to escape his situation. First
he escaped poverty, and now he seeks to escape his reputation. This proves to
be much harder. He wishes to be seen as an artist, but instead he is treated
like a sideshow freak by the super-rich who employ him, like Mrs. Stuyvesant
Fish. Harry Thaw, however, has nothing to escape from. Even in prison, he has
the freedom to get whatever he wants whenever he wants. The guards respect him
because he’s rich and he bribes them. While Houdini plays up his talents and “respectableness,”
Thaw can wave his penis around with no consequences.
Furthermore, Harry Thaw may be showing Houdini how he feels about his act. Houdini performs an impressive escape from an "inescapable" jail cell, a feat worthy of praise and applause. Thaw still sees Houdini as a freakshow, just like Stuyvesant Fish. He doesn't care about Houdini's skill, and rather than applaud him he waves his penis. Perhaps the waving was intended as "anti-applause," a display of supreme unimpressed-ness.
First of all, it’s weird that Harry Thaw would think that getting naked and flapping his penis is the opposite of clapping his hands. It is apparent that Houdini is less popular among the rich upper class because the upper class doesn’t need to be entertained by escape artists. They can escape anything they want with money, like how Harry Thaw is found not guilty just because he is extremely rich.
ReplyDeleteBack then, Performers weren't treated as a member of society by the upper class. Even though he probably make more money than some of them (enough to bribe people anyway), I feel like he was still seen as a peasant. I feel like this is still relevant to this day. If you are someone in the position of power and money, you are literally untouchable (here's a real life example: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donald_Trump).
ReplyDeleteI don't know if there is any deeper meaning to Thaw's little jail-cel performance/exhibitionism other than to mock Houdini, a kind of ironic "applause" that deeply unnerves the escape artist. We have to remember that Thaw is certifiably crazy, and he does all kinds of things that don't make a lot of sense. But in Doctorow's depiction, he does have a punkish/trollish sense of humor--his great escape from the mental institution entails leading his guards on a wild chase across the top of the train, with That laughing and taunting them all the while (including his nod to Houdini when asked how he'd escaped). With Houdini, we see a "serious" and even metaphorical/symbolic escape, which seems to mean something to his working-class audiences. Thaw is entirely ironic--even when making his own actual mad dash to freedom, he's still flapping his penis through the bars, figuratively speaking.
ReplyDelete