Brian Mchale's Postmodernist Fiction is interesting because it tries to define postmodernism through—among other things—complex language with difficult meanings. This strikes me because that tactic, in and of itself, is postmodern. We read in Docx that two important points of postmodernism are that all structures are constructed and that we ourselves are constructions as well. When taken with Mchale's work it becomes clear that everything is a construction of language. Docx alludes to this by mentioning Wittgenstein, a philosopher famous for work in the importance of language and how it pertains to thought and our ideas. In essence, everything we think and feel is a construction of how our language allows us to process information.
And Mchale discusses this when he talks about Ingarden's 4 strata about ontology. These strata are all about language. The first is the literal idea of the sounds words make allow us to distinguish between them, i.e. the basic building blocks of language being that we have multiple sounds. Then he talks about the actual meanings of words, and how the words we choose "actualize parts of our concepts of objects" (Mchale 31). In other words, the actual words used in writing and speaking describe the objects. However, Ingarden says that the words take on a different meaning through the mind of the reader, or hearer, and in that, we can see that language constructs meaning. If I say a pot is blue, to someone who doesn't know what blue is they won't be able to "concretize" the meaning of that and it will be lost. Similarly, if I say someone was assassinated it has a different connotation of betrayal than just murder. And in that the reader's understanding of words—and also the author's understanding—shape how the narrative is told. Nothing can be objective because everything is processed through our language and our connotations.
Ragtime utilizes this rethinking of language, when as a way to challenge the reader's understanding of the world it takes place in--which incidentally perfectly lines up with McHale's argument of postmodernism asking ontological rather than epistemological questions. When describing Jacob Riis' photographs, Doctorow makes the point of saying "housing for the poor was Riis' story" (18), which has a double meaning: it is both Riis' story that he is following as a reporter, and his internal story, his narrative, which we know because Doctorow continually satirizes the seemingly altruistic attitudes of the middle-class towards the poor in this book. This is an early example of the way that Doctorow plays with language, but it's nothing compared to later.
When Evelyn Nesbit first sees Tateh and his daughter we get yet another depiction of a middle class/wealthy person coming into the slums and trying to help, and it is made fun of in some ways. Doctorow does something powerful here, because he simultaneously depicts well-meaning, motherly behavior from Evelyn and also intensely uncomfortable behavior. The former is shown through the events described, but more interestingly, the latter is in the language. For instance, Evelyn comes into the house and bathes the little girl. It's a little weird, but not overly terrible, and it fits with this sort of motherly affection she has for the girl, however the book describes the bath in detail using words somewhat sensual/romantic words like "caressing" and describes Evelyn specifically bathing her "nut-brown budded nipples (...) her girlhood" (49). This scene is incredibly uncomfortable to read and yet she's just giving a young child a bath, and we see clearly that the child likes Evelyn and gives her a kiss, but it remains uncomfortable. Doctorow also calls the girl Evelyn's new "love interest" in a way that disconcerts because it is different than the usual use of the phrase.
In those two scenes (and others), Doctorow raises ontological questions about the world, Evelyn and Riis' thought processes, Evelyn's relationship with Tateh and his daughter, etc. And he uses language, he uses the way that the words and their connotations affect the way we think. Riis' has a non-objective "story" to his life, a subjective thought process, and worldview because nothing can be objective in postmodernism, and similarly, Evelyn has two stories happening simultaneously because they are equally valid interpretations and views within postmodernism. One story lets her be a sympathetic, kind, character despite all the scandal around her, and the other story fits very much with Doctorow's attack of "poverty balls" and the rich acting poor to show support without committing. It is both kind and condescending, motherly and creepy. Language is the conduit for the invoking of the ideas of ontology, constructed reality, and non-superior world-views. Language is everything, and in these books, the use of connotation really highlights that.
