Recommended: Chicago metaphor analysis
Jacob Riis in “How the Other Half Lives” is about the squalor that characterizes New York City’s working class immigrant neighborhoods. He describes deplorable conditions of these immigrants by providing specific examples, relaying them through quotation and images alike. Riis comments on the injustices that the residents of the tenements faced on a regular basis. So, with his attention to detail, Riis provided the contemporary reader with unsettling images of the poor and marginalized along with a few examples of the benefits of reform and reorganization in the poorer communities, to the benefit of residents. Another observer, Richard T. Ely, in “Pullman: A Social Study” writes about the community of Pullman, Illinois located in the suburbs of Chicago.
Although Truman Capote presents the reader with an ordinary, rural town filled with joyous elation and faith, He converts it into a melancholy town lacking any kind of faith residing in it; therefore, Capote reveals that even with the most splendid places, corrupt thoughts and people can taint it to the very core. Fresh in the beginning of the chapter Capote uses a metaphor to present the horrors of what happened in the previous chapters and how it affects those around the. Capote starts out with explaining Herb Clutter 's close friends then he tells of something unusual to the norm, stating, “Today this quartet of old hunting companions had once again gathered to make the familiar journey, but in an unfamiliar spirit and armed with odd, non-sportive equipment - mops and pails, scrubbing brushes , and a hamper heaped with rags and strong detergents. ”(Capote 77) They came with different equipment because they came for a different reason.
The Chicago World Fair stirred many emotions in this great time of industrialization, but not only was Chicago shining in the spotlight from the fair, it was also promoting something much more sinister, this dark enclosing spotlight shined directly on H.H Holmes. Burnham the leader of the World Fair and H. H Holmes the notorious serial killer, are the two main characters in this novel that Erik Larson uses the balance between light and dark between these two’s personalities. In the novel The Devil in the White City Erik Larson uses Imagery, paradox, and alliteration to show the balance between the light and dark in the ever growing city of Chicago. Imagery paints an ever expanding picture for the audience, the detailed descriptions such as “but his eyes are as blue as ever, bluer at this instant by proximity to the sea" (Larson 3).
The contrasting images of the two views are able to stand out more vividly to the reader. The use of Larson’s imagery allows the audience to notice the naiveté of the people in Chicago because of the large focus on the brightness of the
Chicago is described as a “hog slaughtering backwater” and having streets “oozing a fragrant muck of of horse manure, mud, and garbage.” Chicago without the fair is depicted as being almost inhabitable, nearly toxic to all of the citizens there. From this arises the reputation Chicago gets as a filthy hick town with no redeeming qualities, however from this reputation derives the need for a fair, creating good from bad. While the quality of Chicago has not considerably increased, the fair is described as “Chicago's pride” and as “great”. The positivity of the fair is contrasted with the lackluster quality of the surrounding areas of Chicago.
The nonfiction novel, The Devil in the White City, focuses on two significant figures, architect Daniel Burnham and serial killer H. H. Holmes. Erik Larson uses juxtaposition, imagery, and figurative language in order to portray the distinct differences between Burnham’s and Holmes’s worlds,
Larson uses figurative language to intensify the tone and inflict positive or negative feelings upon the reader. Larson describes the crushing devastation that accompanies Chicago’s trailing in votes for the opportunity to host the World Fair as “heavy and chill” (17). The metaphor comparing the city’s literal
In the book, you see the bad side of Chicago and how it affects
The non fiction novel, “The Devil in the White City”, is filled with twists and turns as author Eric Larson compares the lives of two men thought to be living two entirely different lives. Chicago’s World Fair, in remembrance of the landing of Columbus in America, is a major aspect in the lives of both men, named H.H Holmes and Daniel Burnham. In this specific passage, however, the literary element of symbolism is applied and very well so. The illuminations lighting up the city symbolizes positivity. With European rivals always “one step ahead”, the lights covering Chicago specifically give a sense of hope and America’s potential to be improved.
He walked past neighbors whose eyes overflowed with desperation and depression, people who had watched their once-proud neighborhood become synonymous with the collapse of the American inner city” (Moore 43). By using this quote he is able to show that the people were scared of the community that they were in. As well as to explain the change in the city and towards other communities that were affected by drugs as well. He uses these quotes and statistics to prove to the audience about the past and how it affected the district. To sum up, everything that has been stated so far, Moore explains why it’s essential to learn from the past and how it can be painful to face the past and look toward the
In this passage from, "The Street", by Ann Petry, Lutie Johnson's relationship with her urban setting is expressed thoroughly. The author creates a vision of the surroundings and expresses Lutie's relationship with her urban setting through the use of selection of detail, personification,imagery and figurative language. Petry begins the passage utilizing the selection of detail. She stated, "It rattled the tops of garbage cans, sucked windows shades out through the top of the opened windows and set them flapping back against the windows"(Paragraph 1). She uses details to describe how forceful the wind that was blowing was and the strength of it.
Larson not only is able to achieve this parallel through retelling the concurrent pursuits of each man, but their defining characteristics. The good and evil aspects of the novel are represented in the souls, actions and contributions of Burnham and Holmes which adds yet another distinction between the two internal and opposing atmospheres of Chicago during the time of the World’s fair. Larson is suggesting that a source of evil may be always evident in even the most perceivably great of times; and is able to display that as the wrath of Holmes competed against the triumphs of Burnham. Throughout Devil in the White City, Larson is able to demonstrate the true presence and evident difference of light and dark during the Chicago World’s Fair by exploring the story of the honorable and accomplished Daniel Burnham who propelled the fair to success, and the contrasting pursuits of the deceiving killer Dr. Holmes to reiterate
In Erik Larson’s novel The Devil in the White City takes place during the Gilded Age. During this period of time everything appears good and golden on the outside when in reality everything was full of corruption. In the novel, the author takes the reader to the city of Chicago, where the city is “swelled “in population causing the city to expand in all “available directions” (Larson 44). As Chicago became the “second most populous [city] in the nation after New York” there was an urge that city show off to the world and the nation of how great it was through the Chicago World’s Fair (Larson 44).
When considering how to define justice, the creation and examination of a metaphorical city is certainly not the first method that comes to mind. It’s probably not even in the top ten. In Reeve’s Eight Essential Dialogues, Socrates demonstrates the creation and examination of said city. Not only are readers introduced to Socrates, but they get to observe the reactions and arguments from his audience at the time. His extended metaphor of the city tends to create obscurity, requires a lot of clarification, and leaves much to be desired.
Prose Analysis Essay In Ann Petry’s The Street, the urban setting is portrayed as harsh and unforgiving to most. Lutie Johnson, however, finds the setting agreeable and rises to challenges posed by the city in order to achieve her goals. Petry portrays this relationship through personification, extended metaphor, and imagery.
