The Devil In The White City Figurative Language

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Erik Larson’s inspiration for writing The Devil in the White City was Chicago’s willingness in the Gilded Age to take on the impossible. Erik Larson’s The Devil in the White City is about a serial killer, H.H. Holmes and an architect, Daniel Burnham, and their lives during the Chicago World’s Fair. Holmes is the “devil” at the fair, while Burnham is the architect of the World’s Fair. Larson combines these two contrasting, yet similar personalities into one fascinating nonfiction novel. Using antithesis, figurative language, and diction, Larson tells the true story of architect, Daniel Burnham and serial killer, H.H. Holmes during the magical yet, grim Chicago World’s Fair. Through the use of antithesis, Larson describes the different personalities and events of Holmes and Burnham occurring at the same time during the World’s Fair. Holmes is described as “a prodigy of …show more content…
For instance, when talking about the fair at night, Larson states that for the visitors, the illumination of the lights “was like getting a sudden vision of heaven” (254), and that the “night is the magician of the fair” (255). This gives readers a detailed image of how beautiful and magical the fair was at night. Larson also uses figurative language when describing Holmes and how “the possession [killing] he craved was a transient thing, like the scent of a fresh-cut hyacinth” (257). This shows readers how badly Holmes craves to kill and harm people and how quickly his satisfaction runs out, leaving him wanting more. When describing Burnham, Larson states that Burnham “drew friends to him the way a lens gathers light” (26). This shows readers how kind Burnham is and how easily he makes friends. Larson uses figurative language to be able to show readers and give them an image of how magical the fair is and to describe what Burnham’s and Holmes’s personality is
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