Child, Dead in the Rose Garden

In the story Child, Dead in the Rose Garden by E.L Doctorrow, the character of Chrissie Stevens believed that the government always won. Chrissie meant that the United States government is corruptive and doesn’t care for what the people have to say. Chrissie thought that they did whatever they wanted just because they were the government and they abused their power. Chrissie tried to fight the pollution going on in Texas, which affected the people around. Roberto Guzman was a victim of the pollution caused by Utilicon, Chrissie’s fathers company. Roberto Guzman was Chrissie’s only hope of letting the government know what was going on in the state of Texas. With the help of Chrissie’s boyfriend, the body of Roberto Guzman was buried in the White House rose garden. Chrissie’s protest against Utilicon and the environmental pollution failed, and like they always do, the government had won once again. Instead of listening to what Chrissie had to say, the government only cared for what could had happen if the people found out about the situation. The selfish government of the United States only thought of themselves, and of protecting their image. On the other hand, Chrissie’s message did get to agent Molloy, he finally saw the governments true colors, he notices how corrupted they were by ignoring a case and how they abused their power by threading a family of immigrants and deporting them.
Doctorow also wrote about the corruption in the American government and the oppression against immigrants in his novel Ragtime. The fact that the firehouse chief which was a symbol of authority had destroyed Coalhouse’s car shows the corruption in government, the abuse of power and the oppression against immigrants. The authority, they are the ones to do the right thing and the ones to help the people, but that’s not actually how reality was. That was E.L. Doctorow’s job to show the people what reality really was, and to show the readers how the government used their power in a