Reality v. Extreme

Throughout Ragtime I found that Doctorow seems to imply that despite the somewhat graphic and extreme actions and behaviors of the characters that these are the ways that in fact "real" act. And perahaps this is true to an extent, however that at many points he in fact crosses the line. I know that this book is supposed to be somewhat of commentary on certain social issues and whatnot, but there is a big difference in shock value and what could be considered accounts of near psychotic people. Take Coalhouse for example. He seems to be a normal person, with a strong streak of pride. At first. Then he somehow metamorphosizes into a deranged killers, who just goes around shooting people up. while yes this does make apparent the effect that racism is having on the black community, its seems to be somewhat over the top, pretty much to the point of being unbelievable.
Emma Goldman is another example of an extreme character, however her actions seem more suiting and fitting to how she may have been (or other feminists may have been) in real life. The way she discusses woman-kind with some kind of mysticism is in fact effective in speaking out against the oppression that. The reason Doctorow's treatment of her is more effective than that of Coalhouse's is that he does not bend the rules of normality of attempt to rationalize her actions. They speak for themselves, and exist within the limits of normalcy. Doctorow attempts to set Coalhouse's actions to some sort relativist standard, but it just does not fit. His suffering was great this is true, but there is no justification for his actions whether in fiction or not.