Towards the end of the post-modernist work of historical fiction, Ragtime, we find the interlocking stories of the various characters connected, an amongst the most influential and noteworthy characters, Coalhouse Walker is portrayed as one of the idealist lunatics who turns to violent actions to prove his point. After Sarah dies and his model T car is destroyed by the chief firefighter Conklin at the Emerald Isle fire station, Coalhouse seeks his revenge in a way that would seem unproportional to his misfortune. In doing so, Doctorow uses this fictional character with the tragic flaw of hubris such that he is admirable to the reader due to his personality, ambition and motivation in spite of his destructive actions.
       J. P. Morgan, the "modern day Pharaoh" of American capitalism, although superficially the antithesis of Coalhouse, fascinatingly shares various similarities to Coalhouse. At first, their detachment from soceity is manifested in their attitudes and, especially with Coalhouse, in their actions. Morgan believes himself to be like a Pharaoh from Ancient Egypt, and notes that he has no peers, continuing by the idea that he is so high in the socioeconomic latter that he cannot possibly fail, while finds that his wealth is the reason for his loneliness. At the other side of the spectrum, we note that, although not detached from society due to economie issues, makes a stand for his beliefs, and in doing so in a violent and radical way, causes him to lose his life.

       Fundamentally, after Coalhouse and his group capture the Morgan library and take J. P. Morgan as a hostage, the parallels between Coalhouse's right to own a Model T car and Morgan's right to raid and steal ancient Egyptian art is inevitably linked to the issues of a consumerist system. Coalhouse Walker, just as Morgan, has bought into the idea of consumerism, and chooses to build assets such that he can rise in class, yet due to the racist social structure of the time, is seen by some, such as Conklin, as an outsider to the system and as someone who must be stopped. Similarly, Morgan is an outsider, yet only due to his wealth and his distance from the then-current American soceity, and is therefore unable to mesh into soceity and find peers. This refusal to live in the bounds of early 1900's American soceity, in an outdated and obsolete system which we would consider nowadays, causes obstacles for both characters.
       In conclusion, Coalhouse and Morgan become social outcasts due to their actions, a product of their removal from the early 1900's society as well as their fatal flaws that appear throughout the novel. Therefore, although most readers would not associate Morgan and Coalhouse, who superficially as vastly different, there are many parallels which cannot be ignored.