Pierpont's Paramount Pyramid Perspective

      John Pierpont Morgan, or J. P. Morgan, makes a brief appearance in E. L. Doctorow's Ragtime. He has far-fetched ideas and a great amount of self-admiration, but it is hard to know how much Doctorow makes up and how much is really supported by historical evidence. Doctorow mixes researchable material - Morgan’s power, clothing, skin condition, and other external observations - with non-researchable material - his loneliness, thoughts, beliefs, and other personal information - to create a complex picture of a character that may or may not reflect the real John Pierpont Morgan of the early 20th century. The finished product is a wealthy, powerful man who acts all mighty and pretentious to the public and to his employees, but is secretly so lonely (because he’s too good for other people, the most self-centered reason I can imagine) that he comes up with a way to justify it. He is higher than the American capitalist system, and is, as someone said in 5th hour, the poster child for capitalism. Doctorow seems to play this up as well. He could have presented J. P. Morgan as a brilliant banker who was able to fenaegle his way into monopolizing money in America. He also could have presented J. P. Morgan as a greedy, rich banker who was able to buy his way into monopolizing money in America. However, he doesn’t do either of those. Doctorow doesn’t hide Morgan’s wealth and power in any way, but the reader finds themselves sympathizing for Pierpont, who is the lone interesting figure in a world of boring, however powerful, men. This struck me as somewhat ironic. Many people would assume Morgan was just as boring as the other powerful men, but Doctorow pulls Morgan aside and teases him for how egocentric he was.

      The most memorable part of Chapter 20 and the culmination of Doctorow’s teasing of Pierpont Morgan is his explanation to Henry Ford of his beliefs. He says that, according to some Egyptian mythology and writings, there are people in every generation who carry special knowledge and genius so they can assist mankind. First of all, I couldn’t find out more information about this from a brief Google search. I found other things under the terms  “prisca theologia” and “Hermetica,” but nothing about this “beneficent knowledge” or special people. In fact, “prisca theologia” translates more closely to “ancient theology” in Latin and everywhere I found online says it refers to the idea that all theologies are tied to one true, higher theology. Therefore, is Morgan’s idea of reincarnated geniuses made up by Doctorow? Either that, or it’s a very obscure part of prisca theologia that isn’t showing up in brief summaries of it online. I personally think Doctorow made up at least some parts of what Mogan describes - he’s made up plenty of random, non-historical things so far - but more extensive research may prove me wrong. If he did make it up, then what purpose does it serve? Is it another fun way for Doctorow to mess with the readers’ minds and bring a historical figure to life, assuming the readers will not turn to Google to investigate prisca theologia (Google had obviously not been created yet at the time Ragtime was published in 1974).

      Once Morgan explains his ideas to Ford, Ford teases them too, but he does this from a different perspective. As Doctorow and his presentation of the ideas in the book tease Morgan for having such pretentious ideas about his own superiority, Ford teases Morgan instead for the pretentiousness by which he came to these ideas. Once Morgan has explained his trips to Egypt and the literature he has read, Ford demeans the entire thing by saying he got the same ideas from a 25¢ book he found in a novelty shop. This says more about Ford’s opinion of Morgan, however, than about Morgan or his ideas. Ford obviously sees Morgan as caring too much about prestige and power than about realism and American life. Ford feels that he can take his ideas from anywhere - a butcher shop or a novelty book, for example - so he seems to think that Morgan is being pretentious and egocentric by taking his inspiration from Egyptian and Greek texts. Between myself, Doctorow, and Henry Ford, it is easy to pry apart and gently tease Pierpont Morgan’s ideas about his status as a genius, reincarnated from an Egyptian pharaoh.