John Henry Days Alienation

Larson’s use of charged language exemplifies the coinciding good and evil in the world, especially the fair, at that time. Americans at the time describe the fair as an “inexhaustible dream of beauty” (252) which assures them that nothing evil can happen while such a monumental event in American history occurs. Larson’s word choice of “dream” and “beauty” expose to the reader that the grandeur of the fair blinds the people to the fact that

The book The Devil In the White City by Erik Larson re-tells the story of Chicago’s World Fair, while H.H. Holmes, also known as “America’s first serial killer”, emerges as a dark force within the fair. Switching back and forth between the experiences of the head fair administrator, Burnham, and the other directors along with the evils of Holmes, the reader begins to understand the world of tragedy and crime that lies behind the public’s excitement. From a devastating storm to the deaths of multiple builders, suspense builds as tragedy is followed by more tragedy. Through the use of contrasting ideas and ethical clauses highlighted by symbolisms and descriptions within the book, Erik Larson creates an underlying argument that one’s pursuit of pride and success often causes destruction and comes at the price of another’s well-being.

Tucker Max’s famous words state that “the devil doesn’t come dressed in a red cape and pointy horns. He comes as everything you’ve ever wished for.” H. H. Holmes, a main character in Erik Larson’s 2003 novel titled “The Devil in the White City,” exemplifies Max’s statement. This novel recreates the lives of Daniel Burnham, the architect of the 1893 Chicago World’s Fair, and H. H. Holmes, the mastermind serial killer who takes advantage of the fair to find his victims. Larson demonstrates the contesting forces of good and evil within the World’s Fair among his use of figurative language, allusion, and imagery to emphasize that evil can lurk in the shadows as well as in plain sight.

In life, one must overcome their fears in order to achieve or successfully attain a certain goal in their mind. The short story “Through the Tunnel”, by Doris Lessing tells us about how Jerry builds confidence and maturity throughout the story, by overcoming his fear of going through the dark and scary tunnel underneath the water. The author portrays the idea of overcoming one’s fear to achieve a goal through Jerry, who was once a childish and isolated character, had begun his risky adventure of going through the tunnel to prove his worth to a group of boys and along the way discovers what he truly wants. Over time he becomes more mature and in the end, gain self-acceptance.

Alienation can be defined as a state of being cut off or separate from a person or group of people. There are many factors that cause people to become alienated: race, political views, social status, etc. The texts “The Great Gatsby”, “The Catcher in the Rye”, and the play “Death of a Salesman” all portray characters who are cut off from the rest society. Despite the character's best effort to fit in, they ultimately fail. The authors argue that one's ideology can cause them to be alienated.

The Chicago World’s Fair occurred in 1893 to commemorate American history, specifically the landing of Christopher Columbus. This event had such a mass popularity that a book was written to commemorate the fair itself; it was titled, The Devil In The White City by Erik Larson. The portrayal of history in this novel is quite accurate when expressing the time period of the late nineteenth century in an elevated format, which allows the reader to draw comparisons of how the time mirrors the present, as well as differences in the ways it contrasts modern living, and most importantly allows a grasp of a total picture of the time period itself.

Write an essay discussing the historical insights presented in Erik Larson’s Devil in the White City, being sure to answer the following questions: In what ways does the Chicago World’s Fair of 1893 represent the contrasts and conflicts of the Gilded Age? What is the Fair’s lasting imprint on American society & culture, & what new trends does it signal for the twentieth century?

The Great Fair of 1893 was held as a major achievement for its time. Huge buildings, impossible feats of engineering, a mixing of cultures, and the use of many new technologies were major aspects of its success. However, even though the builders of the fair worked against impossible odds, they required a leader, a figurehead to lead the way to success. In his book, The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair that Changed America, Erik Larson’s portrays Burnham’s obsession with grandeur as a key part of his persona to emphasize why he was the right man for the job.

Erik Larson’s The Devil in the White City, a nonfiction novel that spans the years surrounding the building of the 1893 Chicago World's Fair, also known as The World's Columbian Exposition, recreates the lives of two real men, Daniel Burnham, the architect who builds the 1893 Chicago World's Fair and H.H. Holmes, the serial killer who exploits the fair to find his victims. In the book, Holmes is not simply another mindless criminal breaking the law for the reason of money; Holmes is a twisted, yet highly intelligent individual that gains pleasure from the death of his victims. Larson is able to utilize tone, imagery, and syntax to dig into the mind of H.H. Holmes and reveal how he thinks and what inquires him to do horrific deeds.

During a period known as the Gilded Age, one city sets out to create an exposition that would secure them dominance in an ever-expanding society. Chicago was set to be the home of the 1893 Chicago World’s Fair, an attraction meant to showcase the success and prosperity of the nation. This historical event showcased the prosperity and light of the city as well as the poor and dark parts that came with the building of this fair through two essential characters: Daniel Burnham and H.H. Holmes. Burnham’s determination to build the fair despite many challenges reveals the light of the windy city while Holmes’ and his deceptive evil brings awareness to the dark parts of the city during an economic depression.

At first glance, the Shakespearean plays Hamlet and Henry V are not similar. This is because they truly are not similar – not in genre, since Hamlet is a tragedy and Henry V is a historical play; not in plot, since the protagonist in Hamlet hides in the shadows of conflict while the protagonist of Henry V charges head-first into it; and certainly not in tone, where Hamlet is disastrous and Henry V is triumphant. It is these dissimilarities of context that make Henry and Hamlet’s similarities in identity all the more interesting. Both Shakespearean protagonists are faced with extreme circumstances, and in such extreme circumstances, they both resort to the same human response: they question. In both plays and both characters, Shakespeare seems to explore the depth of such questions as they pertain to human identity and as they pertain to each character’s sense of control, thus seeming to pose a question himself: what does it mean to control one’s identity?

The main themes of Larson’s book are very clear in his prologue; they include the three main conflicts of good versus evil, daylight versus darkness, and the Black City versus the White City. Throughout the book Larson supports all three theme s with his overall story and characters. For example, he supports his theme of good versus evil seen in Chicago during the late1800s through his story of Holmes; Holmes is seen as a murderer to readers, however, within the story Holmes is blindly seen as a great magical man to many characters. The underlying story of Holmes also contributes to the support of good versus evil because as the fair becomes a great and majestic statement for the United States, Holmes is the contradiction to the good the fair is supposed to be doing because he is contributing to the rate of disappearances and deaths in the greatest city of the time.

Tone is stated to be something that is “a general tone or attitude of a place, piece of writing, situation, ect…” Tone helps represent the writer or Narrator’s point or feeling throughout a story. In “Sixteen” by Maureen Daly, the Narrator of the story is a 16 year old girl talking about love and how blind people can be because of it. “Through the Tunnel”, by author Doris Lessing, on the other hand, is about an 11-year-old boy who creates his coming of age story by, literally, swimming through a tunnel. The distinction of plots and settings in these stories couldn’t be more different but similar tones throughout the stories almost bind them in a way. Similar tones in “Sixteen” and “Through the Tunnel” are:

The story of John Henry is about a an African American who told the captain of the mines he could dig a deeper hole using only a steel hammer and his muscles, quicker and more efficiently than a steam drill. This story took place in West Virginia, where they made these holes to put explosives in. After that they would blast the rock to make room for the railroads. John Henry’s heart gave out from stress, although he worked hard and earned his place in history easily.

Similarly, Henry’s relationship with his boss and his American co-workers shows the readers his willingness of trying to gain acceptance among his peers in order to identify with their culture. His fear of losing that approval forces Henry to stick with his job as a spy, otherwise his job provided no benefits or satisfaction but rather brought along with it the pain and frustration which is reflected on Henry’s relationship with others.