Across the world during the early 1900's, many people packed up their belongings and traveled to the United States in hope of finding a new life. The life that these people expected to find was that full of prosper, and empty from sorrow and suffering. Many even believed that their trip across the ocean would lead them to a literal land of gold. In the novel, Ragtime, written by E.L. Doctorow, the experiences of these people, along with various fictitious characters illustrate very well what life could have been like in America early in the twentieth century. Theodore Dresiser's incident with his chair is a great metaphor for the lives of the other characters throughout the book. The true to life characters of J.P. Morgan and Houdini, as well as the fictional characters, Coalhouse Walker and Father represent what it meant to be searching for the...