Perhaps the most mysterious supporting character in Ragtime is the son of the novel's nuclear family: Little Boy. The precocious youngster is rarely elaborated in comparison to character's such as Mother, Father, or Younger Brother, but is nonetheless present for most of the important events pertaining to the family. Additionally, his basically confirmed psychic powers Doctorow decided to bestow him multiply the questions about this kid. The ultimate questions draw from these points; is the Boy being treated as an ironic plaything for Doctorow, or will he/has he affected the story in any significant way?
The child's extrasensory abilities are first called into question during the opening pages of the first chapter. The little sailor boy on the porch of a typical American home has "conceived an enormous interest in the works of Harry Houdini" (8). And just like that, Houdini crashes right in front of them! We discussed the pure coincidence of this incident in class, but brushed it off as another "Doctorow messing with us" type situation. But with his apparent ability to move things with his mind in chapter 15, and his startling prediction of Father taking him to see the New York Giants, it has become clear that this kid has some actual powers. But what has he really done with them? So far, in the course of the story, basically nothing. He warns Houdini to "warn the Duke", but we can surmise that Ferdinand's assassination still occurs since Harry barely acknowledges the comment (11). In other words, no evidence has been shown that the Boy can "That's So Raven" the family, or the world, of any problems through his abilities.
Assuming this "useless" clairvoyance stays the same throughout the novel (who knows though), the actual significance of the Little Boy becomes unclear. He seems to be very sweet during his care of Sarah's baby, and he expresses no contempt for any characters, but neither of those qualities advances his character's agency or impact. One theory could be that his psychic powers are used to shave off any seriousness of this novel, just being another random thing that Doctorow throws in to detach the reader from his story. A less cynical view would be that the boy stands to observe all the changes washing over early 20th century life, with his foresight standing for the ever-approaching future. So yeah, what do you guys think? Has his role been set in stone, or is it too early to even analyze his impact?
