The Devil In The White City By Erick Larson

Black and white, good and evil all contrasting elements describing the city of Chicago during the 1893 World’s Fair. In The Devil in the White City, Erik Larson uses tone, figurative language, and juxtaposition in order to portray the drastic dichotomy of the good in the White City and the evil of the Black City within Chicago during the time of the World’s Fair. Larson uses his tone to explain how the people of Chicago view the White City and the Black City they are living in. Larson’s dangerous diction of the Black City with its “lethal infections that roamed” (Larson 158) stirs an ominous, threatening tone to the reader.

Devil in the White City written by Erik Larson is a true story based on the building of the most important fair in the United States of America, the 1893 Columbian Exposition World’s Fair in Chicago. Erik Larson also told the story of the psychopathic murderer; H.H. Holmes used his World’s Fair Hotel as an evil castle to lure in young women who came to see the fair. The story starts off with Larson describing that Chicago won the Congressional vote to host the World’s Fair and beat out its competition New York City. In only two short years, the White City was built. The fair brought in an estimated 40 million visitors in the only six months it was open. Daniel Burnham was the chief architect of the World’s Fair. Burnham had the staggering

The Devil in the White City wrote by Erik Larson, is a nonfictional book about the creation of the 1893 Chicago fair, also known as The World’s Columbian Exposition. This fair was made to honor Christopher Columbus discovering America. The book mainly focuses on two characters, Daniel Burnham and H.H. Holmes. Daniel Burnham was the architect that made the fair happen. The story starts with him and his partner, John Root, winning the bid for the location of the fair. Burnham faces a bunches of trails as he tries to create this extravagant fair for the city of Chicago, since he wanted the reputation of Chicago to be better. Burnham’s partner, Root, passes away significantly early in the story, which forced him to find a new partner. Burnham

The Devil in the White City by Erik Larson is a non-fiction book about an architect who led the Chicago World Fair of 1893; a serial killer used the fair to lure people to him. Blocks from the fair, the killer built a hotel with equipment ready to use. This book known for incorporating some of America’s history also had very dramatic and entertaining story behind it. Erik Larson wrote in third person. He wrote this book to inform people on what happen in Chicago. Erik uses a great amount of imagery and diction to inform people of this event. ”The lake was grey, darkening to a band of black at the horizon “was just one of his many spots of imagery. His tone also comes across as objective and neutral limits from using any language that

Although it faced many obstacles in construction, time, and many other aspects, the Chicago World’s fair was immensely successful and served as a great boast of American pride. The Devil in the White City by Erik Larson is a nonfiction novel, taking place during the building of the Chicago World’s Fair in 1893, also known as The World’s Columbian Exposition. Each chapter of the novel alternates to show the lives of the two real men during this time: the main architect of the fair, Daniel Burnham, and the charming behind the scenes serial killer, H. H. Holmes. In The Devil in the White City, Erik Larson effectively utilizes juxtaposition between “the Black City” and “the White City,” metaphorical figurative language, and detailed imagery in order to portray the dreamlike qualities of the White City.

In addition, the separation demonstrates the good and evil that occurred during the time of Chicago’s World Fair and the years leading up to it. For example, in Part 1 at the end of the chapter titled The Trouble Is Just Begun Larson states, “Even Depew, however, did not foresee the true magnitude of the forces that were converging on Burnham and Root. At this moment he and they saw the challenge in its two most fundamental dimensions, time and money, and these were stark enough” (34). Then on the next page, the start of the next chapter, Holmes story is introduced as “one morning in August 1886, as heat rose from the streets with the intensity of a child’s fever, a man calling himself H. H. Holmes walked into one of Chicago’s train stations” (35). This demonstrates how the technique of separate chapters and differing paragraph lengths is effective in the portrayal of the information. In this case, the reader can see how the separate chapters clearly separates the two stories that occured in 1890’s

The Devil in the White City is a novel that covers the creation and construction of the 1893 World’s Columbian Expo. The novel contains two plot lines. The first plotline follows Daniel Burnham. Near the beginning of the book, Burnham is left alone to work on the project after the death of his partner, John Root. Through the rest of the novel, Burnham faces many obstacles that threaten the creation of the World’s Columbian Expo. Despite the challenges that he faced, Burnham persists, and the World's Columbian Expo opened in 1893. After the fair began, Burnham faced many new challenges, such as turning a profit in a suffering economy. Despite all the obstacles that Burnham faces, Burnham created a successful fair that pays off its debts and turns a profit.

Erik Larson’s book Devil in the White City is full of magic and madness that has shaped the society of the late 19th century that is specific to in Chicago. The issues that have been handled through this time frame that are addressed in this book is that how Chicago was known to be the black city at first, and how the city hoped that hosting the World’s fair would increase their reputation. Secondly, the magic of a man named Daniel Burnham that did put the plans of the world fair in Chicago into life and the obstacles that he had overcame. Next, once the world fair was complete, it has made Chicago “The White city,” by its dazzling designs and attractions that made it memorable. Then, the madness of H.H. Holmes and how his evil deeds has

In the novel The Devil in the White City, Author Erik Larson uses imagery, irony, and juxtaposition to parallel the good and evil sides of the city of Chicago during the 1893 World’s Fair. Larson takes a more upbeat, joyous tone while following the story of Burnham and the architects designing the World Fair, but the tone turns much darker when perspectives change and we follow the plot of H.H. Holmes, America’s first known serial killer. Using rhetorical devices like imagery, diction, and syntax, Larson is able to paint a picture of Chicago from both the good and evil side, setting a more serious and ominous tone for the novel.

Burnham deceived the world by creating the magnificent White City in order to disguise the true city of Chicago. During the time of the fair Chicago was struggling: facing economic turmoil, mass unemployment, and polluted streets. In fact, unions began to threaten the fair “Beyond the fairgrounds’ new fence, turmoil and grief engulfed Chicago” (Larson 121). Burnham is trying to block Chicago’s turmoil from destroying the fair as well as make people overlook the damaged city. He is creating the perfect city within the broken one. Burnham goes above and beyond in order to ensure that the world only sees Chicago as the White City. “With its gorgeous classical buildings packed with art, its clean water and electric lights, and its overstaffed police department, the

Eric Larson, in The Devil in the White City, elucidates all the different aspects of the 1893 Chicago World’s Fair. From the small decisions made to ensure that the fair is a huge success to the shadows creeping in the background, Larson tells the extraordinary story of two men. One man being the architect behind the magnificence of the fair, and the other a serial killer using the fair to entice his victims into his clutches. The authors purpose is to emphasize the importance, and excitement, of both of these historical events and reveal how they made America what she is today. Larson tells this historic narrative in a frank and excited tone. By carrying on this tone throughout the book, larson allows you to draw your own conclusion on the importance of

This novel has two major story arcs, one revolves around Daniel Burnham and the other revolves around H.H. Holmes. Burnham's story explains how he strived to build the fair, Holmes' story tells how he began killing and how far it escalated. These characters are considered the protagonists of the novel because they are effected by each event mentioned throughout the story. Both story arcs describe all of the obstacles they faced as

The World's Columbian Exposition, or Chicago World's Fair of 1893 as it came to be known, was the "fair that changed America" (Larson). It ushered in a period of great achievements and a sense of patriotism, as well as civic pride. However, amidst the glorious celebration, there was an evil lurking; from the murderous Dr. Henry Howard Holmes to the delusions of Patrick Eugene Joseph Prendergast. Erik Larson tells the story of Chicago's "White City" (named for the color of the exhibits), touching upon the lives of those who were affected, and successfully conveying to the reader an image of a time period that changed the course of America.

During a period known as the Gilded Age, one city sets out to create an exposition that would secure them dominance in an ever-expanding society. Chicago was set to be the home of the 1893 Chicago World’s Fair, an attraction meant to showcase the success and prosperity of the nation. This historical event showcased the prosperity and light of the city as well as the poor and dark parts that came with the building of this fair through two essential characters: Daniel Burnham and H.H. Holmes. Burnham’s determination to build the fair despite many challenges reveals the light of the windy city while Holmes’ and his deceptive evil brings awareness to the dark parts of the city during an economic depression.

The attachment “Murder, magic, and madness at the fair that changed america” to the title hardly does the novel justice. Erik Larson’s The Devil in the White City, a nonfiction novel that surrounds the 1893 Chicago World’s Fair, also known as The World’s Columbian Exposition. The novel follows the lives of two real men, Daniel Burnham, the architect who builds the 1893 Chicago World's Fair and H.H. Holmes, the serial killer who exploits the fair to find his victims. Many new inventions were introduced at the fair, such as Juicy Fruit gum, the Ferris Wheel, and many other novel ideas that impacted the lives of many people for generations. The beautiful fair Burnham creates provides the perfect distraction and lure for Holmes’ activities. In his novel The Devil in the White City, Erik Larson suggests that good and evil coexist in the world by using charged language, imagery and juxtaposition to show although people view the fair as a perfect dreamland immune to evil, it still lurks outside in the dark, influencing the rest of the world.