What exactly is the "ideal American?" There is no single persona that fits the bill. With reference to America as the "melting pot" of cultures, races, and beliefs, pinpointing any true "ideal American" has become exponentially harder in this day and age.
In class (Tuesday, Jan. 19th), we discussed Doctorow's depictions of J.P. Morgan, Ford, and Tateh. We briefly lighted upon the idea that the three characters embody different concepts of an "ideal American." J. P. Morgan is explicitly called the "classic American hero, a man born to extreme wealth who by dint of hard work and ruthlessness multiplies the family fortune until it is out of sight (Doctorow, 138)." Morgan, top dog in the U.S. economic enterprise, is a shining portrayal of the aristocratic and capitalistically American concept of optimized wealth and success. Ford, also a figurehead in the American industry, is an epitome of the hardworking, rags-to-riches ideal; through his genius, Ford has revolutionized the automobile market and American laboring system with his assembly line and Model T. Tateh, although never having been rich, is perhaps the best example within the three of a quintessentially American concept: opportunity for all. Tateh's decision to mass-produce his flip books "points his life along the lines of flow of American energy (Doctorow 134)." The hardworking immigrant digs himself and his daughter out of the lower working-class hole by finding his own chance in the Land of Opportunity.
Morgan, Ford, and Tateh are each optimized upon some American ideal. However, Doctorow's prose also directly undermines the idealism of each character and their situation with individual flaws, restricting the image of a true "ideal American." Morgan feels prosperity at an awe-inspiring level, but he "knew as no one else the cold and barren reaches of unlimited success; in his affluence, he feels lonely (Doctorow 139). Henry Ford, en route to his success, has not only mechanized automobile production but also made the "men who build the [cars] be themselves interchangeable (Doctorow 136)." Everything in the Ford empire is mechanized--including himself. In the slightly preposterous way that Ford "allotted sixty seconds on his pocket watch for a display of sentiment," the man's persona lacks a certain stroke of humanity that dissembles the idealism around his character. Tateh's flaw centers more around his actions rather than his person. His rise to American opportunity is characterized by a stripping of the uniqueness of his flip books. Doctorow's explicitly calls Tateh an "artist" for the first time right after Tateh sells his books for mass production (Doctorow 134). This points out an odd contrast between Tateh's pragmatic success and the loss of both the books' physical individuality and the special sentimentality toward his daughter.
These contradicting portrayals of flaws and idealism puts each of Doctorow's characters in a gray area. Each time, the ambiguity produces a challenge for the reader: Should this character's persona be really considered an "ideal?" Considering the flaws, is one persona of an "ideal American" better than another? Are these flaws due to the character of the person or the American system? Doctorow never shows a specific alignment toward or against Morgan, Ford, or Tateh but openly shows both their merits and imperfections. In this way, Doctorow opens up room for the reader to challenge each concept of an American ideal on their own.
