2. Reflection #1
In the chapter, The Necessary Supply, was what
started my interest in this book. In this chapter, I get
to know H. H. Holmes is an antagonist and one of
the main characters in the story. It starts out with a
strong hint that he is a murderer by a quote from a
physician saying that he had blue eyes and that
great murderers had blue eyes. Also in this chapter,
Erik Larson tries to describe him as a ladies man
who has all the charm to get any women. This, I
believe, seemed to be a foreshadow to who he
would kill later on(mostly women). In all this chapter
really set the stage of who Holmes really was. It kept
giving references that seemed to hint of what
Holmes is: a murderer.
3. Reflection #2
In the chapter, Remains of the Day, was the most
interesting chapter up to that point. In this chapter,
you get to experience the first murder of Holmes. It
was honestly disgusting to see him murder a girl,
Julia, on Christmas day. Even more worse was that
Julia was pregnant and he knew. He told her that
they could marry each other; however, he wanted to
give her an “abortion.” She agreed, but from the
likelihood of Holmes’ characteristics he would kill her.
As the chapter unfolds, he lies to everyone
explaining how she has left the hotel earlier than
expected. Unfortunately, everyone believed it and
stopped thinking about her.
4. Reflection #3
In part 4 of the chapter, Moyamensing Prison is
where Holmes is locked up in his cell. Here he
enjoys the prison as he finds ways to still enjoy life.
He was able to keep belongings, wear his own
clothes, and even get food and newspapers from the
outside. The most particular part about this chapter is
how he is interested in the chase for his crimes and
that he writes a letter about Carrie Pitezel, a victim in
his past, and he knows that the police could read
this. His thrill of the past murders and the detective’s
chase on his crimes really portray how insane he is.
Even in a jail, he still gains power and wants to think
about killing just for fun.
5. Author Biography: Erik
Larson
Born on January 3rd, 1954
American Journalist and nonfiction author
He grew up in Freeport, Long Island, New York
He studied Russian History at the University of Pennsylvania
For his graduates he attended Columbia University Graduates
School of Journalism
He has a wife and 3 daughters
His first newspaper job was with The Bucks County Courier
Times in Levittown, Pennsylvania, where he wrote about
murder, witches, environmental poisons, and other "equally
pleasant" things.
Very similar to the book Devil in the White City, he researched
the series of murders by H. H. Holmes in the Worlds Fair
His other novels that he has written include: The Naked
Consumer: How Our Private Lives Become Public
Commodities, Lethal Passage: The Story of a Gun, and Isaac's
Storm
6.
From Barnesandnoble.com it gives a quote of
what he said. In it he states how he actually didn’t
want to write this book because of how evil the
Dr. H. H. Holmes was. So he went back to Isaac’s
Storm
7. Summary of: The Devil in the
White City
The non-fiction novel takes place during the 1893
World’s Fair. It has four parts to the book, and the
first three are mostly in Chicago. Eric Larson writes
out the first character Daniel Burnham the architect
who constructs the Worlds Fair. Then he writes the
antagonist, H. H. Holmes, who is a serial killer that
abuses the fair to find his targets and kill them. In the
fourth part of the book it takes place in Philadelphia
where Holmes flees to after Chicago. Finally at
Philadelphia he is arrested for insurance fraud, and
Detective Frank Geyer investigates and discovers
more of Holmes’ terrible activities at Chicago.
8. My Claim Statement
There is only one thing that had Dr. H. H. Holmes
addicted to these murders. It was power. Power was
the addicting drug that fed his inner devil.
“Holmes knew he possessed great power over Julia.
First there was the power that accrued to him
naturally through his ability to bewitch men and
women…”(Larson 146).
“It satisfied his profound need for attention and gave
him a sense of power over the detective”(Larson
352).
Here Larson keeps reemphasizing what is Holmes
motivation for these murders. An intangible yet
addictive feeling of power is what keeps him in this
evil form.
9. Connections
When I first read the book, the style of this book took me by
surprise. I didn’t realize that a non-fiction book could be like a
real story or novel. Instead of the usual boring text I usually
read in non-fiction books this one had me on my feet. Not only
did it tell a story, it gave much historical information that even in
class we didn’t go over. We knew that when Root died that it
was a tough journey for Daniel. However, the book thoroughly
expressed what he went through. The book had so much in
depth information about the World’s Fair and what Daniel
Burnham had to go through to make it perfect. It gave 2
views(Holmes and Burnham) in the same place, Chicago, which
made the book even more interesting. If Mr. Johnson hasn’t
read this book, then I would like to personally hand him this
book. It has quotes from people during that time, which makes
the book even more realistic and on top of that it gives the
adventure of both characters, Holmes and Burnham. In all, the
style of this book just keeps me reading and I just don’t want to
put it down. Probably Mr. J would do the same.
