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Summary Of The Devil In The White City By Erik Larson

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Recommended: Literary elements in the devil in the white city

Our presentation is on the true story The Devil in the White City, by Erik Larson. The story covers the first known serial killer in the United States-H.H. Holmes, also known as Herman Webster Mudgett. The series of events in the novel take place in the city of Chicago, ironically nicknamed the “white city” in the year 1893. We follow two sides, the story of resilient architects and the other follows H.H. Holmes
A- The protagonist our story is Daniel Burnham- a middle aged, blue-eyed architect. All of the men coincidentally have blue eyes. Larson describes the men with blue eyes as having the potential for greatness that resides within the men. We can also attribute it to the calm nature that the men with blue eyes had.
J- Each person in …show more content…

Larson brings up aspects of the story as old ghosts. There are some lighter moments in comparison to the style of the rest of the book, like the creation of the world’s first skyscraper or the world’s first Ferris wheel. Nevertheless, Larson wants us to get that it’s a dark narrative.
J- Larson is a bit overdramatic, but this is a contributing factor to the ominous tone we were talking about. I mean you have to be when you’re talking about a guy how might have killed up to 200 people. Continuing on with Holmes, his first conviction was 1894.
A- Before his life in Chicago, Holmes was all over the place trying to rebuild his life post medical school and took part in insurance schemes. The same happened after he left Chicago, he created insurance schemes with his partner Ben Pitzel, who he ended up burning alive. Still only nine of his murders were confirmed.
J-Holmes self-comparison to the devil also reassures the good versus evil motif. Burnham is not as prominent as Holmes is, but he’s a major catalyst for the series of events that occurs within the Holmes timeline. But, he’s a good example of the good that exists, and plays both God and man in a Garden of Eden scenario. He is both the creator and

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They then realized what they had discovered, they saw the torture chamber holmes used to kill his victims. Holmes was first charged with insurance scams and then later on he was charged for first degree murder of Benjamin Pitezel.

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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 nonfiction novel, The Devil in the White City, focuses on two significant figures, architect Daniel Burnham and serial killer H. H. Holmes. Erik Larson uses juxtaposition, imagery, and figurative language in order to portray the distinct differences between Burnham’s and Holmes’s worlds,

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Herman Webster Mudgett was born on May 16, 1860 (. He had a normal childhood where he grew an interest in medicine. After Herman graduated from High School; he goes on to teach at a local school. He soon discovers that teaching is not for him and he goes to college at the University of Michigan to study medicine. At college, He begins to take out fake insurance claims and he would use the corpses in the morgue as the bodies he would give to the insurance company to get money.

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Holmes, the mysterious serial killer. Burnham and Holmes have many similarities, the biggest one being their sheer determination to reach a goal or get what they want, which is used towards the manufacture of good, or the manufacture of sorrow. However their differences separate them apart, their biggest difference being their actions, as one build the World’s Fair and does this for the wellbeing of everyone, while Holmes uses his talent to kill many people, and cause commotion in Chicago and such. In conclusion, Erik Larson tries to show the underlying difference between good and evil, and how no matter what, evil is accompanied by good, and vice versa. Even the title of the book “The Devil in the White City” shows the most prominent theme of this amazing novel, by Erik

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