More handpicked essays just for you.
The rise of urban America
Causes and effects of the urbanization in the Gilded and Progressive Age
Causes and effects of the urbanization in the Gilded and Progressive Age
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
In the late 1800s and early 1900s, the race to modernity begins. Rapid changes start to happen in Chicago and also throughout the United States of America. Although Erik Larson’s novel, The Devil in the White City, takes place in Chicago, the events taking place there will reflect the progress towards modernization of the entire country. Cities throughout the United States are growing in proportion to the growing cities. Chicago is only one of the multiple cities in America that goes through major construction and population growth but this city provides a great example of how modernity affects cities and how they function. With the ongoing renovations of the city, Chicago seems to be a city splitting in two. Chicago will have a sophisticated …show more content…
Burnham and Root are the architects that will conduct the design and construction of the World Fair in 1893 (48). These men are successful in their construction and this positively affects Chicago and the World Fair. In any fast growing city, more jobs are created and the increase of population fills the need for workers. People from all across the United States will relocate from their hometown to big cities in search of work. These people expect the jobs in big cities, such as Chicago, to offer much more stability and support than the jobs previously acquired in their hometown. The revenue of Chicago will rise as the production rises, so this creation of new jobs is a positive attribute of growing to …show more content…
Just like Chicago, many other cities such as Milwaukee are expanding their horizons by adding new architectural landmarks and buildings. Cities in America are beginning to industrialize to make more jobs and resolve the economical issues. Industrialization resolves economical issues because the creation of jobs helps the unemployed families find work to support themselves. America is reaching a point where the World Fair is almost saving the economy. In 1893, the railroad industries collapsed and left America in a bad economical standpoint (288). This results in job loss and loss of transportation across
In the book, “The Devil in the White City,” Erik Larson tells the story of two formidable men and their activities during Chicago’s World Fair of 1893. Daniel Burnham is an architect and the fair’s brilliant director. The book takes the reader through the tremendous obstacles and tragedies that Burnham faces in an attempt to create a fair that will give America its fame. However, H.H Holmes is a young doctor, who uses the attraction of the great fair and his charms to lure dozens of young women to their inevitable and tragic deaths. Not only did Chicago’s World Fair of 1893 showcase Daniel Burnham’s success as an able director and H.H. Holmes cunning nature, it changed America as a whole, introduced some lasting inventions, and influenced many historical figures of both that time and our current time period.
The Chicago World Fair brought about through the 400th anniversary of Christopher Columbus landing in America has posed significant value and worth to the city of Chicago. Over a six-month period, more than 26 million visitors from all over the world would flock to the fairgrounds to experience the rebuilt and vibrant city of Chicago. The 600-acre fairground would have housed 200 buildings that showcased new food, art, technology, and entertainment. Chicago became known as the White City, a place of freedom, grandeur, and security. But unbeknownst to fairgoers, there was a serial killer among them. While Dr. H.H. Holmes lured his innocent victims to his “Castle”, just blocks away architect Daniel Burnham built up the dream city of Chicago. Both these men operated at the same time in history, simply blocks apart, both creating legacies that carry to this day. Burnham and Holmes are two side of the coin of human nature. In “The Devil in White City” Erik Larson’s juxtaposition of Burnham and Holmes, and the Black City and the White City, contributes to the understanding of human nature, that one cannot be good without having done evil, and that good and evil are viewed as complementary in their mutual dependence.
The Devil in the White City by Erik Larson tells the story of Daniel Burnham’s World Fair and H.H. Holmes’ murder spree. The tale focuses much on the conflict between good and evil, light and dark. However, the book also goes deeper, utilizing contrast to demonstrate the greed, exclusiveness, and exploitation ever present in the Gilded Age of America.
Two men with two different ways of life are connected through a time period and these two words: determination and dedication. Erik Larson does a great job developing these two characters in The Devil in the White City. On one hand, Daniel Burnham is trying to build the world’s fair in Chicago, on the other H.H. Holmes is a dedicated doctor who is determined to open a hotel for the world 's fair. Burnham is determined and works diligently to get the job done, and he won’t stop for any reason. Holmes driven dedication towards this isn’t for the common reason of making money, but instead he wants to create a safe place that he can murder people. The major difference is that Burnham choose the better path, so he was able to help others in the process. Burnham gave a blank canvas to so many inventors and creators, so that they could change the way things are viewed in the world. These two men show the opposite ends of the spectrum, which is why we have different results caused by their determination and dedication.
The book, The Devil in the White City, takes place during the late nineteenth century. During that time, the total picture of the late nineteenth - century America that emerges from The Devil in the White City is very different than now.
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 seemed to undermine the world fair and the things that are going on within it with his murders and treachery that does grip Chicago once his evil deeds have been found out. Finally, the events that happened in the world fair that relate to the issues that occur in the late ninetieth century within the United States. The city of Chicago was in a desolate condition before it hosted the World Fair.
Chicago in the 1920s was a turning point for the development of ethnic neighborhoods. After the opening of the first rail connection from New York to Chicago in the 1840s, immigration sky rocketed from that point on. Majority of the immigrants to Chicago were Europeans. The Irish, Italians, eastern European Jews, Germans, and Mexicans were among the most common ethnicities to reside in Chicago. These groups made up the greater part of Chicago. The sudden increase in immigration to Chicago in the 1920s soon led to an even further distinguished separation of ethnicities in neighborhoods. The overall development of these neighborhoods deeply impacted how Chicago is sectioned off nowadays. Without these ethnicities immigrating to Chicago almost 100 years ago, Chicago neighborhoods would not be as culturally defined and shaped as they are today.
Jackelyn Hwang and Robert J. Sampson’s article “Divergent Pathways of Gentrification: Racial Inequality and the Social Order of Renewal in Chicago Neighborhoods” addresses the evolution of gentrification over time. The direct examination of gentrification is difficult to observe; however, by examining social pathways we are able to further advance our studies.
Dumenil, Lynn, ed. "New York City." The Oxford Encyclopedia of American Social History. N.p.: Oxford UP, 2012. Oxford Reference. Web. 8 Apr. 2013.
Black and white, dark and light, demon and angel, are things many argue are inseparable. Throughout history this common theme of good and evil has shown in religion, lore, and everyday life. In American history this theme is also expressed. In the gilded age of U. S. history, a fair and an architect are the angels and a city and a murderer are the demons. The fair being the Chicago World fair, the architect being Daniel Burnham, the city being Chicago and the murderer being H. H. Holmes. In The Devil In The White City, Erik Larson uses juxtaposition, imagery-inducing diction, and light and dark metaphors of the Chicago World Fair and Chicago and of H. H. Holmes and Daniel Burnham to argue that good cannot
From the years 1890-1895 Chicago faced the effects of good and the overshadowing effects of evil. Devil in the White City is a book that puts this concept into one and makes the reader feel as if they are experiencing theses events themselves. The two main paradoxical characters, Daniel Burnham and H.H. Holmes, are the epitome of good and evil. Throughout the book, Burnham tries to bring good to Chicago while Holmes takes the good and turns it into something more brutal than the reader could ever imagine. As the book proceeds the two forces grow stronger and stronger until eventually evil stands up and destroys everything that Burnham has tried to accomplish.
Every story balances by the good and the evil, in other words if there are good things then there will also be bad things. The book, Devil in the White City, reveals “the ineluctable conflict between good and evil”. There was a man who wanted people to have fun and enjoy themselves, and another man who took people's lives in unimaginable ways. Burnham, who was an architect, wanted to build the fair to see excitement in people's eyes. Holmes, who was a murderer, found excitement by taking young women's lives and making dirty money the wrong way. Burnham and Holmes have their intentions that make them different but some of their personalities are the same.
People always wonder why the City of Angels is different from other cities. This paper will answer this question and explain the uniqueness that makes L.A., “L.A.” Los Angeles, since its birth as an embryonic city, has become one of the most diverse metropolises, offering to the public what no other city can. This paper will emphasize the relationship between the federal government and the western United States. It will also illustrate how capitalism has flourished because of the prevalent 19th century Laissez Faire ideology. It will describe how the free market prevailed and expanded Los Angeles outward, while cultivating new public institutions and private enterprises.
The battle between what is right and wrong is a classic struggle that has existed from the beginning of time. The most honorable people face the crossroad of choosing either the angel’s path or the devil’s; one path leads to an honest yet difficult life while the other is an easy and selfish one. Throughout history, women have been portrayed as the reason of Man’s downfall. The male dominated world has created stereotypes to blame females for their defeats due to ignorance. Leo Tolstoy’s “The Devil” explores the dichotomy of the objectification of women as the angel and the devil.
John Webster’s revenge tragedy The White Devil explores themes of passion, vengeance, misogyny, and murder all while under the literary confines of an ultimately ambiguous title. The disputes that come with the words ‘white’ and ‘devil’ are seemingly antithetical. The word ‘white’ comes with implications of light colours, purity, God, etc. Whereas the word ‘devil’ comes with darker, almost black, connotations and is ultimately the exact opposite of the adjective describing it. Webster’s title communicates a belief that, in this play, outward appearances can frequently be deceitful and reality is kept as clandestine, hiding just below its exterior. His characters may seem pure, innocent, and “white” but only below their external, primary persona