By simply placing a blanket over an object would cause most infants to believe that the object has suddenly disappeared. Such object permanence is justified by the underdeveloped minds of the children of that age, however what is there to be said of such mentality in adults of both present and past society? In the historical fiction novel Ragtime, Doctorow writes about how the world of the house on Broadview Avenue, “There were no Negroes. There were no immigrants,” (Doctorow 4). The white, upper class American society at this time point had no apparent problem with people of color or immigrants, as long they stayed in their given place and did not push forward from under the blanket white Americans placed in order to maintain their own status quo. In Ragtime, one is able to see how Doctorow almost mocks the white American society of that time with the preceding quote in later scenes and can observe the differing outcomes from the encounters with the blanketed characters of Tateh, the Jewish immigrant, and Coalhouse, the prideful African American.…show more content… Shortly after describing the view of the house on Broadview Avenue, Doctorow continues on to write, “Apparently there were Negroes. There were immigrants. And though the newspapers called the shooting the Crime of the Century, Goldman knew it was only 1906 and there were ninety-four years to go,” (Doctorow 5). It does not take Doctorow long to correct the pure American society he presents at the beginning of the novel. With this statement, Doctorow somewhat foreshadows the rising of change that is to come in the story, the change that is primarily conveyed through the antagonistic stories of Tateh and