Examples Of Manipulation And Deception In The Devil In The White City

Serbian poet, Dejan Stojanovic, once stated, “Devil and God – two sides of the same face.” When looking at Chicago during the Columbian Exposition, there were two sides of Chicago known as the white city and the black city. The white city was the fairgrounds where the World Fair occurred. The black city, however, is the rest of Chicago where the crime, poverty, disease, and filth was represented. Erik Larson constructs the black and white city in Devil in the White City by incorporating figurative language, imagery, and juxtaposition.

Devil in the White City written by Erik Larson is a true story based on the building of the most important fair in the United States of America, the 1893 Columbian Exposition World’s Fair in Chicago. Erik Larson also told the story of the psychopathic murderer; H.H. Holmes used his World’s Fair Hotel as an evil castle to lure in young women who came to see the fair. The story starts off with Larson describing that Chicago won the Congressional vote to host the World’s Fair and beat out its competition New York City. In only two short years, the White City was built. The fair brought in an estimated 40 million visitors in the only six months it was open. Daniel Burnham was the chief architect of the World’s Fair. Burnham had the staggering

The attachment “Murder, magic, and madness at the fair that changed america” to the title hardly does the novel justice. Erik Larson’s The Devil in the White City, a nonfiction novel that surrounds the 1893 Chicago World’s Fair, also known as The World’s Columbian Exposition. The novel follows 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. Many new inventions were introduced at the fair, such as Juicy Fruit gum, the Ferris Wheel, and many other novel ideas that impacted the lives of many people for generations. The beautiful fair Burnham creates provides the perfect distraction and lure for Holmes’ activities. In his novel The Devil in the White City, Erik Larson suggests that good and evil coexist in the world by using charged language, imagery and juxtaposition to show although people view the fair as a perfect dreamland immune to evil, it still lurks outside in the dark, influencing the rest of the world.

The Devil in the White City by Erik Larson depicts that wherever there is good, there is evil as well. The note included by Larson, ¨Evils Imminent¨ depicts this: ¨Beneath the gore and smoke and loam, this book is about the evanescence of life, and why some men choose to fill their brief allotment of time engaging the impossible, others in the manufacture of sorrow¨ (pg. xi). Larso shows this conflict of good and evil by comparing the two main characters, Daniel Burnham and Henry H. Holmes. Burnham is the head architect for the World Fair Exposition in Chicago circa 1893, taking on a daunting challenge. In contrast, Holmes is a sly psychopathic physician, who opens a hobbled together building to serve as a hotel for the

Furthermore, Burnham has the passion to succeed in architecture in hopes of building the White City. “He found his calling, he wrote in 1868, and told his parents he wanted to become the ‘greatest architect in the city or country’ ”(Larson 19). Burnham has a dream to be the best, and he uses his passion for a respectable cause. Through his architectural capabilities, creativity, and innovation, he is able to affect millions of people that attend the fair and the ones who do not. As he begins to take his blueprints and put them into reality, he gives hope and inspiration to all Americans during a time of depression. Burnham uses his unique ingenuity to make the unrealistic White City that is unlike anything America has ever seen, and he shows his originality to as many people as possible. As Burnham oversees and creates the new White city, he develops a new,

The theme of appearance vs reality is prominent throughout The Devil in the White City. The novel was written in 2 storylines; one for the protagonist, Daniel Burnham, and another for the antagonist, Dr. H. H. Holmes. During the 1800’s, Burnham and his partner Root were promising, young architects trying to make a living for themselves in Chicago. On the other hand, Holmes was a conniving murderer who had traveled throughout the east before seemingly settling down in Chicago. When the prospect of the World Fair arose in Chicago, both men saw this as a huge opportunity. Burnham became a considerable leader, builder, and organizer of the fair; at the same time, Holmes used the fair to attract victims. Larson portrayed both men as having

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.

(insert an attention grabber, such as a quote or question). In 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) that 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. Larson uses intense imagery, juxtaposition, and allusion to create pure and immoral tones between Daniel Burnham and H. H. Holmes. In the novel Larson uses intenses imagery to thoroughly illustrate the coexistence of good and evil.

Larson’s, The Devil in the White City, recounts a defining time period for America. Larson sheds light on the ageless conflict: Good v.s. Evil, as he recounts the events that took place at the fair that changed America. With America falling behind in global dominances and its need to strive, Daniel Burnham tries to successfully construct the Chicago World's fair and hopes it will spark the turn of the century. As Burnham tries to builds up the White City, and while H. H. Holmes flourished in the dominant Black City, Larson takes the reader on a tour of both cities. As Holmes lives in the shadows of the Black City, he successfully murders many people without any suspicion. Holmes’s ability to manipulate, his charisma, and his bravado marks

The Devil In The White City, by Erik Larson, mainly revolves around the stories of two people, Daniel Hudson Burnham and H.H. Holmes during the Columbian Exposition in 1893. Due to the time period of the book falling in-between the end of an era and the beginning of an era, it is argued as to whether it is the end of the Industrial/Gilded Age or the beginning of the Progressive Era. The Industrial/Gilded Age was a time of unrestricted growth of the businesses and the upper class at the expense of others due to laissez-faire policies of the government. The Progressive Era was about the United States fixing the wrongs of the previous era through a progressive movement. During this time the United

In Devil in the White City, by Erik Larson utilizes the idea of a “devil” during a time of when Chicago was prospering to showcase the evil lurking behind the mirage of wealth and beauty. The speaker is a third person omniscient narrator who has known about Burnham and Holmes life Chicago in the late-nineteenth century. The audience is intended for readers who enjoy non-fiction thriller novels or wants to know about the historical event from different viewpoints. The purpose is to entertain the audience but also teach them about the coexistence and balance of “good” and “evil” in one city. The subject is about Chicago during the Columbian Exposition, focusing on the juxtaposition of the lives of Burnham and Holmes. The tone shifts throughout the novel between every other chapter when there is a change in character since they have different thoughts and settings. Larson uses this to emphasize the universal themes of harmonization of polar opposites. He contrasts the two demeanors of Chicago, the white city was Burnham’s fair, also known a dream land. On the other hand, the black city is Holmes’ house of terror.

In the 19th century the World's Columbian Exposition came about. It brought a time of American pride and perceived tranquility. The fair was a multi layered event that had new inventions come about as well as having beautiful features, although there were some things happening deeper in the fair such as murders that create eeriness throughout the book. Two prominent characters in the book are Daniel Burnham and H.H Holmes. Burnham an architect and Holmes a serial killer, these two main characters were the main difference between the light and the dark of the fair throughout the book. Erik Larson uses tone, imagery, and figurative language in The Devil in the White City in order to express the difference between the two characters motives and goals for the Chicago fair, demonstrating the good and evil in a peaceful time.

The United States of America is characterized in many different ways. Some people may say it is a land of opportunity and success, while others would argue that it is a place of regret. In The Devil in the White City, by Erik Larson, the United States is described as a mixture of good and evil. Larson accomplishes this reflection of America by telling a story which follows two different men with opposing motives. The first is Burnham, the architect in charge of building the World’s Fair. He is determined to make America a prideful nation. However, Holmes, the serial killer, has despicable reasons for wanting the fair. These two characters help show who America is and what it stands for. In his book, Erik Larson indicates that the United States is comprised of both good and evil by displaying the motives, conflicts, and resourcefulness of its people.

     The Fair, with its mix of East and West and everything in between, became a microcosm of the country that was building it. In it, you see all the conflicts that were going on in the country at the time. Probably the most obvious is the labor that built the fair. At this point in history, the working class of the country, and indeed the world, were slowly, but unstoppably moving toward unionization, fairer working conditions and change that is very much the same as the working class of today. You also saw the unchecked, without government regulated capitalism, and the very strong personalities of the men who ran the fair. In my opinion, it was the personalities of the leaders of the fair, as much as anything, that resulted in its amazing pace and scale of construction being pulled off. Burnham is a

Erik Larson’s book Devil in the White City is full of magic and madness that has shaped the society of the late 19th century that is specific to in Chicago. The issues that have been handled through this time frame that are addressed in this book is that how Chicago was known to be the black city at first, and how the city hoped that hosting the World’s fair would increase their reputation. Secondly, the magic of a man named Daniel Burnham that did put the plans of the world fair in Chicago into life and the obstacles that he had overcame. Next, once the world fair was complete, it has made Chicago “The White city,” by its dazzling designs and attractions that made it memorable. Then, the madness of H.H. Holmes and how his evil deeds has