Imprisonment
In Ragtime , Houdini has an encounter with Harry K. Thaw in the Tombs. Houdini is trying to escape his cell as part of a performance, and his cell is across from Thaw’s, who is there for killing Stanford White. Houdini’s encounter with Thaw is pretty wacky but you can glean a lot from it. Houdini’s cell is a normal one. He starts off naked then after escaping puts his clothes back on. Thaw, on the other hand, starts off clothed and decides to undress. His cell isn’t really a cell because of all the stuff he has. Thaw’s living a great life while in jail. There are a lot of differences between Thaw and Houdini. A major one is who is free and who isn’t. Houdini may have escaped from his cell, but he isn’t really free. Thaw doesn’t need to escape because he’s living the life in his cell. Thaw also knows that, because he is so rich, he’s not going to lose the trial. In reality, thanks to his wealth, Thaw is the free one, even though he’s the one in jail...