Coalhouse: The Bridge Between History and Fiction
As many others have discussed, Doctorow’s choice to leave characters named or unnamed is directly in relation to their status in “reality” or history. Doctorow builds his unnamed characters through the cracks of history, just like he crafts the webs of unlikely but unknown interactions between Nesbit and Goldman, Morgan and Ford. Although Doctorow frequently warps or builds on historical characters, their role in both “reality” and the plot is semi-absolutely true. The fundamental property of the named characters is that they are grounded into “real” history, and their actions are typically both restricted and enhanced by this knowledge. This is the juxtaposition of historical fiction – limited by what is real, but empowered by it simultaneously. Unnamed characters are similarly constrained by Doctorow to maintain the air of plausible deniability whilst constructing the connections that make up a character. Younger Brother didn’t “need” to meet Nesbit, to be c...