The Devil in the White City written by Erik Larson is the riveting account of the first modern serial killer of the 19th century in America. Published in 2003, Larson carefully and accurately creates a connecting plot of two very different characters. The first character introduced in the book is Daniel Burnham. Burnham is the architect who builds the 1893 World’s Fair in Chicago. He faces many challenges in his journey to construct the most incredible World’s Fair the world has ever seen. After the death of Burnham’s partner, John Root, he must make many compromises in his grand plan. Building drafts continuously incoming late, construction worker deaths, extreme economic weakening, and the reveal of the Eiffel Tower are just a few details that compromise Burnham’s design. However, Burnham tirelessly works through the obstacles and completes the construction which in the end brings a profit.…
The thesis of “Endless Streetcar Ride into the Night and the Tinfoil Noose” by Jean Shepard is the fact that perception can make you a different person than you are in reality. Throughout the entire essay Jean perceives himself to be this handsome guy who is able to seduce any girl. He is set up on a date with a random girl by his friend Swartz. Once told this by his friend, he immediately assumes the girl is unattractive or as he says, “…have a blind date with some no doubt skinny, pimply girl for your best friend.” Implying that he is no doubt the more attractive half of this blind date. He gets ready for this date by putting on his best tie and suit jacket to seduce this girl which in his mind would be an easy task. Once he sees the girl…
“The House of the Scorpion” by Nancy Farmer is a confusing but good book that teaches a valuable lesson. “The House of the Scorpion” takes place in a futuristic setting. A region in between Mexico and the U.S. Then the setting changes to what was once Mexico but now is called Aztlan. Matt is the clone of a drug lord El Patron who is hated by everyone except for a handful of people.…
1. Who is the narrator? Where does the story take place? What time period? – How did you guess?…
The Devil in the White City by Erik Larson is a perfect representation of what occurred at the world fair of 1893. I admired this book due to the amount of detail and creativity that Larson put into his writing. He characterized each person and made you feel as if you were there with them. For Example he says “He walked with confidence and dressed well, conjuring an impression of wealth and achievement.” In this passage he is explaining H.H. Holmes, the first serial killer, which you don’t grasp that he is a killer because he looks extravagant and is a smooth-talker.…
The Devil in the White City is a literary nonfictional novel written by Erik Larson set during the construction of the Chicago's World Fair in 1893. The Chicago Fair was created to celebrate the four-hundredth anniversary of Columbus's arrival in the new world. It was a cozy home to an intelligent architect, Daniel Hudson Burnham, and a mass murderer, Henry H. Holmes, and describes their lives in great detail. It was a glimpse of the future for the public, a new sight of hope in the troubling economy.…
In The Devil in the White City you can find murder, magic and madness at the fair that changed America. In this book you discover 1893 Chicago at the time of the world’s fair, also known as the World’s Columbian Exposition. The story follows two separate but connected plots. One plot consist of a serial killer in the city while another consist of the building of the fair. Each plot follows two separate characters; H.H Holmes the serial killer and Daniel Burnham the architect. I believe that Erik Larson wrote this book based on two different stories because they both explain the expansion of technological/ entertainment advancements and the expansion of transportation/population growth during the late 19th century. Daniel Burnham and H.H. Holmes…
For every man who devotes his effort and intelligence into enriching the world, there will be an equally powerful man who intends to counterbalance the goodness with malevolence. In The Devil in the White City by Erik Larson, the intertwining tales of Henry H. Holmes and Daniel Burnham show that good cannot exist without evil, just as evil cannot exist without good. In the midst of one of Chicago’s finest architectural happenings, one man is working meticulously to create the most extravagant architectural endeavors of the time, whilst another man is working equally hard to be detrimental to those who are drawn in by the 1893 World’s Fair. Although the two characters seem paradoxical, they are similar in their people skills and obsession – but differ in their relationships and legacies.…
Write an essay discussing the historical insights presented in Erik Larson's Devil in the White City, being sure to answer the following questions: In what ways does the Chicago World's Fair of 1893 represent the contrasts and conflicts of the Gilded Age? What is the Fair's lasting imprint on American society & culture, & what new trends does it signal for the twentieth century?…
Although many authors write mysteries, few of them are as successful as author James Patterson. In fact, the New York Times calls him, “one of America's most influential authors”. The New York Times may have gotten it’s inspiration for this quote from one of James Patterson’s books, The Big Bad Wolf. James Patterson’s 2003 mystery novel, The Big Bad Wolf, allows Alex Cross, an almost psychic FBI agent, to show his abilities to get into the mind of a criminal and predict their next move. Alex Cross Is using his psychic mind to try and outsmart a notorious criminal known as The Wolf. The whole Federal Bureau of Investigation is working tirelessly to capture The Wolf before he can kidnap any more people for his white sex slave business. The Big…
The Devil in the White City by Erik Larson depicts that wherever there is good, there is evil as well. The note included by Larson, ¨Evils Imminent¨ depicts this: ¨Beneath the gore and smoke and loam, this book is about the evanescence of life, and why some men choose to fill their brief allotment of time engaging the impossible, others in the manufacture of sorrow¨ (pg. xi). Larso shows this conflict of good and evil by comparing the two main characters, Daniel Burnham and Henry H. Holmes. Burnham is the head architect for the World Fair Exposition in Chicago circa 1893, taking on a daunting challenge. In contrast, Holmes is a sly psychopathic physician, who opens a hobbled together building to serve as a hotel for the fair that is equipped with gas chambers and kilns which are responsible for the deaths of many young women. Erik Larson's main purpose in The Devil in the White City is to reveal the conflict between good and evil through the comparison of Daniel Burnham, a lofty successful architect, and Henry H. Holmes, a greedy scheming murderer.…
Devil in the White City, a monograph written by Erik Larson, detailing the lives of two men during the years of construction and preparation for the 1893 Chicago World’s Fair (alternately, The World’s Columbian Exposition)— Daniel Burnham, the lead architect of the fair; and Herman Mudgett (alias: H.H. Holmes, among others), a serial killer taking advantage of young women flocking to the city in search of the chance to lead their own lives.…
Duality exists in all aspects of the world- in the light of the stars against the dark of the night sky or the vibrant spring colors and the desolation come winter. The dual nature of this world has added deep lines between right and wrong, but of course both will present themselves and both will always, in some way, shape, or form, affect one another. In the Devil in the White City the author, Erik Larson, not only informs the audience about a colossal architectural turning point for our nation, but he entices the reader into a state of jittery tension that is enforced by continuous amounts of alarming duality.…
From the 1870’s to the early 20th century Chicago passed through a time period known as the Gilded Age. This was a time of social evolution for many parts of the United States, especially Chicago. Various social problems began to emerge out of this era, but were ignored and covered up. Eventually these problems came to light, and Chicago became renowned for rampant crime and filthy living conditions. During the time of the Columbian Exposition in the early 1890’s these traits became Chicago’s defining characteristics, and people began to view the metropolis as the Black City. In The Devil in the White City, author Erik Larson utilizes primary sources in order to establish Chicago’s reputation that they are trying to overcome.…
Raymond Carver, the author of Cathedral was born in Oregon in 1938. He came from a poor family. At the age of 40 he was one of the most promising writers of his generation and was also near ruin in everyway from alcoholism. He quit drinking but lung cancer took over- taking his life at the age of 50. He wrote 3 collections of stories:…