Tonight We Dine In Chicago

   

The collapse of the roof of the Manufactures and Liberal Arts building was very significant literally and figuratively. Literally, it marked another monstrous setback in the already behind schedule fair and the eminent approach of opening day. Figuratively, it showed the collapse of the growing confidence and arrogance the United States had over the world; especially when comparing the exposition to that of the French.


The Manufactures and Liberal Arts building was to be the largest building ever constructed. It was also simply one of the many magnificent edifices being built for the world's fair. The Fair was constantly behind schedule and, as opening day approached, the designers slowly lost hope but remained confident in the completion of it. The fair was truly an outlandish scheme from the start; giving a group of architects a few years to design, build, and finish nearly a whole city's worth of structures was ridiculous to say the least. This, from the beginning, was a flaunt of hubris; the US believing they could beat--let alone match--the Paris exposition (disregarding the hard times, harsh weather, poor soil, and the time constraint).


The fair was in commemoration of Columbus's voyage to the New World, but in actuality, it was for the US to better the French. From the start, the fair was an act of arrogance; cities fought among each other of who was most fit to house such an event--all were good in their own ways, but they fought nonetheless due to their arrogance. This in turn caused the limitation of time to complete the construction. The fair was being built at a rapid pace--it had to be to meet the approaching deadline of opening day. But, this pace, coupled with a dash of arrogance, reached an inevitable climax--the collapse of the roof. This sent a message. The architects were no longer so bold; it brought their arrogance down a notch and tightened up their designs and executions henceforth.


Such creative acts do not always entail such destructive parallels. In most cases, they engender none of the sort. Most times, projects are not constrained by time, money, or such things that the world’s fair was. But in this case, the consequences were unseen yet unavoidable and resulted from constraints that ruined the overall outcome of the fair. The designs were extravagant, but the construction was shoddy; the perceived image was glorious, but time wouldn't allow the whole image to be fulfilled. In the end the, the architects’ hubris equated to the poor construction and execution of the White City. And although the fair and its buildings and exhibits eventually were completed, the boldness and arrogance of the architects and everyone involved were put to the when events such as the collapse of the Manufactures and Liberal Arts building’s roof happened.

Choose Spiderman!

     The note at the beginning of the book reveals how facile, evanescent, and delicate life is. With our fleeting lives, we have choices to be good or bad, successful or poor, etc. Some choices, we do not get to make... These choices are often involved in this "ineluctable conflict between good and evil." Most people out in the world are good, but there are those who are evil through and through; those that do not get to choose whether to be good.  In this story, Burnham and Holmes are the epitome of these two ideals; Burnham using his "brief allotment of time" doing great things, impossible things, progressive things for the betterment of society, whereas Holmes has an innate reflex to manufacture sorrow, benefit only himself, and take ever-so-precious life from others.
     Burnham, as stated before, used his short time on this earth to establish himself in society, make a name for himself, and create innovative new architectural works. He got married, built a corporation from the ground up with his life-long partner, and led the very important job of supervising the construction of the Columbian Exposition. The weight of the country rested on him and he prevailed through it; he embodied the American dream of picking yourself up by the bootstraps and the can-do attitude of the time. 
     Holmes on the other hand kept himself under the radar, yet made a name for himself (which often changed), broke all the rules even the unwritten, and used his genius and enthusiasm for dirty deeds. He moved to Chicago and established a pharmacy which expanded and became very profitable; behind this ambitious facade lurked something darker, bad intention--which explained his illegal, yet effective, work ethic and the frequent disappearance of his female staff. He too embodied the American dream, but only to the untrained eye.
     The essential difference between these men is their use of talents. Burnham used his talent and expertise to design and build large edifices; Holmes used his keen nature and good looks to design and carefully execute murderous acts. Also, there title and attitudes were different. Burnham was a high-profile, respected, famous architect who was proud of his accomplishments; Holmes keeps his work off the record and under the table. When juxtaposed, they are very similar in their successes, but when further inspected, the light and dark, good and evil are revealed.
     They are also very alike in ways. Both men take pride in their work. Of course, it is a different kind of pride. Burnham can look at the buildings he has designed and know he built it well to the right specifications; Holmes--whose work is with the disappearance of people instead of the constructing buildings--takes pride in how much he can get away with; he also takes pride in how well he prepares for his murders, he is proud of himself with designing his new building equipped with sound-proof rooms and incinerators to do his deeds. The men are also alike in their blue eyes; at the beginning of the novel, the coroner points out Holmes eyes and says that ambitious men all have blue eyes. In this situation, the blue-eyed men were ambitious in completely different ways.