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Saturday, November 29, 2008

THe Devil in the White City(3)

5 comments

  1. it was very interesting when holmes talked about kiln
  2. i liked how the architects described how ugly Jackson Park looked
  3. i was shocked when Root, burnham architect and friend, died in his house.
  4. holmes is probably responsible for the vanshing people
  5. holmes should just get a divorce from Myrta
4 questions
  • 'why did Roots die anyway?
  • isn't a vacant park good for a fair?
  • what really happened to the vanishing people?
  • does holmes even pay his workers, the workers who work in his plaza?
3 vocabulary words
  1. transcendent-going beyond ordinary limits; surpassing; exceeding.
  2. apparatus- any complex instrument or mechanism for a particular purpose.
  3. kiln-a furnace or oven for burning, baking, or drying something, esp. one for firing pottery, calcining limestone, or baking bricks.
2 vocabulary terms
  • descriptive writing- the way the architects described how jackson park looked
  • "..Olmsted, his teeth inflamed," =hyperbole
1 overview
the architects finally see what they are going to be working with for the next two years while Holmes is busy trying to make his building into a hotel and in he basement there is a furnace... a really big furnace.

Wednesday, November 19, 2008

THe Devil in the White City(2)

5 Comments

  1. Holmes is introduced in the story.
  2. he has killed a child in the past.
  3. he went to college and now wants to become a doctor.
  4. Holmes moved to Chicago because he thought it was a better place.
  5. Jack the Ripper is mentioned.
4 Questions
  1. did they ever suspect Holmes of the murder/
  2. did he kill his parents?
  3. did he kill his best friend as a child?
  4. Has he killed more than that is mentioned so far?
3 Vocabulary Words
  1. macabre-gruesome and horrifying; ghastly; horrible.
  2. astigmatic-A visual defect in which the unequal curvature of one or more refractive surfaces of the eye, usually the cornea, prevents light rays from focusing clearly at one point on the retina, resulting in blurred vision.
  3. emissaries-an agent sent on a mission of a secret nature, as a spy.
2 Literary Terms
  • "They are blue. Great murderers, like great men in other walks of activity, have blue eyes" pg.35
  • personifiction- "starvation was string me in the face" *(larson 42)
1 OverView sentence
We finally meet Holmes and get to see who he really is under all that pleasant innocence that he allows to be seen.

THe Devil in the White City(1)

5 Comments

  1. The fair will be held in Chicago.
  2. Burnham and Root are the architects in charge.
  3. America and other countries voted.
  4. Everyone wants it to be better than the fair in Paris.
  5. Burnham and Holmes don't know eachother.
4 Questions
  1. What was the voting system like in the 19th century.
  2. Who was the president at this time? Was he aware of the fair?
  3. Do Burnham and Holmes know each other?
  4. How long did it take for the Eiffel tower to be completed?
3 Vocabulary Words
  1. Lackluster-a lack of brilliance or vitality.
  2. advent-a coming into place, view, or being; arrival:
  3. courtship-the period during which such wooing takes place.
2 Literary Terms
  1. metaphor- "Burnham was handsome, tall, and strong, with vivid blue eyes, all of which drew clients and friends to him the way a lens gathers light" (Larson 26)
  2. simile- "For now, the tension was subtle, a vibration, like the inaudible cry of overstressed steel"
1 Overview Sentence
  1. The fair will be held in Chicago and it is a big deal to the architects and other denizens.

The Devil in the White City by Erik Larson

I will begin posting
about my history book
about a fair thatvis set to take place
in the grand city of Chicago in the 1890s.
the book has two main characters, Daniel Burnham (the architect) and H.H. Holmes (a serial killer)