Emma Goldman was a famous anarchist known for her political activism. After assassinating President William McKinley, Leon Czolgosz was interrogated and admitted he was an Anarchist. He claimed to have found inspiration from one of Goldman's speeches. Goldman was detained by police and held in jail for two weeks before it was clear she had no connection to the assassination. Her unprovoked custody mirrors the experiences Marcus went through, and perhaps Doctorow felt the connection was strong enough to represent in his novel.
Anarchism is a political philosophy which considers the state undesirable, and instead promotes a stateless society. Marcus feels such hatred for the Department of Homeland Security that he relates to an anarchist in that his agenda is to fight the system until substantial changes are made.
Anarcho-feminism combines anarchism with feminism. Goldman was a significant anarcho-feminist. She attacked the institution of marriage, which becomes an interesting theme in terms of the near-divorce of Marcus' parents. While it is not essential to the plot, I feel that Marcus' father's unstable behavior might derail his marriage to Marcus' mother.
A.J. von Massenhausen
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