The Evolution of Younger Brother

 Aakash Vasireddy | February 14th, 2022 | History as Fiction | Blog Post #2

Editor's Note: First and foremost, I'd like to apologize for any confusion regarding the content (or, more notably, the lack thereof) in this blog post over the stretch of Agora Week. The blog post had not been finished yet, but I appreciate any good-natured comments made during this stretch. The post has now been completed with some of my better critiques, arguments, and thoughts regarding Doctorow's character. Thanks for understanding.

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For the purpose of this blog post, I believe it's only fair that, as we are finished with the novel, I refer to this character as "Younger Brother" as opposed to "Mother's Younger Brother," which he was named throughout most of the story until the final stretch of chapters.

To understand Younger Brother's story and subsequently his significance to Doctorow's complex, interwoven plot, it's necessary to review how Doctorow constructs his characters throughout his novel. When discussing Ragtime early on in the semester, two groups of characters were identified: the characters that have names and thus have historical relevance - Harry Houdini, Evelyn Nesbit, Emma Goldman, etc., and the characters that don't have "names", per say, but instead have generic titles and backgrounds set in fictional writing - Father, Mother, and Younger Brother. In this respect, Younger Brother has less significance and depth as his own character from the beginning. As a reader, seeing a character have this sense of anonymity and loss of identity, aspects we deem crucial to understanding stories, Younger Brother simply has less importance in the early stages of Ragtime. 

However, with the power that comes with creating fictional characters and having less strict restrictions than when portraying historical characters, Doctorow takes the opportunity to patiently construct that character depth and narrative arc throughout Ragtime. In doing so, Younger Brother transforms and evolves, ultimately making him a prime point of discussion.

To begin talking about Younger Brother's evolution, it seems suitable to start at the earliest form of Younger Brother's character depicted in the novel: his short-lived, sexually-centered fantasies for Evelyn Nesbit. The earliest scenes of Younger Brother depict a persistent stalker who lurks in the shadows, watching Evelyn Nesbit throughout her daily errands, obsessed by per popularity and appearance. This quite creepy aspect of Evelyn Nesbit's life almost becomes routine for her. Ultimately, the two characters' narratives finally intersect in this wild, outrageous sexual encounter in which Younger Brother pops out the closet following Evelyn's interactions with Emma Goldman. However, it's important to note that during this stretch, the main focus of Doctorow's narrative is Evelyn Nesbit: not Younger Brother. The readers are invested in Evelyn Nesbit and her issues during this passage. Up until this point, Evelyn Nesbit had just gone through some traumatic experiences following Goldman blowing her cover at the convention and Tateh's resulting frustrations which strip Evelyn from interactions with baby Sha. With all these storylines happening at once, not to mention Doctorow's constructed intersection between Evelyn Nesbit and Emma Goldman, having Younger Brother, to many readers, crazily emerge from the closet to engage with Evelyn Nesbit came as an unforeseen, somewhat disturbing shock to end the chapter. 

In this space, Younger Brother is more or less the "accompaniment" or "attachment" for Evelyn Nesbit. Younger Brother doesn't have passages where he described as thinking or pondering new ideas. Instead, Younger Brother is simply used to enhance the storyline of another character, further removing his significance and sense of individuality in the story.

Following Evelyn Nesbit's rejection of Younger Brother, which spirals Younger Brother through cycles of anguish and torture, Younger Brother than becomes defined as the person that builds bombs, as he later displays to Father, and the person that aimlessly spends time with prostitutes in New York. These constant feelings ultimately bring him to consulting Emma Goldman, in which Younger Brother considers committing suicide. This sense of wandering with no sense of direction - leading every day lost and with no perception of purpose - has stripped Younger Brother of any will to live or make something of his life. This aspect of not having direction found within Younger Brother's narrative is likely the most important part of his character and evolution. From rock bottom, Younger Brother can only really go up which he ultimately chooses to do once Doctorow brings Younger Brother's story to Coalhouse Walker's story.

After discovering the injustices happened upon Coalhouse Walker in this skirmish with the fire station, it begins to look like Younger Brother starts to develop some sense of ideas for his own. There are instances where Younger Brother shows flashes of thinking thoughts and feeling emotions which did not originate in other characters as most thoughts and emotions did early in the novel. In his conflict with Father regarding the actions of Coalhouse Walker, Younger Brother even defends Coalhouse Walker, pointing to Father's experience of losing something just as Coalhouse Walker did. Eventually, this brief occurrences lead up to Younger Brother joining Coalhouse's group of revolutionaries, engaging in blackface, and, as the novel describes, finding his "community." At last, Younger Brother has found somewhere he feels needed and belonging. I do still believe that even with Doctorow changing from "Mother's Younger Brother" to "Younger Brother" and perhaps acknowledging that Younger Brother has made this step and change to find purpose and not be defined by another character, there still might be some irony and undermining of Younger Brother's new ties with the revolutionaries. In ways, Younger Brother can still be referred to as a follower and yes-man, doing whatever necessary to fit in with the crowd such as doing blackface. Even in his death, there might still be some sense of irony of how this "blind faith" has gotten himself involved in dangerous things which eventually resulted in his demise. However, when compared to "Mother's Younger Brother" from the beginning of Ragtime, this character has made significant leaps. 

In conclusion, as readers analyzing a story where the characters create the story, Younger Brother definitely has some plot developments and changes that make his character an interesting Ragtime aspect to discuss. In many ways, Younger Brother represents a stereotype which is quite ironic considering in Ragtime, Younger Brother wants to find a sense of individuality. He represents an idealistic young male, like many in history, who needs some sense of direction and finds that purpose in various societal groups.