Summary Of The Devil In The White City

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The Devil in the White City presents a compelling retelling of the building of the Chicago World Fair alongside the story of H.H. Holmes. Author Eri Larson takes time to build up the characters, and the complexities they possess during the historically accurate telling of Chicago during the Gilded Age. The authors make specific decisions in order to create a complex and immersive book using the rhetorical strategies of juxtaposition and appeal to emotion, to achieve that. The authors use the juxtaposition of the great world fari and Holmes' crimes to show the complexities of man. The world fair represented the pinnacle of human achievement and pride of mankind, showcasing the greatest inventions and architectural feats that one could find at the time. People from all over the world spend every penny they have just for a chance to see the …show more content…

One city’s pride that outweighed any others was Chicago, known for its everlasting belief in the city's greatness. Even when tragic events such as the great Chicago fire threaten them. They bounced back even stronger than before, showing their will for greatness. When Chicago found out they were selected to hold the world fair, thousands crowded the streets, all letting, “Loose with a cheer that tore through the canyon of brick, stone, and glass like a flash flood”(Larson 31). The people of this city's faith had been rewarded; this was their chance to show the world how amazing Chicago was to them. Everyone knows how it feels to have pride in something, whether it's an achievement or something entirely else. Due to this fact, many readers are able to resonate with the feelings of these Chicagoans, cheering them on, and envisioning it as if their city had chosen something

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