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Character Analysis: The Devil In The White City

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H.H Holmes confessed, “I was born with the devil in me. I could not help the fact that I was a murderer, no more than the poet can help the inspiration to sing”. During this time Holmes was growing to be America’s first recorded serial killer and taking place in the tail end of the Industrial Revolution, technology and architecture improved to new levels. Much like Holmes, life in the city was chaotic. Chicago at the time was moving to a more industrialized society. Architecture was becoming a booming business. Skyscrapers were being constructed among other new buildings, and in the midst of the already progressive city, Chicago had been elected as the host for the Columbian Exposition. The fair would take up a large park in the city and bring people from around the world to experience a new social and cultural event. Beside the hectic fair was violence within the city. Death was normal in a growing place like Chicago. In Erik Larson’s novel, the World Fair uplifts …show more content…

They may argue that the World Fair created a safe and peaceful gathering during the 19th Century Chicago. The fair was a chance for Chicago to show its “spirit” and pride. The citizens committee passed a passage that read, “The men who have helped build Chicago want fair, and having just and well-sustained claim, they intend to have it” (Larson 16). Society was full of pride and were influenced to better their lives and pursue the American Dream. However, the chaos and violence that ensued in the city did not reflect the perfect American Dream. Danger, death and selfishness was still prominent in the

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The World fair was the engineering project of its time. It brought plenty of excitement and attention to itself, but it also brought crime. The problem is, even though everything seems fine with the fair, there were bad things still happening. Stealing, cheating, and in extreme cases even murder. Chicago was in charge of building the World’s fair, but ended up hosting a murderer in its walls.

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Streets were filled with brawls and none but two citizens in the early 1880’s died natural deaths. Men were drunken,

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Their city was growing and was awarded the chance to host the World’s Columbian Exchange. Chicago was becoming a prideful place. Officials and citizens were not concerned when people went missing because their city was thriving. Because Chicago was a selfish city, people dying in Chicago was not a concern. “Chicago was nothing more than a greedy, hog-slaughtering backwater.”

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The industrialization of America had a monumental impact on the citizens. With change comes the upsides and the downsides, so there were critiques such as Henry George and Edward Bellamy. Also this was a time of change for woman, questions regarding ‘place’, purpose, and morality were too brought to light.

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The Devil in the White City Rhetorical Analysis Essay The Chicago World’s Fair, one of America’s most compelling historical events, spurred an era of innovative discoveries and life-changing inventions. The fair brought forward a bright and hopeful future for America; however, there is just as much darkness as there is light and wonder. In the non-fiction novel, The Devil in the White City, architect Daniel Burnham and serial killer H. H. Holmes are the perfect representation of the light and dark displayed in Chicago. Erik Larson uses positive and negative tone, juxtaposition, and imagery to express that despite the brightness and newfound wonder brought on by the fair, darkness lurks around the city in the form of murder, which at first, went unnoticed.

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Black on White, and White on Black violence was a regular occurrence. Many knew that a riot was impending due to the signs that were around, especially regarding the racial tension. What could be added to the tension was the growth of the city with regard to the mix of people as mentioned earlier – ex-confederates, “backwoods preachers, Southern white evangelists, and shouters” was part of the population. This meant that Detroit became a melting pot not only for religious and racial intolerance, but also for agitators such as the Black Legion, and the Ku Klux Klan. Brown’s view gives one an overview of Detroit that was perhaps built on the wrong foundations, and which led to what it became in the twenty-first century as well – the fourth city of the United States that died because of its race intolerance.

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The Devil in the White City The Devil in the White City is a historical non-fiction book written by Erik Larson that reads like a novel. The book follows two, real main characters, during the building and existence of the Chicago World’s fair. The first is an American architect named Daniel Burnham.

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Erik Larson writes “Beneath the gore and smoke and loom, this book is about the evanescence of life, and why some men choose to fill their brief allotment of time engaging in the impossible, others in the manufacture of sorrow”(Larson xi). In the book The Devil and the White City, Erik Larson tells a story of 2 very determined men, Daniel Burnham and H. Holmes, using their talents and determination to create good results, but also bad results; one being a very successful and good spirited architect, the other being a witty evil serial killer. It reveals how in every good act or intention, there is some kind of evil, and also the other way around. Erik Larson explores the underlying difference between good and evil, while telling 2 tales of Daniel Burnham, and Henry H. Holmes Daniel Burnham and Henry H. Holmes are alike in many ways, as explored throughout the novel. Both of these men used their determination and skills to accomplish many things, good or bad.

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“Late one night, when we were all in bed, Mrs. O’Leary lit a lantern in the shed. Her cow kicked it over, then winked her eye and said, ‘There’ll be a hot time in the old town tonight!’ (Abbott)” In 1871, a disaster arose in Chicago and reshaped the city permanently: a fire scorched around three square miles of land, leveled thousands of buildings, and stole hundreds of lives (“Chicago Fire of 1871”). Although the effects of this tragedy were harrowing, it actually served as the catalyst which allowed Chicago to become one of America’s largest, most influential cities.

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Chicago was seen by outsiders as a land of opportunity the same way our founding fathers saw America as the land of new beginnings. Individuals all across the nation spoke of Chicago as having a “spirit” of it own and “tangible force” that was similar to the American dream (Larson 16). As people spoke so highly of Chicago and its technology, it still did not escape the criticism from other states about how the city would not be able to handle organizing a World’s fair. When the grounds of the World’s Fair were ere being prepared in Jackson Park, Chicago, the soil was too dense to build extravagant buildings, the architects in charge of creating the buildings for the World’s Fair were surprised with all the extra work needed in order for the foundations of the buildings to be sturdy (Larson

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The Haymarket affair is one most important events in Chicago’s labor protest is questionably still unknown to many of high school kids and down. At this mark in Chicago history several horrifying, and great events happened. Industrial workers were getting fed up with the intense hours and wanted change from their shady bosses. People associated with all the industrial works started to arrange private meeting to talk about what’s wrong within the industries. Soon several of the bosses found out about these meeting and paid the police to eliminate these meetings.

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Power, the ability to maintain control, command, or authority over others can often be determined by one’s reputation and his or her persuasiveness. This principle is displayed within The Crucible, a play written by Arthur Miller, in which follows the town of Salem, Massachusetts attempting to navigate through a “Witchcraft” outbreak supposedly lead by the Devil. Within such a theocratic society such as Salem, the Devil is often associated with death, fear, and uncertainty. While his name alone is often believed to be able to influence others in to following through in certain actions. The Devil, as a key figure behind the immense “witchcraft” occurring in Salem, is crafted by Miller as the most influential “character” due to his infamous reputation and his ability to control characters’ actions.

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The White City Overview The White City article, talked about the recreational area located in Chicago that was organized to commemorate the 400th anniversary of Columbus landfall, which had a defining moment in history due to the landscaping and architecture that were built during this creational process, which is also called “the World’s Columbian Exposition”. The World’s Columbian Exposition was an after math impact of the many political and economic leaders in America that wanted to reinvent and create the destruction of the civil war. America wanted to reinvent and reconstruct the country that was also characterized by the massive industrial growth, and the mass immigration the country had. America turned to the medium of the world fair to repair their fragmented societies.

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The main contrast start between the fair, “the White City,” (323) and the city of Chicago, also referred to as “the Black City” (323) due to all of the dirt and disgust along the streets. As the exposition “[drew]... and protected” (323) people from all over, Chicago “welcomed them back… with filth, starvation, and violence,” (323) this contrast causes both of them to become more amplified when the reader sees these things placed next to each other. The exposition, a world of wonder for all of the attendants, was placed right in the midst of Chicago, a grimy city full of dirt and darkness. The view of the exposition becomes more glorified when it is placed next to the “violence” (323) of it’s location, a safe haven in a foul city. Chicago sounds more dangerous when compared to the “protection” (323) of the Columbian World Exposition because it was so highly praised at the time.

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Many people oftentimes think they are useless. While that is truly not the case, some do believe their situation is hopeless and real. Sydney Carton in Charles Dickens's A Tale of Two Cities truly does think his life up until now has been eventless and sees no place for himself to continue on without an act of heroism. In this excerpt from the novel, Dickens uses the literary techniques of diction, symbolism, and allusion to show how Carton thinks of himself as second-rate, but with a higher purpose. Since Sydney thinks of himself lowly from the beginning of the novel, it is not surprising he’s out walking about at night with no one else around.

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