the devil and daniel webster Essay

Black and white, good and evil all contrasting elements describing the city of Chicago during the 1893 World’s Fair. In The Devil in the White City, Erik Larson uses tone, figurative language, and juxtaposition in order to portray the drastic dichotomy of the good in the White City and the evil of the Black City within Chicago during the time of the World’s Fair. Larson uses his tone to explain how the people of Chicago view the White City and the Black City they are living in. Larson’s dangerous diction of the Black City with its “lethal infections that roamed” (Larson 158) stirs an ominous, threatening tone to the reader.

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.

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 short stories “The Devil and Tom Walker” and “The Devil and Daniel Webster” were written at very different times but can be seen as similar stories. The depictions of the devil, the role of religion, and the resolution of each story were very different.

Washington Irving’s “The Devil and Tom Walker” illustrates how an individual’s corruption results from their ability to resist temptation, the virtue to act generously, and the self-discipline to perform genuinely. Temptation, symbolized by the Devil and characterized by desperation in this prose, is that catalyst that forces Tom’s proverbial ball to roll. First and foremost, Tom chooses a shortcut home out of ease and lack of time that “like most shortcuts... was an ill-chosen route (280);” along his path of “smothering mud (280)” and “half-drowned, half-rotting [hemlocks and pines] (280)” –likely representative of the comeuppances of giving into temptations–Tom confronts the Devil for the first time and eventually ends up selling his soul

A Faustian legend is a story in which a character trades something of great personal value to the devil in order to receive personal gain. Since this type of literature originated in the Fourth Century it has spread throughout the world. Two relatively recent versions of this legend are “The Devil and Tom Walker” by Washington Irving and “The Devil and Daniel Webster” by Vincent Benét. These stories show many similarities as well as a few differences. While both Benét and Irving present similar themes in setting of the tales and motivation in the Faustian character, they do differ in the nature of that character and their visual presentation of the Devil.

I rate this book a 9/10. It was so amazing and I learned so much from this novel. I definitely recommend this book because it really opens your eyes to the troubles of this world, and families who are breaking apart. The reason why I didn’t give it a perfect score was because, at times I would get confused by the dialogue because the author didn’t fully write who was talking in a conversation. Other than that, it was a heartbreaking story that gave me a bigger perspective of this

The Devil and Daniel Webster Movie In the movie and the short story, "The Devil and Daniel Webster", written by Stephen Vincent Benet, there is illustrated the battle between the forces of good and evil. Although the story allows the reader to mentally picture the scenes and the movie does the depicting for the viewer, there are several similarities in each script. Some of these similarities are the way the characters are depicted and the final scene. There are several incongruous scenes between the short story and the way the movie unfolds. The differences are the amount of time that is spent on the character development, also there are some scenes added into the movie such as the harvest dance and the reminder of the

This was quite an interesting story. There were three sections to the story which broke the story in three different times in one day. The characters were all very nonchalant except for the priest who showed some emotion when he found out that old Teofilo died. The story kept our interest, however, it did not lead a very clear trail to the end, and there was no real climax where we felt there was a good peak. The story needs to be read more than once to really be appreciated.

In “The Devil and Daniel Webster”, a short story by Stephen Vincent Benet, Jabez Stone, a once poor farmer, is fighting for his soul. By his side, a powerful lawyer, Daniel Webster, stands ready to give his riches and even his own soul to do everything in his power to help Mr. Stone. The Devil or “Mr. Scratch” gives a “fair” trial for both himself and Jabez Stone by allowing a powerful lawyer to take the defendant's side and by helping himself authorize deceitful jurors and a judge to decide the future for both Jabez Stone and Daniel Webster. Before the Devil, Jabez Stone, and Daniel Webster stand the evil ghosts of past Americans.

Caribbean Indian slaves, Tituba and John Indian. The Parris family also had two other children

I enjoyed the story very much. I thought it was funny and sweet at times and the characters were realistic. I would recommend introducing the characters sooner in the story, because at first it confused me and I didn’t know who Antonio was. I would also recommend stretching out the dinner scene more and giving the story more of a conflict. It had it at first with Julia’s insecurities but then trailed off. Make Antonio’s attraction to her be blunt or make Julia very self-effacing. Then there is more meat to the story and more conflict. The story has a lot of potential and I’m sure if you edit it and add more it will be even better!

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.

This story is told from Collie’s viewpoint and the writing is wonderful descriptive and conversational. I was drawn into Collie’s story and found myself thinking of it whenever I wasn’t able to read. I enjoyed this book and on a book scale of 1-10 i would rate this about an 8.5 due to the

John Milton’s Paradise Lost is an epic poem that describes the fall of Satan and the expulsion of Adam and Eve from Paradise. Satan is the protagonist of Paradise Lost and has several characteristics in which readers may identify with him. Throughout the poem, Satan is not only a tragic hero but also the key character that drives the plot and portrays many flawed human qualities. As an angel fallen from the high esteem of God and a possessor of hubris that leads to his downfall, he represents a tragic hero but also a character in which readers may identify with.