The Devil in the White City

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The Devil in the White City
Erik Larson’s book intertwines Burnham and Dr. Holmes’ true life tales, creating two different, yet connected plots in his story. Burnham was the architect who brilliantly directed the World’s Fair of 1893 and built some significant structures in America, including the Washington, D.C. Union Station (Giedion 79). Holmes, on the other hand, was a serial killer who ensnared people into his sumptuously built “Murder Castle” and killed them. The architect overcame great tragedies and obstacles in the process of consolidating the masterminds that transformed the Jackson Park that was initially swampy to form the White City. Holmes, on the other hand, used the fascination of the inordinate fair along with his satanic charms to entice young women’s scores to their demises. The story is extremely unnerving because the killer evidently lived, walking his dream city’s grounds by the lake. The book draws the audience into a magical moment filled with majesty, made more engaging with real life characters as supporting cast, including Theodore Dreiser, Buffalo Hill among others.
Holmes was a blue-eyed sociopath who spread trepidation by murdering women in Chicago whereas Burnham used his power to make the society a better place while acquiring respect from those around him. John Capen observed he had huge eyes that were wide open just like most killers (Larson12). The Burnham’s mission was to build Chicago, but Holmes’ was to destroy it.

The book is a description of how evil can exist in a well-formed place by using Holmes to represent evil and Burnham to symbolize good. After the great depression, the fair brought hope to the people and provided a glimpse of the marvels of modernity and Holmes took advantage of it. In addition to causing amusement to the public, the fair was a paean to involvement and a strong demonstration about how art, commerce, high culture, organization, science, and technology, when converged under a wise government or administration, could result in a bright and prosperous future. Holmes was mentally unstable, a psychotic murderer who found delight in slaying the innocent (Larson 45). He was comfortable with his killer nature as he comfortably stated that individuals are born into their lines of work, and for him, the killing was his profession. No one can stop his joy of killing making it a great psychological concern.
In understanding the psychological motivations behind Holmes’ actions, it is important to look at his childhood as well as his environment (Vaughn 68). There are no substantial biological explanations behind his actions. He exhibited antisocial traits in his adulthood that were shaped by the treatments he received as a child. He had strict disciplinarian parents and was bullied as a child despite being born in an affluent family. Holmes claimed that other students forced him when he was still a child to touch and look at a skeleton on discovering the degree of his dread for the office of the local doctor. The intention of the bullies was to scare him, but he felt utter fascination about it. His interest in medicine grew, and he practiced his passion in surgery on animals. His condition, therefore, started as a child and as an adult, he found the means of making his skeletons. Holmes, while enrolled in medical school, he would steal dead bodies from the laboratory and then disfigured them with claims that the individuals had accidentally been killed. His life as a pharmacist was full of shady business proceedings and falsified promotional deals. He fancied dead bodies and the agony that came with taking people’s life. To him being a sadistic killer meant ultimate satisfaction.
Holmes’ played with women’s psychology. He was aware of his attractive nature and used his dashing demeanor to his advantage. Over a three-year period, he would choose from among the female employees he had, guests who came to his hotel, and lovers who automatically fell for his charm. The victims would then receive torture that resulted in their deaths. He locked some victims in bedrooms whose walls were soundproof and were fitted with lines of gas, which made it possible for him to asphyxiate them whenever he wanted. Other women were locked in an extensive bank cellar next to his office. Holmes would then find satisfaction in listening to their screams as they panicked and eventually they would snuff out (Keppel and William 13). The bodies of the victims were taken to his basement by a secret chute and dichotomized, flesh stripped from them, made into models of skeletons then vended to medical schools. He incinerated other bodies or destroyed others in the pits of lime. One remote room in his castle was primarily used to perform illegal abortions. The patients who died from the procedures Holmes used in performing the abortions had their cadavers processed and sold as skeletons.
Holmes could not maintain a healthy family life, a result of severely deprived social capacities. He was a bigamist who married Belknap while he was still married to Lovering. Most of his time was spent away tending to his practice. He went on to marry a third wife and had multiple other relationships with women. Julia Smythe, one of his lovers and a one-time employee, became one of his victims after she fled Chicago. He manipulated Mrs. Holton into giving him a job at a drug store and later on into allowing him to buy the store. He subsequently murdered Mrs. Holton, after her husband died and made people believe that she had gone to California to visit her relatives and that she loved it there.
Holmes, to some extent, could be described as a hedonistic serial killer. His inability to maintain steady sexual relationships with women meant that he did not find the sexual satisfaction he desired laying with the ladies. Typically combined with other motivations such as uncontrolled rage, control, and power or monetary benefits, it is possible that sex drive acted as an inspiration towards his deeds (Seltzer 130). This can be seen from his favorite target group – women, and the methods he used to kill them. He fits the description of a lust killer according to the profiling of serial killers. Lust killers, before killing their victims, they torture their victims and in the process feel gratified sexually. Some mutilate and even rape their victims. Holmes’ tendency was to involve himself with the women after he seduced them, tricked and then killed them. They are highly organized and hardly leave evidence of their actions. His organization can clearly be seen from how he constructed his castle where he performed his murders.
Holmes’ murder motivations can also be explained in the sense of “feeling of power through the pain.” By killing, he could achieve empowerment feelings (Ramsland 67). Most serial killers fear rejection and believe that being unable to kill is making one subject to those who can kill. Holmes must probably have attempted to rationalize every detail and aspect of his wrongdoings, and that is why he did not have any reason ringing in his head as to why the murdering acts should stop. He was aware of what he was doing, the possible outcomes of his actions, and how to evade being caught. Holmes was able to mask his raging intentions behind an enigmatic, cultured façade. He is an amoral person, and despite knowing the difference between wrong and right, he cares less about and lacks feelings of guilt. Holmes’ nature does not have a place for compassion for others, and he is a master of the simulation through observation.
The police estimated that Holmes had murdered nearly 20 to 100 victims after thoroughly investigating his well-organized methods of killing and disposing of corpses. They could however not correctly verify the number since the bodies found by the police were dismembered badly and decomposed making it difficult to tell them apart. He was tried for murder after he confessed to having killed all those people (Baker 45). Initially, he had claimed to be innocent because he acted under demonic possessions. His different statements could not provide any grounds for verification by researchers. While in prison, Holmes exhibited a sense of calmness and amiability. He was not afraid to die, having been sentenced to hanging, as he showed very little signs of depression or anxiety.

Works cited
Baker, T. “Hunting serial killers: Understanding and apprehending America’s most dangerous criminals.” Law & Order 49.5 (2001): 43-48.
Giedion, Sigfried. Space, time and architecture: the growth of a new tradition. Harvard University Press, 1967.
Keppel, Robert D., and William J. Birnes. The psychology of serial killer investigations: The grisly business unit. Academic Press, 2003.
Larson, Eric. “The Devil in the White City.” New York: Vintage (2003).
Larson, Erik. “The Devil in the White City: Murder.” Magic, and Madness at the Fair that Changed America, Crown, New York (2003).
Ramsland, Katherine M. Inside the minds of serial killers: Why they kill. Greenwood Publishing Group, 2006.
Seltzer, Mark. “Serial killers (II): The pathological public sphere.” Critical Inquiry 22.1 (1995): 122-149.
Vaughn, Michael G. “Multiple murder and criminal careers: A latent class analysis of multiple homicide offenders.” Forensic Science International 183.1 (2009): 67-73.