...The Devil in the White City, a nonfiction novel written by Erik Larson, focused around the construction the 1893 Chicago World's Fair, also referred to as The World's Columbian Exposition, Daniel Burnham, the architect responsible for building World's Fair and the serial killer who exploits the fair to find his victims, H.H. Holmes, the two men's lives are recreated. Larson uses juxtaposition, imagery, and figurative language to portray the opposing forces of good and evil in action during the World’s fair. Introducing juxtaposition in into the novel Larson contrasts the good and evil presented by the fair. Larson compares the good of Burnham to light and the nefariousness of Holmes to the dark. Known as the “White City”, Chicago is a pivotal...
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...An ancient Chinese philosophy describes how seemingly opposite or contrary forces may actually be complementary, interconnected, and interdependent in the natural world—they coined the term Yin and Yang—light and dark—and they are put together to form one concept and exist at the same time. The light and dark sides both incorporate their counterpart within to symbolize that light and dark coexists. In The Devil in The White City by Erik Larson, in the midsts of the industrial revolution of America — Chicago is trying to make a name for itself in response to the Exposition Universelle of 1889 hosted by France, where the famous Eiffel Tower was constructed. After a close race with New York, Chicago eventually pulled through and earned the rights...
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...Chicago was looked down upon by many of the eastern cities, New York City and Washington D.C.. They believed that Chicago would fail in being able to produce a fair to top the great World Fair of Paris. The committee in charge of the exposition chose Daniel Burnham to design the the fair. Chicago before the 1893 Worlds fair was a dangerous and dirty place at the time. There were the Union stock yards killing thousands of pigs, and there was H. H. Holmes hotel killing hundreds of women. Chicago was in for a challenge to produce a fair that would top the Paris worlds. The country would have to come together in order to achieve producing a fair of such magnitude. The worlds fair would not have been so grand if it were not for one man Daniel Burnham. Burnham was able to bring together an amazing team of architects from throughout the United States, lead by John Root and Frederick Olmsted. With so many different people working on a project of this grandeur there are bound to be many challenges to face. The first challenge faced on this project was finding a suitable location to host the fair. It took nearly ten months to find a location for the fair and finally in December 1890 they settled on Jackson Park. Tragedy hit early in the development of the exposition, John Root passed away in early January 1891. The death of root had an effect on Burnham “Burnham kept silent. He considered quitting the fair. To forces warred within him: grief, and a desire to cry out (108).” Burnham...
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...In the year of 1893, the United States, specifically Chicago, hosted The World’s Columbian Exposition in celebration of the 400th anniversary of Columbus reaching the New World. The event grounds were stressfully designed by a large assembly of architects, designers, and city officials to achieve the final product: The White City. The White City became more of a turning point for America inspiring new structures, ideas, inventions, and cities. Erik Larson’s The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair That Changed America revolve around Burnham, the head architect designing the Fair, and H.H. Holmes, a serial killer whose killings took place in the planning of and during Chicago’s World Fair. The illustration of two very different men with disparate backgrounds and stories throughout the book somehow manage to give us a glimpse of the city lifestyle in...
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...The Devil In The White City The Chicago fire of 1871 left the city desolate yet allowed Chicago to erupt in creation and construction. Architects built and expanded the city into the Chicago we see today. Chicago was known as a smaller, less sophisticated New York, until the World's Fair in 1893. In The Devil In The White City, Erik Larson follows the 1893 World's Fair from the stress of preparing the exhibits, its global effects. Larson uses imagery, personification, structure, and irony to display the fair as a sanctuary in contrast to the filth of Chicago. Larson inserts tragedies of the outside world within pages that describe the luxury of the fair to contrast the economy and work environment of the exposition with that of Chicago. When hiring architects to construct the midway, executives were not concerned with overspending. When hiring for the midway, Sol Bloom asked for an...
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...Exposition was loved. However, with such greatness of the Exposition came negative events. Throughout his book, The Devil in the White City, Erik Larson depicts Chicago as a ‘White City’ and a ‘Black City’. With a ‘White City’, one may interpret it as angelic, heaven-like, and even awe-inspiring, however, a ‘White City’ can also be interpreted as the opposite. The same applies to a ‘Black City’, usually described as dangerous and lifeless but may also be presented as a ‘White City’. That being said, Larson’s purpose, in his book, is to educate his readers, and those wondering about the Columbian Exposition, about the astonishing events that happened during that time. Larson captures readers’ attention through his convincing, earnest tone, imagery, and juxtaposition, all the while, describing major events that would portray Chicago as a ‘White’ and a ‘Black City’. Larson uses imagery throughout the entirety of his book to establish a concrete vision of the events he believes would define Chicago as a ‘White City and a ‘Black City’. With detailed descriptions such as women walking to work “on streets that angled past bars, gambling houses, and...
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...Some people believe that the eyes are the window to the soul, and H.H.Holmes, the serial killer from The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair That Changed America, appeared to have a “clear and blue” gaze (The Devil in the White City 37). Looks from pretty girls “fell around him like wind-blown petals” because Holmes always “looked fresh and crisp” whenever he was in public (The Devil in the White City 35). Robin Williams was a popular, talented actor, but only those closest to him knew that he was struggling with some sort of illness. Many people in society were shocked when he all of a sudden killed himself. In her special editorial called “the Terrorist Inside My Husband’s Brain,” Susan Schneider Williams- Robin Williams wife- shares the story of her husbands fight with his mental illness. Williams was a trained actor, so his wife “will never know the true depth of his suffering” because he fought so hard to keep it hidden. Although Williams “was diagnosed with Parkinson Disease...
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...ocusing on the issue, Erik Larson’s The Devil in the White City vividly describes the conditions of 1890s Chicago, Illinois. In the book, the city is depicted as dirty, polluted, and crime ridden. It was so bad that the main character, Daniel Burnham, moved his family out of the city because, as he wrote, “I could no longer bear to have my children in the streets of Chicago.” In this assignment, we will analyze how The Devil in the White City describes the nearly destitute conditions of Chicago, and how the city has changed in over a century. Throughout Devil, Larson describes the conditions of Chicago many times. One of the reader’s first introductions to the city is “It was so easy to disappear, so easy to deny knowledge, so very easy in...
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...1893 was a very successful and influential time in United States history as it introduced the world's fair. In Devil in the White City, by Erik Larson, the Chicago world fair portrays the impact the fair had on how the United States was viewed, as well as how deeply affected american culture is by the gilded age at this time. The fair not only was a spectacle to propel America to the top spot in industry and entertainment through various new technologies, but it managed to show the advancement of America compared to the rest of the world. Coming into the construction of the fair, after the site in Chicago had been decided, Burnham and the other architects were concerned about whether they would be able to outshine...
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...Erik Larson’s books The Devil in the White City, In the Garden of Beasts, and Dead Wake, are all about major events of history. The Devil in the White City is about the Chicago World’s Fair, Dead Wake is about events leading up to the sinking of the Lusitania, and In the Garden of Beasts is about Berlin in a Germany that was approaching World War II. Each of these topics is interesting enough to begin with, but with Erik Larson’s style of writing, they are even more enjoyable to read about. Each of the books focuses on a few people who were alive during the event that Larson is describing, and follows them throughout that event. Larson’s stories are more relatable, and interesting to read rather than a summary of an event because they not only tell what happened in history, but how it affected people. The Devil in the White City focuses on the Chicago World’s Fair, and focused mainly on a two people that were influential to the fair. The reader learned of the story of Daniel Burnham, an extremely talented Chicago architect who was tasked with building the World’s...
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...The novel, The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic and Madness in the Fair That Changed America by Erik Larson. In the books there are two storylines: one about the life of H.H. Holmes, the serial killer, the other about how the 1893 World’s Fair in Chicago came to be. By contrasting "white" city of the World Fair, and the dark essence of the serial killer. Erik Larson is able to combine fact and fiction and make a statement that beauty can be an illusion that is able to cover what is hidden under the surface. The World's Fair was built to bring all the best things to Chicago and also for the United States to show off its glory. The contraction of the Worlds fair was done poorly because the intention for the buildings was to only be in...
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...The Devil in the White City Essay Erik Larson, the author of The Devil in the White City, uses juxtaposition by incorporating specific details about the fair's construction and Holmes's trial of murders to show the underlying evil taking place at such a revolutionary time in history. The author uses mysterious events to reveal his alternative message of the hidden darkness, even in the most joyous times in history. Such as, when Burnham was deciding to paint all the buildings white so that it correlates with the positive attitude of the Chicago World Fair. Meanwhile H. H. Holmes portrays the “dark” side of the city with his cloaked basement of various lingering smells of rancid chemicals that will cause hundreds to disappear without any suspicion....
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...Burnham and Holmes give an unprecedented representation of “good” and “evil”; with alternating stories, but they aren't so different in the end; with struggles and victories. Holmes, a “devil” in the reader’s mind, uses an eerie scenes to further the evil persona. With Erik Larson’s eloquent style of writing, he cast the reader into a “sea of tranquility," and a “state of ecstasy." Larson uses a mosaic structure, eclectic array of tone, and an advanced picturesque use of imagery. In the chapter by chapter script, structure is key to the illuminating novel, and to interesting the reader with a change from good to evil. Larson’s structure builds suspense and wonderment for the reader; as Larson switches...
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...This passage occurred after Julia Connor, the wife of one of H.H. Holmes’s employees, announced to Holmes that she was pregnant with his child. The purpose behind this passage was to outline the concrete gender roles at the time, and draw a connection of how these distinctly separate spheres between men and women played an important role in creating a culture that encourages men to be aggressive, and gives women few opportunities to assert themselves. The comparison between the power and influence that men and women possessed during the time period that The Devil in the White City is set in, is made evident through Larson’s concurrent employment of both juxtaposition and diction. Although Larson does not explicitly state which position is...
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...Title: The Devil in the White City MAJOR WORKS DATA SHEET (For PreAP & AP Summer Enrichment) Author: Erik Larson Date of Publication: 2003 Historical information about period of publication Biographical information about the author Took place time of the industrial revolution in america. America as around a whole was not in the best financial place, as factories were causing deaths and the change of the family dynamic in america. Born January 3, 1954 . Attended University in Pennsylvania. First journalism job for “Bucks County Courier Times.” This job helped to prepare him for when he worked for the “Wall Street Journal.” Setting(s) Symbol(s) Chicago, New York, France, Murder Castle, Jackson park devil- representing holmes, white city-...
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