Evil Innocence In Erik Larson's The Devil In The White City

The Evil Innocence

The book The Devil in the White city tells two stories that both occurred in Chicago during the 1890’s, one regarding the production of the Chicago World Fair, and one exposing H. Holmes, a mass murderer at the time. Throughout this novel, Chicago is working towards earning a name for itself, meaning Chicago was being reinvented. By hosting the World Fair, Chicago has the opportunity to blossom as a city, because prior to this production, Chicago was not thought of to be anything extravagant. H.Holmes’ story is also told from start to finish which gives the audience different thoughts on what Chicago was like at the time. Erik Larson switches between the production of the World's Fair and H.Holmes’ murder spree to contrast

He starts by introducing the possibility of Chicago receiving the World Fair, which had never been in America. Excitement in Chicago rose as the possibility became a reality, now is a time for Chicago to reinvent itself and to earn a new reputation other than the “Windy City.” The expectation for the experience of the World Fair is stated, “A world fair so big and glamorous and so exotic that visitors came away believing no exposition could surpass it” (Larson 15). The Fair is described as “glamourous” and “exotic” which creates a sense of excitement within the city. By having this Fair, Chicago will receive new opportunities such as jobs and tourist

The serial killer unexpectedly took lives of innocent Chicagoans, this ongoing “disappearing” of people eventually lead to an investigation: "At one point half of the city's detective force was involved in investigating disappearances, prompting the chief of the city's central detective unit to announce he was considering the formation of a separate bureau, 'a mysterious disappearances department”(Larson 102). The length sentence is very repetitive, the word “disappear” comes up very often, which means the events that have been occurring do not have answers, besides the fact that people keep leaving without notice or contact. This was a scary time in Chicago because it was not known what was actually