Perspectives on Coalhouse Walker


During discussion in class this week, we talked about the different reactions that the characters had to Coalhouse Walker. Father seems to act the most negatively, out of the family members, towards Coalhouse Walker. Though some of his reactions aren’t purposefully rude, he is definitely put off by Walker’s unusually proud attitude and there are a few moments when Father seems to almost want Walker to rely on him, though Walker refuses. One example of this is when Father pays Walker’s bail, not expecting him to pay it back, but rather seemingly wanting some kind of gesture of appreciation. Instead, Walker pays back the full amount using the money he had saved up for the wedding and leaves without saying much.

Mother’s reaction seemed to come from her feeling of responsibility towards Sarah and her child. Though she told Coalhouse to step away from the baby, she doesn’t seem to have fully understood the situation at that point, and it’s also a pretty understandable reaction to a random stranger walking into her house and staring at the baby. Other than this particular scene, Mother seems pretty accepting of Coalhouse, and is in support of his courtship of Sarah. Mother seems to represent a more modern perspective than Father does.

Mother’s Younger Brother admires Coalhouse, and is in full support of him. We talked about the different nuances of his reaction, one of them being that it may be more of a superficial outwardly gesture to show that he is “modern”. Whether or not his reaction towards Coalhouse was genuine or not, Mother’s Younger Brother definitely represents a much more modernized point of view than Mother and Father, not just in his reaction towards Coalhouse, but also his experiences outside of the home.  


Comments

  1. HadiyahJanuary 26, 2020 at 1:21 PM

    Father really seems to be stuck in "the old world". His views on Coalhouse are kinda upsetting & racist. Mother's Younger Brother I think is "modern" because he really seems to support Coalhouse, especially after the lastest reading where he decides to go help Coalhouse by making bombs for their cause.

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  2. Raneem SaadahFebruary 3, 2020 at 6:00 PM

    Yes Father isn't the nicest towards Coalhouse, but also looking at it from Fathers perspective, a complete stranger is placing himself in your life and you don't know what to do/don't have any control over it. Father probably wants Coalhouse to rely on him so that he can feel like he has power over the things he can't control.

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  3. Emi L.February 8, 2020 at 5:41 AM

    Sophia wrote a very similar blog post about racism in the family. I agree doctorow does seem to use the family to display a spectrum of attitudes towards black people, change, modernity, etc. I didn't put that together reading the book but now with these blog posts i realize he did that and it's pretty brilliant.

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