The Devil in the White City: Contrasting Themes

The Devil in the White City: Contrasting Themes

The Devil in the White City uses contrast and juxtaposition to convey many themes of which the most important is the theme of good vs. evil. This theme in the book is represented as Burnham being the good versus Holmes being the evil. But as evidenced by the following quote, "...it is a story of the ineluctable conflict between good and evil, daylight and darkness, the White city and the Black." (Larson, 10), there are many other contrasting themes in the book.

The juxtaposition of daylight and darkness is used in the book as daylight meaning safety from crime and darkness as the ally to crime. During daylight, crimes were not as likely to happen as in darkness because they were less likely to be seen. Yet in Chicago at this time, crime was at an "all time high" so there was a narrower contrast between daylight and darkness. All the good that the fair was creating for Chicago like jobs, innovations, and pride was ironically contrasted by the bad it was creating like high crime rates, over- population of available workers, and a cover for H. H. Holmes, America's first serial killer. At the closure of the fair the contrast was very evident, "Heights of splendor, pride, exaltation in one month; depths of wretchedness, suffering, hunger, cold, in the next. " (Larson, 531)

Another contrasting theme in the book is the white city and the black city. The white city is represented by the fairgrounds built by Burnham where everything was clean, safe and perfect. It was a dream city with economic stability, huge buildings, innovations, and diversity. The white city was paradoxically located inside the black city (Chicago) where there is crime, smoke, darkness, and unemployment. It is a tough city to get accustomed to because there is clutter and danger. The cities are the complete opposite of each other.

Amidst the growth and promising future of Chicago, lurked evil and death. Where there is good, evil will always be the contrast of it; there will always be a devil in the white city.