The Devil In The White City Essay

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.

Erik Larson’s The Devil in The White City reveals the good and the bad events that occurred during 1893’s World’s Fair; the first serial killer, the uprise of Chicago, and the financial struggles of the fair. Power is evident in all of these and plays an important role in the intent of the characters. Power is the most prominent theme throughout the book. It is obtained psychologically, politically, financially, and electrically.

How can two people be so different, yet so similar? The World’s Columbian Exposition was a major event in the 19th century. The fair was something that’s never been done before in history triumphing the famous Eiffel Tower. As spectacular as the fair was there were murders being committed without any signs of slowing down. The Devil in the White City tells a story between the architect Daniel Burnham and the infamous serial killer H.H. Holmes. Erik Larson uses imagery, diction, and comparisons to characterize and show how similar their traits and goals were during this time.

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.

The book “Devil in the White City”, informs us about a man that goes by the name H.H. Holmes, a manipulative man who will do anything to obtain whatever he desires, loves the challenge of getting woman, but he had a passion...no a craving for killing woman, giving him “sexual release” which he seemed to enjoy dearly.. There was another story of a man who goes by Burnham who was given the opportunity to build the World’s Fair that would show that nobody can top America and they will not feel humiliated. But during Burnham’s journey in building the World’s Fair he had faces many complications. Furthering into the story, Larson correlates Burnhams and Holmes stories together to show how different their characteristics display the two sides of

The thick, dark smoke that covered one of the largest cities in the world was oh so easy to “get lost” in. Chicago had quickly climbed the ladder of extravagance and become one of the most sought out cities in the world for labor, but was also one of the most dangerous due to the increase in population caused by the upcoming Chicago World’s Fair. In the 1890s, women and men who had come from every corner of the world to find work were beginning to disappear quickly and without explanation. The crowd that The World’s Fair brought made Chicago the perfect place to go missing without any questions being asked. The Devil in the White City follows the two very different tales of two very similar men: H.H. Holmes and Daniel Burnham. While there may not seem to be many similarities between a serial killer and an architect, both of these men became great historical figures because of their synonymous demeanors. While Burnham used his ambition, good looks, and pride to create a fair that was unsurpassable, Holmes reflected the same qualities allowing him to achieve a more sinister goal.

Within the novel The Devil in the White City the author, Erik Larson, employs several techniques to elevate his writing in order to captivate the interest of the reader. He does this by using different methods and aspects of writing; one can classify these into three main overall groups they are, diction and sentence structure, details and imagery, and figurative language; his methods can best be observed in the passage on pages 238-239 from his novel, and can best be described as an additive description to make reading more compelling. Larson is often credited on his unique diction which is heavily complimented on his usage of differing sentence structure. His factual diction produces an authoritative and controlling tone that exemplifies

In Eric Larson’s work The Devil in the White City, he explores the historical occurrences of Chicago around 1893. More specifically it revolves around the World’s Fair meant to commemorate Columbus’ expedition in which he discovered the Americas. Larson researched the recorded information from letters sent and other works and tried to fill in the gaps of what may have happened. The two main plot points the book follows are that of Daniel Burnham, an architect working to make the fair happen, and H. H. Holmes, a serial killer who is using the fair to his advantage. The book also explores the Black City of Chicago and what holding the world’s fair would bring to Chicago given the context of the economic state of nineteenth century America. The following is an attempt to break down some of these key issues found in the pages of Larson’s work.

In the compelling work of nonfiction titled The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair That Changed America, Eric Larson narrates the history of the World’s Columbian Exposition. With the skillful employment of detail and structure Larson steps into the minds of two instrumental men in the history of America during this particular era. He skilfully writes with the purpose of informing readers of the events that took place during the most pivotal moments of American history, while introducing the reader to the men involved. Through his use of details, Larson develops the main characters Daniel Burnham, the main architect of the World’s Fair, and H. H. Homes, considered to be America’s first serial killer. He describes

The Devil in the White City wrote by Erik Larson, is a nonfictional book about the creation of the 1893 Chicago fair, also known as The World’s Columbian Exposition. This fair was made to honor Christopher Columbus discovering America. The book mainly focuses on two characters, Daniel Burnham and H.H. Holmes. Daniel Burnham was the architect that made the fair happen. The story starts with him and his partner, John Root, winning the bid for the location of the fair. Burnham faces a bunches of trails as he tries to create this extravagant fair for the city of Chicago, since he wanted the reputation of Chicago to be better. Burnham’s partner, Root, passes away significantly early in the story, which forced him to find a new partner. Burnham

The Devil in the White City Sufian Abulohom American University The Devil in the White City The Devil in the White City is set in Chicago in 1893. Significant changes in gender roles that have taken place since then to date. During the 19th century the period in which the book is set on, men were viewed as the family breadwinners.

The historically accurate novel, The Devil in the White City by Erik Larson, presents us a twisted truth of the development of the United States. The novel takes place during The Chicago World’s Fair where architects are pressured to make a grand tower that would, ‘out-Eiffel Eiffel’. This put people like Burnam, Root and Olmstead in insane amounts of pressure. These architects had to cut some corners while making their towers. Workers were overworked, and they were payed unreasonably.

The late 19th century, the Gilded Age, was seen as a prosperous and golden era for America. Yet, underneath the gilded landscape, lay a foundation of corruption and violence. Europe saw America as a wealthy nation lacking elegance and grace (PBS). However, the close of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century would play host to the 1893 Chicago World’s Fair (The Fair) or otherwise known as, The Columbian Exposition. The Fair would prove the Europeans wrong; the World’s Fair would define America as a country rich in innovation and culture. The Exposition utilized burgeoning technology, business ventures and societal reforms to create an utopia that would captivate and influence the world for six months. Thus, to a larger extent,

The Devil in the White City switches perspectives in different chapters. Sometimes, the story is told through the eyes of Daniel H. Burnham. Other times, it is told through the eyes of H.H. Holmes. With the changing perspectives, the tone of the story changes. While Burnham is talking, the tone is fairly casual and “normal.” While Holmes is talking it is more sinister and dark. The tone of this story depends on which character is telling the story at any given moment.

Eric Larson in his novel the “Devil in the White City” masterfully exercises several rhetorical devices and storytelling strategies. The story itself centers on the Chicago world fair and the two greatly influential men who roamed Chicago at this time. The intrepid architect who pulled it all together and against all odds puts on a fantastical fair the likes of which will never be seen again. The other a prolific serial killer who used the chaos of the fair to catch, kill, and dispose of victims with great facility. To tell these stories Larson employs a varieties of techniques to convey his tales in the way he envisioned. In particular he seems to draw heavily on nonlinear narrative techniques. Larson routinely jumps from the present, to the past, to Larson’s present, and back to present. He exercises these techniques as a means of engaging his audience and to entertain his readers.