The Devil In The White City Character Analysis

In The Devil in the White City, two main characters with different stories were put together in a strange, yet interesting way. There was H.H. Holmes who was a doctor, a pharmacist, and serial killer, and Daniel Burnham who was an architect. Erik Larson chose to put these two characters and their two stories together in one book to show industrialization, urbanization, and modernity. During the twentieth century, America was finding itself a way out of a lot of hard times, especially in Chicago. Chicago was a rough place to be in. The city was filthy and the people that lived in this city were just as filthy with no jobs, no hope of a better life, but as time moved on, things got better for the good due to Burnham. The great depression was

on the verge of happening, but people were very hopeful with the new advancements that were about to take place. With these new advancements, people were granted positions that were worth living for that gave life more reason to live for.
The twentieth century was indeed a time of struggle for the society of the world. Wars were going on, unemployment was rising, people were suffering, and people’s lives were slowly crumbling to an end, as if they had no purpose in life. All of this changes as life gets modernized for the better of people. When all hope seem to be failing, things were about to boom. Larson has created an idea mixed with true history events that gives people inspiration to life. In his book, he shows the true meaning of struggle, fear, happiness, good and evil. As all of these things were happening in his book, there was purpose and meaning to his ideas.
First, urbanization played a huge role in the twentieth century and in the book as well. For instance, people during this time period were looking for a way out to seek opportunities due to the recession and wars that were going on even though Chicago was a dangerous environment. Burnham constructed the 1893 World’s Fair which gave people something to look forward to as a place for adventure and enjoyment. At the same time, it was a trap for innocent people in Holmes mind. Holmes pharmacy was converted into the World’s Fair Hotel as soon as Burnham’s fair was opened, which was to lure women in and to kill them. Larson writes in his book, “It was so easy to disappear, so easy to deny knowledge, so very easy in the smoke and din to mask that something dark had taken root” (Larson, 12). By saying this, people were more fascinated with the fair and caught up in the amazement of its features, such as the Ferris wheel, that the people forgot to notice how dangerous it really was to be there.
Next, modernity played a huge role in this book.

There were definitely good and bad moments from both sides of the character’s stories. Burnham never really got over the fact that he could not pursue or get accepted into neither of the colleges of his choice, but instead, he still came out on top with his architectural skills. Holmes, on the other hand, was a complete psychopath, yet very clever for a moment throughout the book. Holmes knew for a fact that he was indeed a murderer by saying, “'I was born with the devil in me,'" he wrote. "I could not help the fact that I was a murderer, no more than the poet can help the inspiration to sing” (Larson, 109). Although he had his own business working as a pharmacist, he reconstructed his pharmacy into a hotel that had gas chambers and secret departments within his building that would help him hide his victims more easily that he had killed. He had got away with a lot of things such as murder, theft, and insurance fraud, but that soon came to an end as he got caught by the police with insurance

fraud.
Last but not least, Larson compares industrialization between the two characters.

In Chicago at this time, industrialization was a big deal. Technology was beginning to blossom to a whole new level in a lot of aspects such as buildings that were destined to employ people with a stable job. In the book, Burnham built Chicago’s World Fair, which became the World’s Columbian Exposition. This fair was an eye opener to many Americans because it gave them hope and opportunities for jobs that were soon to be filled. "The White City had drawn men and protected them; the Black City now welcomed them back, on the eve of winter, with filth, starvation, and violence” (Larson, 323), with this, Larson connected that although the fair had employed many people with jobs, it was soon coming to an end which resulted in people being unemployed and causing them to go through a great

depression.
As Larson put these two stories together, he told the world that life in America during the twentieth century in Chicago was a growing experience and a learning process. Larson took these two stories and constructed them in a way that people could see how the real world was during this period in a creative way using true history to back up his idea. There were good times and also bad times during this period. Modernization was the main focus in this book and America itself was becoming bigger and better although there were definite setbacks that caused America to go through some pretty rough times. Modernity in Larson’s book meant much more than growing socially and economically, it meant that there was purpose in the way people had lived and saw things. If during this time period there was no struggle or need for improvement with how people lived, then life would be nothing more to live for. A person has to go through hard times to get to the glory of a situation.