Jake Frankenfield

Devil in the White City

Erik Larson

Historical Fiction

Challenge

Page 220

1. Right now in my book, the final weeks for preparation of the World’s Fair are closing in and everything is far behind schedule, but things seem to be pulling through as the weather lightens. Most buildings are far fro completion and many carpenters had to be laid off because of budget challenges and others are striking. The only things that are going well are the whitewashing of the buildings that have been completed, the Ferris Wheel’s completion and the fact that Burnham finally has total power over the fair’s design. And if that isn’t enough negativity, the landscaping can’t really start until the buildings have been completed, but that doesn’t matter much because one of the heads of landscaping is ailing and the other is dead. In Holmes’ plotline he has recently brought in another woman and then killed her by burning her in a kiln. Then he met a new woman named Minnie Williams and convinced her to sign her deed to her land over to an alias of Holmes. He then married her and invited her sister to the World’s Fair that summer to ease her suspicions about the couple.

2. So far, I like this book. It has a very interesting plot and I like to see the fair coming together because the process is fascinating. I also think that the way this particular fair is coming through has to be different from the ways other fairs were developed, because all the mistakes and hindering factors make the plot that much me interesting. I also think that Holmes, the serial killer, is a peculiar guy, whose plans make the story very eventful. The only drawback of this book is the pace, which is painstakingly slow. It seems that he over explains everything and uses quotes too much, and it makes the story much harder to read.

3. So far the main theme I’ve noticed has been greed, which is shown through more than one person throughout the book. From Holmes, he has tried to outsmart insurance companies, killed people for the money their body produces and basically started a small business without paying for it. This has destroyed many lives on his quest to the top of society. Also this has been exemplified through Burnham and the president of the exposition who fought for power and most likely the end credit for the World’s Fair.

4. My favorite character is Burnham because he is an extremely successful architect, but he seems to be all about the success of the fair, and is willing to go to anything to make the fair great and bring pride to America. He also has a very creative mind and he’s always dreaming of something bigger, better and more grand, while still being fully committed to what he is doing at that present time.

5. My least favorite character has been Holmes. I chose him because he’s a serial killer, obviously making him a bad, or a mentally impaired person. But he seems too cunning and clever for me to peg his deeds on being mentally impaired. It seems that everything he did was for his own benefit, and he has no limits to stop his wrong doings.

6. I believe that the fair will come together and be a magnificent success, because of a budget increase because of growth in the American economy, which hit a decline around the time the Fair’s planning began or just more decisive work by the Fair’s heads. As for Holmes I believe he will have Minnie’s sister up as promised, but that he will eventually kill both of them and move on to more fair dwellers to kill.