Read chapters from 21 to 22 and answer the following questions:

The beginning of the century witnessed a fad for Egyptian culture. The family was no exception, describe the way every member viewed it.

Who was the colored man who had suddenly arrived to the Family’s house and changed their lives forever? How did he gain the admittance to the family?

In this chapter we finally see the broader mentioning of Ragtime, the music which gave its title to this book. And though we cannot hear it we can feel every vibration of a listener’s heart. How does the author create the vivid effect of Rag music played? Try to translate the part where the music is described.

Explain the phrase “It occurred to Father one day that Coalhouse Walker Jr. didn't know he was a Negro”. What parts of the text prove that he was not a regular colored?

The tangle of Coalhouse and Sarah’s relations makes every member of the family involved; speak of every member’s attitude to their new aspect of life.

How come Mother’s Younger Brother returned to New York and met Emma Goldman, speak of his days before he heard the call of the suicide rag?

Look up the dictionary for the following words and phrases:

Canvas (n)

Knee (n)

Papyri (n)

Cub reporter (n)

Immune to (adj)

Sloe-eyed (adj)

Vulture (n)

Entomb (v)

Fruition (n)

papier-mache (n)

Ibis (n)

Throt­tle (n)

Reside (v)

Resolute (adj)

Stocky (adj)

Affec­tation (n)

Hound’s-tooth (adj)

Goggle (n)

Slam the door (v)

Nuisance (n)

Courtship (n)

Penitence (n)

Intransigence (n)

Propriety (n)

Deferential (adj)

Fervent (adj)

Syncopating (adj)

Chord (n)

Cakewalking (adj)

Coon songs (n)

Relent (v)

Impassable (adj)

Perseverance (n)

Flurry (n)

Sub­jection to (n)

Afflict (v)

Ordnance (n)

Oddity (n)

Devour (v)

Cadaverous (adj)

Vigil (n)

Peon (n)

Stave (n)

Complicity (n)

Subjuga­tion (n)

Bandoleer (n)

Swarthy (adj)

Rally (n)

Tarred and feathered

Ladle (n)

Well-served (adj)

Sal­low (adj)

Unaccountably (adv)

Bourgeois (n)

Unappeased (adj)

Cultural Notes:

L ouis Quatorze - Style of French Baroque and Classical architecture of the reign of King Louis XIV (1643–1715), beginning in the 1660s. Its great monuments are the Churches of the Sorbonne and the Val-de-Grâce, the Institut de France, and the east front of the Louvre, all in Paris, and, of course, the Château of Versailles.

Wild West Weekly - A weekly magazine containing stories and sketches of Western life. Features the adventures of 'Young Wild West,' a courageous and dashing hero born and raised on the frontier, who rescues his sweetheart, Arietta Murdock, from countless dangers and perils. Stories focus on the violent clashes between cowboys and Indians and on life in the mining camps at the turn of the century.

Booker T. Washington - (April 5, 1856, – November 14, 1915) was an American political leader, educator, orator and author. He was the dominant figure in the African American community in the U nited States from 1890 to 1915. Representing the last generation of black leaders born in slavery, and speaking for those blacks who had remained in the New South in an uneasy modus vivendi with the white southerners, Washington was able throughout the final 25 years of his life to maintain his standing as the black leader because of the sponsorship of powerful whites, substantial support within the black community, his ability to raise educational funds from both groups, and his skillful accommodation to the social realities of the age of segregation.

N ubian princess - The Nubians are an ethnic group originally from northern Sudan, now inhabiting East Africa and some parts of Northeast Africa, such as southern Egypt.

Scott Joplin - (between July 1867 and January 1868 – April 1, 1917) was an American composer and pianist, born near Texarkana, Texas, into the first post-slavery generation. He achieved fame for his unique ragtime compositions, and was dubbed the "King of Ragtime." During his brief career, he wrote forty-four original ragtime pieces, one ragtime ballet, and two operas. One of his first pieces, the "Maple Leaf Rag", became ragtime's first and most influential hit, and remained so for a century.

The Aeolian - The Æolian Company was a manufacturer of player organs and pianos.

T he Bethesda Fountain in Central Park

The Bowery - is the name of a street and a small neighborhood in the southern portion of the New York City borough of Manhattan.

Mexican Revolution - was a major armed struggle that started in 1910 with an uprising led by Francisco I. Madero against longtime autocrat Porfirio Díaz. The Revolution was characterized by several socialist, liberal, anarchist, populist, and agrarianist movements.

H ell's Kitchen - also known as Clinton and Midtown West by real estate brokers, is a neighborhood of Manhattan in New York City that covers roughly the area between 34th Street and 57th Street, from 8th Avenue to the Hudson River.

Emiliano Zapata Salazar (August 8, 1879 – April 10, 1919) was a leading figure in the Mexican Revolution, which broke out in 1910, and which was initially directed against the president Porfirio Díaz. He formed and commanded an important revolutionary force, the Liberation Army of the South, during the Mexican Revolution.

The term "Bohemian" as related to Bohemianism – i.e. describing the untraditional lifestyles of marginalized and impoverished artists, writers, musicians, and actors in major European cities – emerged in France in the early 19th century when artists and creators began to concentrate in the lower-rent, lower class gypsy neighbourhoods. The term bohémien was a common term for the Romani people of France, who had reached Western Europe via Bohemia.Ben Reitman

William McKinley - (January 29, 1843 – September 14, 1901) was the 25th President of the United States, and the last veteran of the American Civil War to be elected to the office.

Pantasote - an imitation leather product.