Ragtime Chapter 7 Summary

  • Evelyn Nesbit has her own encounter with Tateh and Little Girl, who apparently is so pretty no one can take their eyes off her. In fact, Tateh keeps her tethered to him, because little girls can get kidnapped and sold into slavery.
  • Tateh works as a silhouette artist, cutting paper portraits. He's only 32 years old, but his hair turned white when he learned about Mameh offering herself to her boss for extra money. So he looks a lot older.
  • He also threw Mameh out and mourns her as if she were dead. Not very fair to Mameh.
  • Evelyn takes an interest in Little Girl and over the next several weeks gets her own and Little Girl's silhouette portrait done many times. During these portraits she notices Mother's Younger Brother watching her. Okay, stalking her.
  • One day Evelyn can't find Tateh and Little Girl and tracks them down to their flat, where she discovers Little Girl has a fever. Despite Tateh's objections, she stays with the child and bathes the girl while Tateh works.
  • Evelyn thinks about kidnapping Little Girl and giving her a better life, but decides to spend her afternoons at Tateh's instead. She sews and lives like a woman in the Jewish slums, before being picked up every day by her chauffeur.