What's the difference between Fiction and History?????

I have only really thought about this question thrice really hard in my life. Once at the beginning of this class, the second time in class today, and the third time tonight. Firstly I would like to say that before this class I would have balked at that question. History and fiction are opposites right?! Well, not so much. While I definitely do not hold a viewpoint of history that states it to be almost the same as fiction like some people in class, I definitely think the differences are worth discussion. Now to the first time I thought about the question really intensely. In class, on what I believe was the first day, this was the prompt. When I first heard it I thought AH, easy. But when you actually start writing, it's a pretty tough topic. I mean, what really is the difference? It's hard to define! So many of the things that I believe to be history are simply just that. Things that I believe to be as history. They are just stories that I have been told and that I have accepted at face value. I am by no means trivialising the work that historians have done to collect evidence and first person accounts of historical events and compile them into an understandable story for the masses but on that same note, the only thing I have ever seen is the story. The basis of my trust in these stories is that I believe the history books to be peer reviewed and I wouldn't believe my teachers would knowingly lie to me. I guess what I am saying is that history needs to be taken with a grain of salt. You always have to remember that history is not fact; it is simply what we believe to be fact. This is immensely complicated and I haven't even scratched the surface of fictions role in all of this.
On that first prompt day, I said that fiction is anything it wants to be. It can follow historical evidence to the tee or go completely wild and have no bounds to anything historical. I can't say that This changed at all for me. I still believe that to be my best definition of fiction. Now to relate fiction to history, that's a whole different ball game.
There are many different ways that fiction and history are intertwined. Most all of the settings and events of fictional novels are somewhat based on historical evidence. Rarely will you find a novel where everything is made up and if it is, some of the themes will surely be borrowed from history. That's just natural, history gives us as a people a definition. On that same token, a lot of history is fiction as well. What I mean by that is the way history is conveyed involves fiction. Anyone can drone on and one about the boring facts and dates about history but at the end of the day, that's all they will be; facts and dates. What makes history real to us is the story behind it. The dialogue and the emotion that is by definition fictional. Historical reenactments are by no means completely accurate and contain a ton of fictional aspects to them. While history is important, the things that will stick out in my mind are the fictionalized lines like "let them eat cake!".

Panel Presentation!

Before anything, I would like to say how amazing that first round of panel presentations were. Everyone seemed to be an expert on their particular article and engaged the class the whole time. You guys really made me nervous for my panel presentation.

Anyways, I would like to respond to the first panel presentation on the article by Bernot Ortenderf. This was the article that was somewhat overtly making fun of Cushing Strout. The main point from this panel presentation that really stuck out in my mind was the one involving Scott Joplin and how analogous he really is to Coalhouse Walker. The story of how Scott Joplin wrote an opera was discussed and to give a brief overview: Scott Joplin wrote an opera that he was very proud of. The problem was that people of the time couldn't accept the fact that a black person had written an opera. That just wasn't cool in their minds. So no matter how hard Joplin tried, he couldn't get anyone to show his opera. This frustration is very palpable in Coalhouse Walker as well.

The scene that draws this perfect parallel for me is when Walker is playing music for the family and father makes the crass remark of asking Coalhouse to play some of those Coon songs. You can almost feel the gasp as Walker explains that "coon" songs are played by white people in black face; he didn't play that kind of music. You can sense in Walkers demeanor that he wants to break stereotypes and boundaries. He drives a ford, he is respectable, and he even goes so far as to ask for legal recourse for vandalism (I mean that with as little sarcasm to be conveyed as possible). Coalhouse Walker may be based on a character from another novel, but it seems to me that Doctrow drew a few too many parallels with Joplin to be ignored. This is all so wonderfully wrapped up when the newspaper couldn't find a picture of Walker so they just printed one of Joplin; basically the same thing, right?

Father

Father is one of the most interesting characters in this book. Even though he can be explained away as just the friendly racist of the story, I think he is much more complex than that and these complexities are well exposed in the baseball game that he takes his son to. When he takes his son to the baseball game it is to connect with him, the connection father thought had been lacking with all of the Coalhouse Walker business happening in the household. When he goes to the game, he is shocked to find that the game is overrun with immigrants which he does not like at all.


He describes the experience as being nostalgic towards the days when he used to play baseball at Harvard. To me this is very interesting as it seems to pain him that he is nostalgic by a game that he no longer views as civilized; a game that is overrun with immigrants. Why would he be nostalgic to the years when he used to play the game the "right" way when he sees a bunch of immigrants playing it?


Another interesting aspect of father is the interaction that he has with Willie Conklin. When Conklin puts his hand on fathers shoulder, a seemingly innocuous gesture, father is shocked that Conklin would act in a way that deems them equals; a viewpoint that father certainly does not share. This interaction shows how inbuilt social status and class structures are to father. The chapter 29 description of his upbringing and the constant contradicting viewpoints father has within his mind are very interesting as the book unfolds. 

Postmodernism

Postmodernism is one of those words that about a month ago, I would have only used when I was trying to imitate someone as being snooty or condescending. It was a concept that I had no exposure to, other than just hearing the word used from time to time. What I could figure out from the word itself is that it is a movement that is literally Post-Modern. But then again, how can anything be post modern? Is postmodernism a movement of the future?
Luckily, these questions were somewhat put to rest in class. Discussion of postmodernism was truly helpful in clarifying what the movement actually is, and gave it actual substance in my mind. We discussed many parts of postmodernism, all of which could never be covered in one class or one blog post but the focus of this blog post will be on the part that was most interesting to me; the meta-narrative.
Meta-narratives are basically social constructs that everyone has. They guide our thinking patterns and the way we view other people and judge actions. This concept was incredibly interesting to me because of how meta meta-narratives are. What I mean by this is that someone who denies the existence of meta-narratives can be explained away by saying that they just have a meta-narrative that prevents them from accepting that there are such things as meta-narratives. To quote a recent stud prod play; "I mean, how meta can you get?". The concept of such a thing is very interesting to me and my interest is even furthered by how compelling the argument for meta-narratives is. I have been raised in a way that makes it impossible to relate fully with someone that was raised even a block away from me. Just the simple fact that people believe in different things and have different ideas of what right and wrong is proves that there is something at least similar to meta-narratives guiding our every thought.
The idea of meta-narratives alone makes the concept of post-modernism very interesting to me. Hopefully with the conclusion of Ragtime, I will have an even greater grasp on post-modernism.