The story The Devil in the White City describes the setting with many visual words to make the reader see and feel the surroundings. When Erik Larson describes the basement and the kiln using sensory language and imagery he put so much detail, allowing the reader to picture the scene. This helps the reader know where the story takes place and understand the ominous mood. The description of the basement emphasized the mood, “The cellar had the look of a mine, the smell of a surgeon’s” (lines 24-25)
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The Devil in the White City, a nonfiction novel written by Erik Larson, focused around the construction the 1893 Chicago World's Fair, also referred to as The World's Columbian Exposition, Daniel Burnham, the architect responsible for building World's Fair and the serial killer who exploits the fair to find his victims, H.H. Holmes, the two men's lives are recreated. Larson uses juxtaposition, imagery, and figurative language to portray the opposing forces of good and evil in action during the
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world—they coined the term Yin and Yang—light and dark—and they are put together to form one concept and exist at the same time. The light and dark sides both incorporate their counterpart within to symbolize that light and dark coexists. In The Devil in The White City by Erik Larson, in the midsts of the industrial revolution of America — Chicago is trying to make a name for itself in response to the Exposition Universelle of 1889 hosted by France, where the famous Eiffel Tower was constructed. After a
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Chicago was looked down upon by many of the eastern cities, New York City and Washington D.C.. They believed that Chicago would fail in being able to produce a fair to top the great World Fair of Paris. The committee in charge of the exposition chose Daniel Burnham to design the the fair. Chicago before the 1893 Worlds fair was a dangerous and dirty place at the time. There were the Union stock yards killing thousands of pigs, and there was H. H. Holmes hotel killing hundreds of women. Chicago was
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anniversary of Columbus reaching the New World. The event grounds were stressfully designed by a large assembly of architects, designers, and city officials to achieve the final product: The White City. The White City became more of a turning point for America inspiring new structures, ideas, inventions, and cities. Erik Larson’s The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair That Changed America revolve around Burnham, the head architect designing the Fair, and H.H. Holmes, a
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of the Exposition came negative events. Throughout his book, The Devil in the White City, Erik Larson depicts Chicago as a ‘White City’ and a ‘Black City’. With a ‘White City’, one may interpret it as angelic, heaven-like, and even awe-inspiring, however, a ‘White City’ can also be interpreted as the opposite. The same applies to a ‘Black City’, usually described as dangerous and lifeless but may also be presented as a ‘White City’. That being said, Larson’s purpose, in his book, is to educate his
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that the eyes are the window to the soul, and H.H.Holmes, the serial killer from The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair That Changed America, appeared to have a “clear and blue” gaze (The Devil in the White City 37). Looks from pretty girls “fell around him like wind-blown petals” because Holmes always “looked fresh and crisp” whenever he was in public (The Devil in the White City 35). Robin Williams was a popular, talented actor, but only those closest to him knew that
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The Devil In The White City The Chicago fire of 1871 left the city desolate yet allowed Chicago to erupt in creation and construction. Architects built and expanded the city into the Chicago we see today. Chicago was known as a smaller, less sophisticated New York, until the World's Fair in 1893. In The Devil In The White City, Erik Larson follows the 1893 World's Fair from the stress of preparing the exhibits, its global effects. Larson uses imagery, personification, structure, and irony to display
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Larson’s The Devil in the White City vividly describes the conditions of 1890s Chicago, Illinois. In the book, the city is depicted as dirty, polluted, and crime ridden. It was so bad that the main character, Daniel Burnham, moved his family out of the city because, as he wrote, “I could no longer bear to have my children in the streets of Chicago.” In this assignment, we will analyze how The Devil in the White City describes the nearly destitute conditions of Chicago, and how the city has changed
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Erik Larson’s books The Devil in the White City, In the Garden of Beasts, and Dead Wake, are all about major events of history. The Devil in the White City is about the Chicago World’s Fair, Dead Wake is about events leading up to the sinking of the Lusitania, and In the Garden of Beasts is about Berlin in a Germany that was approaching World War II. Each of these topics is interesting enough to begin with, but with Erik Larson’s style of writing, they are even more enjoyable to read about. Each
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