logo

Ragtime

E. L. Doctorow

Ragtime

E. L. Doctorow

  • 51-page comprehensive Study Guide
  • Chapter-by-chapter summaries and multiple sections of expert analysis
  • Featured in our FamilyThe Best of "Best Book" ListsClass collections
  • The ultimate resource for assignments, engaging lessons, and lively book discussions

Ragtime Part 4 Summary & Analysis

Part 4, Chapter 40 Summary

Coalhouse Walker exits the Morgan library. Militiamen immediately shoot him to death. Later police reports say that Coalhouse tried to flee, although there are no witnesses to corroborate these claims.

After the incident, Coalhouse Walker’s followers are disillusioned. Mother’s Younger Brother takes the discarded Model T and drives freely with no destination. He goes all the way to Mexico and joins the Mexican Revolution. He fights and builds bombs for the revolutionaries, eventually going deaf from his work with weapons. Mother’s Younger Brother dies in Mexico, under unknown circumstances.

Pierpont Morgan travels the world. He notices a remarkable decline in the power and intelligence of royal families, emperors, and kings. He travels to Egypt, visits the Great Pyramid, and insists on sleeping in it overnight. He believes he will communicate with the god Osiris, but only finds himself swarmed by bedbugs. Morgan returns to Europe and is never the same again, disillusioned and in poor health. Soon after Morgan dies, the Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife are assassinated in Sarajevo. Harry Houdini reads the headlines and is stunned. Houdini does a spectacular stunt over Broadway in Manhattan, but all he can think about is the murdered Archduke.

blurred text

Unlock this
Study Guide!

Join SuperSummary to gain instant access to all 51 pages of this Study Guide and thousands of other learning resources.
Get Started
blurred text