Alexander Berkman

The anarchist couple of Berkman (left)

and his wife Goldman smile for a photo.

In the 8^th Chapter of Ragtime, Emma Goldman recounts her love story with Alexander Berkman. Doctorow uses historical allusions to tie together accurate historic accounts of Berkman with the plot and themes of the novel. A common theme regarding Berkman is Anarchism vs. Capitalism. Goldman recounts the story of Berkman assassinating Frick, to tell the reader more about his and her view on anarchism. To understand Emma Goldman, and to thus understand the novel it is important to know Alexander Berkman’s story. Berkman was born in Europe, and after his father died, moved to Lithuania and then into the United States. He thought he was going to find freedom in the United States but found it to be more oppressive even than governments in Soviet Russia. He was convinced that “wealthy corporate leaders owned the American political system.” He made it his life goal to stop this. He participated in numerous labor strikes and preached anarchism until the day he and his passionate lover Emma decided to murder the general manager of Carnegie Steel Company, Henry Frick. His failed attempt was described thoroughly by Doctorow. In jail, Berkman wrote The Prison Memoirs of an Anarchist that was published just after he was released from jail. Once freed he published an anarchist paper The Blast, and protested the draft of World War I. He and his wife were eventually deported to Russia for protesting on the behalf of mistreated criminals. Berkman appears many times in the next few years in American history, it will be interesting to see if E.L. Doctorow bring his character back into the plot.

By Tabor Edwards

Hamilton, Neil A. "Berkman, Alexander." American Social Leaders and Activists, American Biographies. New York: Facts On File, Inc., 2002. American History Online. Facts On File, Inc. http://www.fofweb.com/activelink2.asp? ItemID=WE52&iPin=ASL029&SingleRecord=True (accessed April 26, 2011).

"Alexander Berkman with Emma Goldman." National Archives and Records Administration. American History Online. Facts On File, Inc. http://www.fofweb.com/activelink2.asp?

ItemID=WE52&iPin=AHI0189&SingleRecord=True

Aurand, Harold W. "labor radicals during the Gilded Age." In Hoogenboom, Ari, and Gary B. Nash, eds. Encyclopedia of American History: The Development of the Industrial United States, 1870 to 1899, Revised Edition (Volume VI). New York: Facts On File, Inc., 2010. American History Online. Facts On File, Inc. http://www.fofweb.com/activelink2.asp?

ItemID=WE52&iPin=EAHVI166&SingleRecord=True (accessed May 2, 2011).

Goldman and Nesbit

Kasebier, Gertrude. Evelyn Nesbit. 1901. Photograph.

The passage Doctorow created about Emma Goldman removing the corseting of Evelyn Nesbit Thaw is, most likely, fictional. There is no reference in their biographies of a meeting. The discussion in our class was divided between the belief that the encounter was maternal, and the view that it was sexual. Whether it is thought that the woman on woman encounter is sexual, or not, it is certain that this passage is effective. It shows Goldman helping to liberate Evelyn from her constricting stays. Goldman implies that Nesbit has mutilated her body with the contraptions.

            Goldman was a prominent anarchist—she was all business. The interaction Doctorow created runs parallel with her personality. She strove for a society with expression and freedom. Her moves and thoughts were calculated and educated. In reality, she probably would not have had time for someone as trivial as Evelyn Nesbit. Nesbit, a former showgirl, lived frivolously. She did not live her life profoundly and reveled in acquiring more wealth with her appearances. The two did share the bond of having a lover in prison, but Goldman was focused on woman’s rights where Nesbit was self-absorbed in her love triangle.

            Doctorow leaves the text ambiguous and lets the reader explore the passage (61-64). The passage begins with Goldman perfunctorily removing Nesbit’s clothing to show the biting welts her corsets have left. The scene is narrated by limited omniscient. A third party is observing the actions of the two women, but there is an intimacy between the two that the narrator cannot express. Goldman’s disgust of Nesbit confining herself with a corset and then likening her true form a wood nymph exhibits maternal disapproval; Goldman is liberating Nesbit from the paternalistic society of being used by older men for pleasure. This scene contrasts with the brutal whippings Thaw is said to have unleashed on Nesbit. The tender Goldman is only interested in healing Nesbit instead of exploiting her.

            The scene has sexual aspects, even though they can be evaluated differently. Doctorow is making a statement about sex as it was becoming less closeted and more open. Doctorow prefaced the scene of Nesbit and Goldman by introducing Sigmund Freud as, “some kind of German sexologist, an exponent of free love who used big words to talk about dirty things” (35). Sigmund Freud introduced the idea of sex as a primal instinct. Because Freud has a scene with passing by Evelyn I do not think that the scene between Goldman and Nesbit is strictly sexual. Freud focused on the urges, and problems of sex but did not recognize the woman as an important part of the relationship. He focused on the male aspect; when younger brother “fell” into the scene he disrupted, which Doctorow used to set up Younger Brother falling into the scene as a pornographic aspect between the two women.

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Alice Ruth Wexler. "Goldman, Emma";
http://www.anb.org/articles/15/15-00276.html;
American National Biography Online Feb. 2000.
Access Date: Wed Apr 27 2011 21:16:30 GMT-0400 (EDT)

Lisa Cardyn. "Nesbit, Evelyn Florence";
http://www.anb.org/articles/18/18-03290.html;
American National Biography Online Feb. 2000.
Access Date: Wed Apr 27 2011 23:25:51 GMT-0400 (EDT) 

Kelchum, Richard M. "Faces From The Past-xxiii | American Heritage." American Heritage | Collections, Travel, and Great Writing On History. Web. 27 Apr. 2011. .




By Elyse Curtis