Juxtaposition The Devil In The White City

The Devil in the White City by Eric Larson contains many accounts of madness and

magic that shaped society in Chicago in the late 19th century. The city of Chicago hoped that

hosting the world’s fair would lift their reputation of being the “black city.” Daniel Burnham, the

man who created the magic, was put in charge as the lead architect of the fair; he had to

overcome many obstacles in order to create the dazzling designs that turned Chicago into the

“white city.” Along with the magic comes the madness, the madness is created by H H Holmes

who believes the he is the “devil” and goes through Chicago and other cities killing numerous

people. Through the novel, The Devil in the White City, Larson uses contrasting juxtaposition,

extreme

By placing these two opposite parks together Larson magnifies the pure and corrupt

sides if the town. Another use of juxtaposition is, “Holmes was warm and charming and talkative

and touched them with a familiarity that, while perhaps offensive back home, somehow seemed

all right in this new world of Chicago” (245). This opposing juxtaposition amplifies how

misleading Holmes is with his good looks but bad habits. Larson uses an excessive amount of

other juxtapositions to replicate the theme of good and evil in the growing city.

To display the idea of good and evil side by side Larson uses extreme syntax. “if everything went perfectly- if his health did not degrade any further, if the weather held, if Burnham completed the other buildings on time, if strikes did not destroy the fair, if the many committees and directors…” (118) uses parallel sentence structure to get his point across that numerous areas of the fair could fail. Larson conveys good and bad in one sentence that has the same structure. He says, “it got bigger, taller, and richer, but it also grew dirtier, darker, and more dangerous” (28). The parallel structure in this statement enhances the marvelous and atrocious side of the growing city. By enhancing that, Larson conveys his proposition of good and evil in the