Midnight In The Garden Of Good And Evil Analysis

By writing The Devil in the White City in the form of a dual-narrative, Larson brings both stories to a level of excellence that neither could reach on its own. The interesting and informative chapters detailing the fair are complemented nicely by the suspenseful and thrilling installments of America’s first serial killer.

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.

Have you ever wanted to read about the evanescence of life? In Erik Larson’s educating 2003 nonfiction novel Devil in the White City, set in the City of Chicago during the 1893 World’s Fair, also known as the World’s Columbian Exposition, he tells the side-by-side story of a striving architect and a twisted serial killer. In his work, Larson uses figurative language, imagery, and juxtaposition to capture the serial killer’s, H.H. Holmes, psychotic nature, and explain how those around him find him to be so enticing.

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 the novel, Night, written and experienced by Elie Wiesel, rhetorical devices such as logos, ethos and pathos are used to expatiate the events in the story. Elie was just a child when the invasions commenced. This autobiographical novel consists of the story of Elie Wiesel and his family, primarily his father, as they fight through the treacherous nights. The rhetorical devices compare to the poem by Judy (Weissenberg) Cohen. Judy is also a survivor of the holocaust that speaks at the Holocaust Memorial in Toronto, Canada. This poem and the novel compare through their rhetorical strategies.

The author of the book Night is Elie Wiesel and the main character is Eliezer. The title Night points out to the darkness of mind, life and soul experienced by everyone who had suffered in Nazi concentration camps during World War II. The theme of Night is Eliezer’s difficulty to maintain his faith in God. In the book Night, Eliezer’s faith fades away by seeing the horrible conditions of his surroundings, the painful deaths of many innocent people and by persecution.

The novel “Night” is a vivid representation of a man’s loss of faith from the beginning to the end of the catastrophic era in which this book takes place. As a young boy Elie’s inquisitive mind directed him to the synagogue where he would study the Kabbalah’s revelations and mysteries. Here is where “Moishe the beadle,” a friend to Elie, would sit with him in the synagogue and they would talk for hours about the intriguing secrets of Jewish mysticism. One important piece of advice that Moishe told Elie was, “There are a thousand and one gates allowing entry into the orchard of the mystical truth.” This simply meant he would need to pursue these answers on his own. However, Elie believed Moishe would help him bind his questions and answers as well, into one. These meetings were interrupted when Moishe was extracted from the Sighet where he experienced malice.

The Devil in the White City, written by Erik Larson, it is a book about the events of the World’s Columbian Exposition of 1893 that happened in Chicago. It was the perfect opportunity to display the strength of America to the world. Larson recreates the Fair with an thrilling tone, allowing us to experience its magnificence as the visitors would have in 1893. Larson describes the fair as "perfect", a "fairest dream", and "beautiful.” At the same time, Larson uses a somber tone in his descriptions of Holmes and his castle. He recreates the macabre, choosing to put emphasis on words like "possessed", "woefully and gruesomely.” It is quite an obvious contrast from his cheery descriptions of the White City. Larson uses compare and contrast and irony throughout the story White and Black city.

Part of what makes “Night” so challenging to read is knowing what will inevitably happen to many of the characters during this time era. Like the sinking of the Titanic, the fate of most will be tragic. Knowing that these innocent men and women in the novel were forced to endure such torturous events and had the ability to avoid them is painstaking to read. The verbal, situational, and dramatic irony seen throughout Elie Wiesel’s memoir makes his experience during the holocaust even more unreal.

There is hardly anyone that hasn’t had to grow up. Growth is central to every character in a story, but “Through the Tunnel” and To Kill a Mockingbird amplify this; the loss of innocence and coming of age is central to the entire story. Both “Through the Tunnel” and To Kill a Mockingbird’s main conflict test the characters (Jem in To Kill a Mockingbird and Jerry in “Through the Tunnel”) as they grow up in the face of adversity.

Like all great works of literature, critics interpret stories in multiple ways. “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” by Washington Irving is no exception. His story of Ichabod Crane and the Headless Horseman is an exciting read, but when further analyzed, one finds that many interpretations exist. Ranging from feminist perspectives to economic perspectives, this story appears to have a much deeper meaning than many readers initially give the story. To truly understand the many interpretations of “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow,” one must understand the historical and cultural context of the story.

God of Carnage by Yasmina Reza is centered upon two upper-class couples who come together to discuss a fight between their boys. Through this meeting, they become their children fighting, causing absolute chaos and carnage of the situation. All of them lose their objective in the end of wanting to solve the problem of their boys and to be the most civilized, powerful couple in the situation. Specifically Annette, played by junior Sarah Cushman, ultimately loses her battle of maintaining a civilized demeanor due to the killing of Veronica and Michael’s hamster, her husband’s work related calls, and drunkenly listening to Veronica about being a phony when emotions were already at their peak.

Although this might be an unusual choice, “Skid Row (Downtown)” from the musical Little Shop of Horrors connects well with Death is a Lonely Business. In Bradbury’s novel, the setting is Venice, California, a city that is slowly falling apart, causing problems for the locals. Little Shop of Horrors takes place in the Skid Row district of an unnamed town. In the song, the Skid Row residents describe how dilapidated the neighborhood is. The two main characters, Seymour and Audrey, sing about the issues they have as a result of living in Skid Row, as well as how they long to leave.

Sestinas Song of Evil So much evil. The awkward moments of disconnection.

Tom Wolfe’s Bonfire of the Vanities revolves around the affluent New York City bond trader Sherman McCoy, whose secure life crumbles after he is involved in a “hit-and-run” event that fatally injures black Henry Lamb. Although his mistress, Maria Ruskin, is the actual perpetrator of the reckless endangerment, attention is diverted to McCoy instead. Attorneys, political figures, and the police corner McCoy, pressuring McCoy to admit to his non-existent faults related to the event. But even more merciless is the media, which incorrectly informs the general public with distorted truths regarding the Henry Lamb case. Peter Fallow, a journalist for The City Light tabloid, is the symbol of the corrupted media due to his greedy motivations for fame without knowing the weight of words on others.