- “It was so easy to disappear, so easy to deny knowledge, so very easy in the smoke and din to mask that something dark had taken root. This was Chicago, on the eve of the greatest fair in history.” – Page 38 This quote was from the first chapter of the book, which set the scene of Chicago in the late 19th century. It explained the two main plots of the book: the World Fair and Holmes’s killing spree. The “something dark” taking root within the first sentence differentiates the “greatest fair in history” of the second sentence, which ends up taking place at the same time and place. - “Make no little plans; they have no magic to stir men’s blood.” This quote was directly from Burnham, but could have easily been from Holmes or any other of …show more content…
This quote was referring to H.H. Holmes. Although Harrison and Burnham were also described as having blue eyes as well, this included all these men under the “greatness” umbrella. – Page 82 - “No one could bear the idea of the White City lying empty and desolate. A Cosmopolitan writer said, “Better to have it vanish suddenly, in a blaze of glory, than fall into gradual disrepair and dilapidation.” This quote served to foreshadow several events to come into play in the rest of the book. The “blaze of glory” was only realized once Holmes set buildings on fire later on in the book. In 1894, arsonists set the seven biggest buildings on fire, which then increased the irony of this quote. This also created the mood as you read on in the book, with diction such as “empty and desolate”. - Page 676 - “Detective Frank Geyer was a big man with a pleasant, earnest face, a large walrus mustache, and a new gravity in his gaze and demeanor.” This quote demonstrated that detective Geyer has been affected by having to track down Holmes and learn the crimes that he has