During the late 19th century America felt the need to compete with the other major powers of the world as well as proving its equal worth as a city to the more established, larger cities along the East coast of the United States. The intent of The Chicago World’s Fair, starting in 1983, was to rival some of the great feats that France had erected in the previous World’s Fair to showcase American capitalism, advancement in architecture, and enterprise. The story parallels two different men’s lives that represent the good and evil at work during America at the time. Architect, Daniel Burnham was chosen by the city to represent Chicago in the World’s Fair and demonstrates the “good” in men of this ever-changing period in time. Conversely, H. H. Holmes is introduced as the antagonist of the book and represents “evil” committing many murders in the shadow of the shining, white beacon of advancement, The Chicago World’s Fair.
The book begins and ends with Burnham upon the Titanic’s twin ship Olympic, coming full circle as if the entire book is all a recollection in Burnham’s mind. The prologue foreshadows death throughout the remainder of the book, with Burnham learning of the probable death of a close friend and associate, Frank Millet, who is upon the Titanic as it sinks. The book shifts between flash-backs and present time as well as shifting between Burnham’s life and H. H. Holmes’ life. The shifts between present and past times are reminiscent of the way that human’s think and recall experiences and memories, becoming more scattered and frequent in the text when the respective subject is feeling anxious or frenzied. Burnham represents the best that America has to offer, exhibiting the classic American values of pride, honesty, determination, and hard-work, but is constantly reminded of his failures for not being accepted into an Ivy League School and is considered a second-rate architect. Holmes, on the other hand, personifies the evil that America is breeding with its disintegration of moral values within the modern United States, eventually becoming known as America’s first serial killer, but is surprisingly persuasive, suave, and manipulative. The juxtaposition of the drastic differences in character that these two men possess, who were so close in proximity but devastatingly
The Essay on Worlds Fair
Alex Roth Per 3 The main protagonist, or main character in a story, changes his/her characters and beliefs throughout the many different trials that they persevere though. In the book, World's Fair by E.L. Doctorow, the protagonist of the story is a young, typically Jewish boy by the name of Edgar. The book takes place in 1930's post-depression New York and Edgar's family is in somewhat ...
different in moral fiber, provide tension and engage the reader from chapter to chapter providing lulls and swells in excitement.
There are no similarities between the two main characters of the book except for the fact that both are incredibly determined to fulfill their respective visions. Holmes is both ingenious and incredibly manipulative, calculating every move toward providing himself with an endless supply of young women to murder and the facility to dispose of them, which is marketed as the “Hotel for the Fair” (Larson 85) that he refers to as his murder castle. Many times during the book it is pointed out that people often “disappear” in Chicago without a trace, signifying that police presence could not keep up with crime that ran rampant throughout the city providing Holmes an uninterrupted span of years to commit these crimes, during which he is rumored to murder 100’s of people. The first line of the book after the prologue reads, “How easy it was to disappear,” (Larson 11) emphasizing the liberality of women within Chicago walking unaccompanied at all hours of the day and night and how often and easily they were abducted, murdered and never recovered.
The events that unfold in the book often end in fire, which signifies death and destruction, which is ever-present in the minds of Chicago on the heels of the Great Chicago Fire in 1871. With the fire destroying much of the city, there was a great surge of innovative architecture in Chicago to replace the mass amounts of buildings and housing that were burned during the fire. This rapid development saw the emergence of many influential buildings, including the world’s first skyscraper, and architects of the time including; Burnham and Root, Louis Sullivan, and William Le Baron Jenney. Burnham and Root was the firm chosen to design and oversee the erection of the Chicago World’s Fair. Although Root passes away before much of the expositions are completed, he is considered the architectural genius behind the Fair. The theme of fire occurs within the text several times including; a fire within a smokestack during the early stages of the Fair after its opening (Larson 303), Holmes’ burning the rooftop of his “castle” for insurance money to flee Chicago (Larson 323), and the World’s Fair was set ablaze after its close, destroying many of its main attractions, including the Peristyle (Larson 335).
The Essay on Catch a Fire
The book “Catch a Fire” is a beautiful description of the Jamaican culture, the Rastafarian faith, the growth and development of reggae music and how it all added up to make Bob Marley’s life. All of those elements of what made Bob Marley “human” will be talked about and explained in this paper. The best artists are the ones who have passed but there work still lives on and Bob Marley left an ...
Alongside the advancements in architecture, a steep decline in morality occurs in the larger cities, adopting a more modern sentiment. This decline in morality is observed on several occasions in the book, once by a female visitor of Spanish Royalty, Infanta Eulalia, who is jealous of the liberated attitude of women in Chicago saying, “I realize with some bitterness,” she wrote to her mother, “that if this progress ever reaches Spain it will be too late for me to enjoy it” (Larson 262).
The topic is previously visited when Holmes convinces one of his many love interests in the book, Minnie, to move in with him without first being married, which she justifies with the rationalization that her behavior was acceptable in a city such as Chicago (Larsen 202).
The advancement of the U.S. is contrasted sharply with the dissipation of values within society, which is explored in the actions and psyche of Holmes. The contradiction between The World’s Fair and the Hotel of the Fair lies in their intention and message to the people of America. The Fair’s purpose was to showcase America’s greatness, innovation and advancement, erecting the Ferris wheel, striving to usurp the Eiffel Tower. Also, the fair was largely painted white, dotted with a multitude of lights that were dispersed throughout the site that made it seem ethereal and appear as if it were glowing, becoming known as the White City (Larson 247).
In contrast, the Hotel of the Fair is described as being a dark and dreary establishment by its patrons and is devoted to death and destruction. In both literal and figurative comparison the two sites in and of themselves reflect the good and evil that America is becoming simultaneously.
The Essay on Dennis Rodman Book People Basketball
Dennis Rodman Title: Bad As I Wanna Be Author: Dennis Rodman with Tim Keown# of pages: 258 Setting: The book takes place in Dallas, Texas where DennisRodman lived while he was a kid, Detroit, Michigan where DennisRodman played basketball for the Detroit Pistons, San Antonio, Texas where Dennis Rodman played basketball for the San Antonio Spurs, and Chicago, Illinois where Dennis Rodman is ...
The advancement and decline that were concurrently happening within America highlights the changing moral temperament of its people. Religion and propriety were becoming less important while a need for independence overtook the people of America. The book from chapter to chapter goes from telling of the advancements in industry, architecture, and commerce while in other chapters addressing the sky-rocketing crime rates in Chicago. At the same time the book depicts the story of the two men who are a great deal responsible for each of these two themes running. These two men are creators of these two themes manifesting each ideal to the upmost, Burnham being responsible for the erection and success of the Chicago World’s Fair against a failing economy and Holmes being accountable for the murder of dozens of people, admitting to killing twenty-seven (Larson 385), and building a Hotel that capitalized off of the success of the Fair, lured its fairgoers, torturing and murdering them, and disposing of their bodies in the kiln.
The success of a country cannot be measured by one specific facet of its culture. This book emphasizes that there are many aspects of a country that have to move congruently in the same direction to truly reach greatness. The Exposition was a great success because the man behind the Fair was true and determined, treating people correctly along the way. Conversely, Holmes is successful at hiding his villainous nature for a while, but is eventually caught, imprisoned, and put to death to pay for his crimes. The book proves to reinforce positive values in people promoting truth, determination and hard work while contrasting these aspects with the deepest depravity known at this time. These opposing sentiments encompass and describe the “growth” that America was facing at the turn of the 20th century.
