Contrasting Colors

[Maria]

Chicago is said to be the "Black City." This color obviously contrasts with the "White City" of the fair. Define and explain an example of contrast in the book.

[Michaela]

In the prologue Chicago is said to be the "White City" because of the enchanting characteristics during the fair. It was a complete success and completely changed Chicago. But by the end of the prologue Larson foreshadows to how "darkness too had touched the fair" speaking about the struggles to create this fair. Many men were hurt and killed and a mass murderer was let loose. As well in the first chapter, called "The Black City" shows how people, mainly young women, were very easily kidnapped, which also foreshadows the murders during the fair. "It was so easy to disappear, so easy to deny knowledge". It was the perfect place for a mass murder spree to take place because of the hustle and bustle of the city.

[Gillian]

One major contrast in the book that I found was the world's view of Chicago verses Chicago's view of itself. The world finds Chicago a very dangerous place. Women are allowed to gamble and drink freely, the economy is based on slaughter houses, cars and trains are constantly hitting pedestrians, horses are killing their passengers, and fires are taking the lives of many. The death rate also increases due to diseases and a rise in murders. But the people of Chicago have a lot of pride for their city. They are an extremely patriotic city and hope that getting the right to host the world's fair would help other people see this and that they will stop seeing Chicago as a "dirty place." They wanted to make a good impression on the rest of the country, and this all contributes to the theme of civic pride, which is seen many other times throughout the novel.

[Sydney]

Similar to Maria's example, I also found a contrast in "The Devil In the White City" that dealt with colors. From the beginning of the book, Larson paints a gloomy picture of typical Chicago in the minds of readers, which is especially evident in Larson's dull-sounding statements such as "...so very easy in the smoke and din to mask that something dark had taken root (Larson,12)", or "likened the city (Chicago) to "a human being with his skin removed (Larson, 11)"", then going on to talk about the morbid deaths of some Chicagoans. However, during the next section "The Trouble Is Just Begun", the reader witnesses a change in tone towards the dreary city. When Larson asserts "Chicago was prideful place (Larson, 13)", or even when he points out "abruptly the was color everywhere: the yellow streetcars and the sudden blues of telegraph boys jolting past with satchels full of joy...(Larson, 17)," it shows a major contrast to the drab city Larson originally defined. Perhaps Larson included this contrast to show that the World Fair in 'The White City' might have seemed like a site of excitement or even glamour, but undermining it was a dirty place where unspeakable actions are rooted in the grounds.

[Allison]

In order to strengthen his theme that everything isn't as it seems Larson continually compares Holmes to other people. This contrast is seen almost immediately in the note included and again when we are first introduced to this seemingly handsome, successful, young doctor type with piercing blue eyes and a suave mustache. "To women as yet unaware of his private obsessions, it was an appealing delicacy. He broke prevailing rules of casual intimacy: he stood too close, stared too hard, touched too much and long..."(Larson 36) Larson puts a lot of emphasis on how handsome Holmes is. "As he moved through the station, the glances of young women fell around him like wind blown petals."(Larson 35) I believe its to contrast the typical idea of what danger looks like. It is pretty clear that Holmes is the Devil in the white city for obvious reasons. Larson is making a statement by doing this, he is saying that danger isn't always as obvious as rouge horses, street cars, and fires. Danger is that handsome doctor who just bought the drug store in Englewood. Danger is inviting and handsome just as Holmes was.

[Maria]

While each example exposed here is full of contrast, I further found that there is contrast between the thought of having the fair in Chicago and the reality of doing so. Citizens of Chicago saw that there was no reason NOT to have the fair in their city. There was divinity in having the fair and beginning the race of America to beat Eiffel's tower in Paris. This alludes to the White City. But they are almost greedy of having the event for themselves, which shows greed and evil evident in the Black City aspect. In reality, the bustling city and unattended women allowed for a serial killer to emerge in a time of awe and naive Americans.

[Brigid]

Just well done; good thread questions as well. It's a well written book but certainly not one that I loved reading.

If you're looking for a book that you get lost in, love the characters, & fly through (DIWC was a tough, long read) then maybe Book Thief or Glass Castle. Those 2 were loved by the group's that read them.