Madi Hart
Mason
10 English Honors
16 December 2015
A Feeling of Suffocation: The Need for Escape in the Early 1900s
The white, upper-middle class American family in New Rochelle during the early 1900s is beginning to experience many changes. Not only are they associated with a black woman named Sarah and her child (whom Mother took in when Father was in the Arctic), they are also associated with Coalhouse Walker, Sarah's fiancé and father of the child, who believes himself to be equal to or better than most white men. When he is treated unfairly by a group of volunteer firemen because of his race, Coalhouse demands respect and doesn't receive it. Coalhouse attempts to seek help from the family but something always stops them from helping him.
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The theme demonstrated in this passage is also demonstrated throughout the entire novel. One example of escape in the novel is when life gets too hectic for the family in New Rochelle and they decide that there is no better way to make their lives less hectic than leaving town for a while. "What we have to do, Father said, is get away...,"(Doctorow 234). This occurs after Younger Brother disappears and Mother and Father realize that they need to escape from their daily lives until the attention being paid to their family is diverted to other occurrences. This passage also helps the reader appreciate when Younger Brother stands up for himself at the dinner table. "While Sarah served, Father told her that her fiancé would have done better after all to drive away his car when he could and forget the matter. Younger Brother bristled. You speak like a man who has never been tested in his principles, he said,"(Doctorow 186). After experiencing the anger that Younger Brother felt when in the parlor before this conversation, the reader can appreciate Younger Brother's reaction to Father