HIST 100: Engineering The Past

Planner’s Beliefs

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At the very end of part one on page 109 H.H Holmes writes; “ I was born with the devil in me, I could not help the fact that I was a murderer, no more than the poet can help the inspiration to sing.” I think this quote from Holmes points out the belief he has for himself as being nothing but what he was born to be. He doesn’t fight with his “demons”, as some other murders might, he accepts them as being part of him, being part of what makes him great and charismatic. The same way that the many demons make Chicago the city it is.

Daniel Burnham- on page 128 Erik Larson brings up the abundance of letters Burnham has been sending his wife. He wrote to his wife; “You must not think thus hurry of my life will last forever. I shall stop after the worlds fair, I have made up my mind to this.” I think that Burnham holds strong in his value and beliefs of family and this is shown so far throughout the book. I do think though that it could be argued that he is losing that value with the more time and effort he gives to the world fair. Erik Larson in the same passages makes note of how close Burnham and his wife actually are in distance and how easy it could be to go home.

On page 120 and 121 When Charles Atwood is introduced, I think that introducing him as an opium addict, is clearly drawing a line between the values of Burnham and Atwood. Erik Larson describes him as having “black gun-muzzled eyes”, shortly after explaining the darkness of his eyes by his opium addiction. As an opium addict I think that his values and beliefs are completely opposite from that of Burnham, aside from the fact that either would do anything to get the high. For Atwood that is opium, for Burnham that is the satisfaction the finished fair with provide him.

Features of the Fair

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I think that for the urban areas in the United States during the 1880’s to 1890’s the biggest issue was the growing population. Not because the cities were overpopulated, but because of the issues that the huge populations caused. Larson wrote “So far the year had been a fine one. Chicago’s population had topple one million for the first time, making the city the second most populous in the nation after New York”. Obviously a big problem is the change a large number of people can have on the moral standards of society. It was impossible for the law and technology to catch up to the growth of the city. Another issue that the overpopulation caused was the city lost a sense of culture. It was as if everyone and their cultures just blended into one “Though Chicago was rapidly achieving recognition as an industrial and mercantile dynamo, its leading men felt keenly the slander from New York that their city had few cultural assets”. This quote led to the reasoning behind the city wanting the fair to be built there, on top of the recognition and profit it would bring the city.

I think that Burnham and the others involved in the building of the fair are not far off from that of Holmes. By connecting Holmes and his murders to the fair and Burnham I think Larson is trying to show the likeness between the characteristics of both of the characters, even though there are extreme differences between their actions.