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Rhetorical Analysis Of The Devil In The White City By Erik Larson

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Growing up a swimmer, I know how much work it takes just to swim 0.1 seconds faster in a race. From hours working on technique, to a couple minutes of sprints after practice, the chances of change are gradually increased. If any athlete is asked if it takes dedication to achieve his or her goals, almost all will answer yes. Progress is not made without determination. Like athletes, people during the time of Chicago World’s Fair possessed a lot of ambition. Erik Larson’s The Devil in the White City is a historical record about the juxtaposition between two famous people during the late 1800’s: Daniel Burnham and H.H. Holmes. Many critics believe that Larson’s use of rhetorical devices embellish history too much to be considered a work …show more content…

Eventually Holmes was imprisoned and later hanged, but Holmes’ murders went unnoticed for years. Euphemisms show how unaware people were of Holmes’ actions. For example, Larson uses euphemisms when expressing the hiding of Holmes’ bodies: “He remained in Minneapolis until May 1886, when he left for New York City, planning to take “a part of the material there,” and to leave the rest in Chicago” (43). By using the word material instead of bodies or cadavers, the murders are again perceived as not influential. Most people were not suspicious of Holmes because of his charming capabilities. Throughout the time of the fair there were many unexplained disappearances, “the women were presumed to have been ravished” (103). This euphemism makes the vanishing of women seem not so serious. This is similar to how Holmes most likely felt about killing them. He is a very self-centered man who treats other people like insignificant objects. Another example is when Larson describes the abortion Holmes performed on Julia, “Holmes denied that he and Julia had ever engaged each other physically, or that she had undergone “a criminal operation”” (152). Holmes becomes very good at covering his tracks and lying. He always knew how to deny accusations and make people trust him. He was lying until he took his last breath. Holmes was undetected for a long time before he was imprisoned for fraud. Eventually, everyone found out about the extent to Holmes’ killings and was appalled. Euphemisms establish Holmes’ progress as a

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The Devil in the White City gives a unique glimpse into how there is both bad and good existing in the city. In my opinion the point of the book was to show how both good and bad coexist in one place. Sometimes with the knowledge of the other existing. The book was written by Erik Larson and published by first vintage books. Published almost 14 years ago the book is still relevant today and still has much to teach us.

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He might have killed a “Mass” of people but after each murder he had a period of cool off time. The myth that no serial killers can function properly in society that he must have been a loner which could not be successful. Yet Holmes earned a M.D., owned small businesses, and married. Finally, the myth that all serial killers are sexually motivated although the majority are, Holmes was never interested in that he was interested in earning the money of the victims he

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I picked The Devil in the White City by Erik Larson as my one book to read this summer because the serial killer aspect of the novel really appealed to me as compelling and interesting. Larson tells two different stories in the novel that are tied together by happening in the same city of Chicago in the 1890s. It tells of Daniel Burnham and his determination to create something good and H. H. Holmes, a serial killer who practices great evil. This book has a meaningful impact on how I view life as it divulges the difference between good and evil. I have always thought I was a good person or at least I try to be.

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The question is, why did Holmes pick Chicago of all places? Why not somewhere else? Chicago was a place for H.H. Holmes to commit his crimes because the city had a growing population, it was going to host the World’s Columbian Exposition, and because Chicago was a selfish city. H.H. Holmes chose Chicago to commit his crimes

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The Devil in the White City Rhetorical Analysis Essay The Chicago World’s Fair, one of America’s most compelling historical events, spurred an era of innovative discoveries and life-changing inventions. The fair brought forward a bright and hopeful future for America; however, there is just as much darkness as there is light and wonder. In the non-fiction novel, The Devil in the White City, architect Daniel Burnham and serial killer H. H. Holmes are the perfect representation of the light and dark displayed in Chicago. Erik Larson uses positive and negative tone, juxtaposition, and imagery to express that despite the brightness and newfound wonder brought on by the fair, darkness lurks around the city in the form of murder, which at first, went unnoticed.

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The juxtaposition of two opposing stories is enough to get anyone’s head spinning. Comparing the glamorous production of the Chicago World Fair to the ominous destruction and killing caused by H.H. Holmes in the background is all the more interesting. Erik Larson’s 2003 nonfiction novel does just that. One would never think to relate murder to art until after reading this book. In The Devil in the White City, Erik Larson uses figurative language, imagery, and juxtaposition to create a vivid illustration of the contrast between good and evil in Chicago in 1893.

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The Devil in the White City The Devil in the White City is a historical non-fiction book written by Erik Larson that reads like a novel. The book follows two, real main characters, during the building and existence of the Chicago World’s fair. The first is an American architect named Daniel Burnham.

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However Larson, in Devil in the White City, persuades readers to look into the deeper personal qualities and motives of both Daniel H. Burnham and Dr. H. H. Holmes as the contrasting light and dark elements of the time period. Larson divulges that good and evil may exist hand in hand- and although possess monumental differences, have similar effects and importances. Larson juxtaposes the admirable, confident and accomplished character of Burnham to symbolize the positive attributes and effects of the World’s Fair with the ways of the dangerous and relentless Holmes to show the contrast between the two and reiterate their evident relationship through the fair that so greatly impacted their lives. Larson recognizes this middle ground between the two men who represented good and evil and concurrently reveals their stories to signify the everlasting difference between the dark and the light. “The White City had drawn men and protected them; the Black City now welcomed them back, on the eve of winter, with filth, starvation, and violence” (Larson

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Erik Larson 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 xi). In the book The Devil and the White City, Erik Larson tells a story of 2 very determined men, Daniel Burnham and H. Holmes, using their talents and determination to create good results, but also bad results; one being a very successful and good spirited architect, the other being a witty evil serial killer. It reveals how in every good act or intention, there is some kind of evil, and also the other way around. Erik Larson explores the underlying difference between good and evil, while telling 2 tales of Daniel Burnham, and Henry H. Holmes Daniel Burnham and Henry H. Holmes are alike in many ways, as explored throughout the novel. Both of these men used their determination and skills to accomplish many things, good or bad.

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Erik Larson’s Devil in the White City is a nonfiction novel compiling a variety of sources to tell the story of Chicago circa 1893. A symbol of American exceptionalism, Chicago’s Columbian Exposition shaped the city tremendously -- whilst harboring a far more nebulous and sinister truth. Larson uses this setting to make a statement about the White and Black City, an elucidation upon the nature of the Gilded Age. Changing ideals and an evolving society made urban America a crucible for both atrocity and ingenuity, madness and brilliance. He uses two famously dedicated men to embody these characteristics, their divergence only revealing their parallels.

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Holmes is taken to the Colorado Mental Health Institute at Pueblo for supervision. A month later, Holmes Attorneys defended his client, by saying, "Mr. Holmes suffers from a severe mental illness and was in the throes of a psychotic episode when he committed the acts that resulted in the tragic loss of life and injuries sustained by movie goers on July 20, 2012” (“Colorado Theater”, 2017). Holmes defense to his actions was because he believe the reason he killed everyone is because he was unable to control his actions because of the movie he watched.

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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).

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A Tale of Two Cities, written by Charles Dickens, surrounds the cities of Paris and London during the late 1700’s. The novel takes place during the French Revolution, a period of social and political upheaval in France and England. While peasants died in the streets from hunger, aristocrats had more money and power than they knew what to do with. A Tale of Two Cities describes, in detail, the poverty of the time period, as well as the struggle of a people able to overcome oppression. The novel is largely based off of occurrences Dickens experienced during his childhood.

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The World Exhibition which was meant to be a shining beacon of the modern world to show the advancements of humankind would be tainted by the horrors brought by a depraved man considered to be America's first serial killer, H.H. Holmes. In Erik Larson’s novel “The Devil in the White City’ Larson details the ingenious architecture, science, politics, and gruesome murders of Chicago during the Gilded Age of The United States. Larson paints his picture with vivid and engaging language with incredible use of colors depicting the psychotic blue shown across Holmes's facade and the burning flame in Roots' persistence to plan the World Fair. Larson uses these themes to help the reader understand the changes the world will face as technology advances

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Holmes and Watson’s antagonist in the novel is the logic aspect of the case. For example, Holmes says “Of course, if...we are dealing with forces outside the ordinary laws of Nature, there is an end to our investigation. But we are bound to exhaust all other hypotheses before falling back to this one.” Also, in the novel, the logical solution and evidence is explained in further detail, for Holmes gives “a sketch of the course of events from memory” in the resolution. There are many subplots in the novel, such as Seldon’s escape, Sir Henry and Mrs. Stapleton, and Sir Charles Baskerville and Laura Lyons, which answered many questions about the case and evidence against Stapleton.

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