Devil in the White City Blog #2

In describing the collapse of the roof of Manufacturers and Liberal Arts Building, Larson writes "In a great blur of snow and silvery glass the building's roof—that marvel of late nineteenth-century hubris, enclosing the greatest volume of unobstructed space in history—collapsed to the floor below" [p. 196–97]. Was the entire Fair, in its extravagant size and cost, an exhibition of arrogance? Do such creative acts automatically engender a darker, destructive parallel?

In describing the collapse of the roof of Manufacturers and Liberal Arts Building, Larson writes "In a great blur of snow and silvery glass the building's roof—that marvel of late nineteenth-century hubris, enclosing the greatest volume of unobstructed space in history—collapsed to the floor below.” I think, in a way, the Chicago World Fair was an exhibition of arrogance. All the cities had great pride that their city was the best choice when first attempting to decide which city should host the next World Fair. So yes, I think everyone needed to be a little arrogant to actually believe that they had the ability to produce the World Fair that they all had dreamed about and make it become reality. I think the builders who designed and dreamt about all the things they eventually accomplished had to ignore some things to be able to dream such an extravagant outcome and make it reality. The architects had to believe that they could successfully complete in the World Fair in the short amount of time given and also they had to be strong and believe that they could create a World Fair that would be way greater than that of France. This World Fair in Chicago was supposed to be designed bigger and better than anything in existence on the planet, no matter of cost or physical limitations. They also had so much pride that they believed they could find millions of dollars to spend on the construction of the Chicago World Fair. Not only that, but they also believed that they could drawn in so many visitors, that the fair would make a profit. This is all based on their pride. The fair was for sure a display of American arrogance during the 19^th century.I believe that you must accept the good, and deal with the bad in all areas of life. This is directly established on the pages 196-197. By pointing out the destruction of the fair because of arrogance and to show that dark always parallels to good, Larson's novel parallels these features perfectly. Larson's entire novel is written in the perspective of each of the two main characters lives embodying the question of whether or not the fair contradicts with darkness. This directly contrasts the White City and the Dark City. There creative acts did engender a darker, destructive parallel mainly because of the reason that they were rushing everything. When rushing construction that is just asking for bad things to go wrong. But they had to rush everything if they were going to see the World Fair completed on time and successfully. This shows even more arrogance.