Trains, Planes, and Automobiles

The end of last semester brought with it the study of trains, and their relation to America, Manifest Destiny, and Oppression.   Moving forward in time in the novel, Ragtime, trains still play their part, however the transition to aviation soon begins.  Early in the novel, the narrator comments upon the popularity of the locomotive, saying, "Tracks!  Tracks!  It seemed to the visionaries who wrote for the popular magazines that the future lay at the end of parallel rails" (77).   But, as the novel continually reflects, society is a constantly evolving system, and the early 20th century was no exception.  Famed escape artist, Harry Houdini, experiences one of the most powerful changes technology brings to people, when he tries his hand at piloting, thus described,"The machine lifted off the ground.  He thought he was dreaming.  He had to willfully restrain his emotions...he was flying!"(82). 
This transition from train to automobile marks a shift towards more freedom.   Trains were one of the modern changes towards this goal, allowing Americans to transport goods with more ease, obtain more territory, develop thriving metropolises in previously impossible locations, and even harness and standardize time to man's liking.   The plane brought this shift to an even greater fruition, allowing man to do what was previously thought impossible: fly.  This "dreamlike"  experience pushed the American conscience even further, towards the even-more impossible, (the moon anyone?)  and more free.   However, as will be commented on soon, increases in technological and spacial freedom for a nation did not necessarily increase or improve the freedom of all its people...