Comparison Of Beneath The Gore And Loom, By Erik Larson

Erik Larson, the author of The Devil in the White City 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’s statement reasons to compare and contrast the two main characters, Daniel Burnham and Henry H. Holmes through the different structures and word choices of their chapters. Burnham was the famous architect that built the World’s Fair in Chicago in a time span of less than two years, while Holmes was the first American serial killer who lured victims into his life. Larson refers the “White City” to the “Black City” in correspondence to good versus evil. Burnham represents

After many people suddenly “disappeared" investigators came to Holmes’ house "there were inquires from... the police did not become involved"(256). Holmes was intelligent and sneaky enough to be able to hide who he really is. Larson describes the tone used in this chapter on Holmes by letting you pick upon his innocence, but at the same time allowing you hint that there is something suspicious about Homes, which so many people say in the book. The reader is able to see a more in depth perspective of Homes, which goes into the main theme of good versus evil. Now you have a different side of the scope, being able to see beneath his innocent outsides and into who he really is. Many people in the book always had an uneasy feeling about him. Larson words the book to allow the reader to look deeper then what the words are saying. The reader then acquires the same uneasy feeling that Holmes’ victims did in the

Not only by the character’s literal actions but the way he expresses them on paper. For example, when the chapter is focused on Daniel Burnham the writing style is formal and opposed to colloquial. Larson does this in order to show readers that Burnham is a more stable character that is consistent with his actions. Some consider formal writing as very “set in stone”, which means that there aren’t very many sentences or thoughts that can stick out and attract you. Much like Burnham actions they do not surprise the reader because they know exactly what Burnham is going to do. On the other when you are reading about Holmes, the reader has no idea what Homes is intending to do. This is why Larson decided to have a more colloquial diction in the chapters on Holmes. This makes readers curious when turning to pages and finding themselves on the chapters on Holmes. Another way Eric Larson manipulates language in order to connect to readers is figurative language. Larson makes it so that the hotel that Holmes is in charge of is intended as a symbol for himself. The hotel is beautiful on the outside, while on the inside it is corrupt with murder. Holmes is a well-put together, handsome young man on his physical surface. In reality the readers find out that he is mentally unstable and psychopathic