To me, at least, the scene of Tateh being reintroduced as "Baron Ashkenazy" was bewildering, mind-boggling, top-10-plot-twists-of-all-time, etc., but this new veneer of a dark-haired, high-society individual who was once an overworked and exhausted socialist immigrant worker has been replaced by a new and outwardly persona. In the conscious acquisition of this new appearance (or, the revitalization of one previous), the circumstances of his "superficiality" spawn irony given his past history.
Tateh in the flesh.
More irony can be found with "the stereotypical well-off 20th century" family's interest/connection with Tateh and his daughter. Of course, the family has changed much by the end of the novel but if we take the idea that they represent a part of society at large, there is some irony in their fascination with this surface-level representation of a mystical and exotic European individual despite his "true" background and given the pervasive attitudes found in American society (which they may, to an extent, symbolize) at the time (xenophobia, etc.).
If we think about superficiality as a "layer," we could conceptualize this as Tateh adopting a costume which masks his "true" identity to form a new "basis layer". Another example in which a "basis layer" is formed is Mother's Younger Brother and his "revolutionary" activities.
With MYB's pursuits, his "desire for a meaning" may have led up to him embracing superficiality on several layers during Coalhouse's saga. The first is his appearance: with burnt cork and the similar clothing style, MYB "looks the part"—despite the race difference, he wears a costume to integrate into his immediate surroundings. A second layer is his "infatuation with revolution"; granted, MYB might strongly believe in his radical ideals and they could be deeply held but at least in the context of Coalhouse's fiasco, he seems very much betrayed at Coalhouse's limited demands.
"Coalhouse [...] went out to talk to the young men in the hall. [...] Younger Brother said What you are doing is betraying us. Either we all ought to go free or we all ought to die. You signed your letter pResident of the Provisional American Government. [...] But we meant it! Younger Brother cried. We meant it! There are enough people in the streets to found an army! [...] Younger Brother was shouting now. You can't change your demands! You can't reduce the meaning of your demands! You can't betray us for a car!" (Doctorow, 245-246)
I would speculate that with such an objection, MYB might not understand Coalhouse's own intentions and that he does not have a grasp of any stronger convictions; while he may not consciously recognize it, his "strong" and "revolutionary" ideals might not be any deeper than those which are only reactionary and superficial.
A review of these sequences show a basis layer; in Tateh's case, the irony stems from the circumstances of the superficially new "identity" that Tateh adopts which masks his "true" identity and with MYB, the circumstances of superficiality comes as a solution to his "true" yearn for meaning and purpose. To these, I wonder if the inverse is true - can superficiality stem out of circumstances of irony?
I don't think a good example of this can be found in Ragtime and perhaps its impossibility most clearly separates irony and superficiality. From these two examples, I think the order and purpose of irony and superficiality can be recognized; I would conceptualize superficiality as being like a colored light filter and irony as the resultant perception of the light. If I layer a patterned green filter (superficiality) onto a light source (thus forming a system or "basis layer"), the projected light will be green and sparkly (i.e., these effects are irony). However, this example isn't to say that irony can only stem from superficiality—if a light source projects a warm and uniform light ("basis layer"), this characteristics of the light emitted would be the figurative "irony".
I would argue that irony is predicated on the jest of a "basis layer" (whether it is the superficial layer which masks the "true identity"(e.g., Tateh or MYB) or the true identity itself (e.g., irony stemming from Father's activities, etc.)); the essence of the irony stems not from the intentional manipulation of the character (e.g., causing the character to adopt something or change in some other way like adopting a superficial identity) but of the circumstances that occur (e.g., the series of events that lead up to a situation). For example, the phrase "it is ironic that Tateh adopted a new persona" does not resonate as well as "there is irony in Tateh adopting a new persona"; whether it is because irony comes out of a combination of factors and circumstances and not from a single particular change, this goes to show that irony is an effect that is achieved whereas superficiality can be a character manipulation.
cute little diagram.
