Aniruddha Joshi
English 1102
Dr Reynolds
January 27, 2009
On reading the Devil in the White City, a few thoughts came to mind. In my opinion, the death of Root came quite sudden. Root was playing a major role as one of the architects and as Burham’s best friend. Dora, Root’s second wife, calls Burham and tells him that Root is ill with pneumonia. Burham goes to visit Root and suddenly Root dies. This was a major crises for Burham as all his work towards the exposition was done hand in hand with Root. As such I was quite taken aback as in only a couple of pages, Root went from healthy to dead.
I found the chapter “The Black City” quite interesting. Larson’s description of Chicago was intriguing as it gave a foundation for the events to come later in the book. He mentions the crime, fire and the fact that working women were at a risk. I was particularly influenced by how Larson ended that chapter in which he says “it was so easy to disappear, so easy to deny knowledge, so very easy in the smoke and din to mask that something dark had taken root. This was Chicago on the eve of the exposition.”(12)

Aniruddha Joshi
English 1102
Dr Reynolds
January 14, 2009
On reading chapters six to ten, I was posed with a couple of questions. It was indeed an interesting part of the book. Personally, it was interesting to observe the behaviors of the main characters through those three chapters.
Jadwin, once at the top of the pit, crashes to the bottom in one day. Is primarily due to Cressler’s suicide, his failure in business skills, or due to poor luck? The most likely reason in my opinion is the suicide of Cressler. On the day that Jadwin received the the news of Cressler’s death, he was in emotional turmoil. He made these decisions in that mental state and this may have resulted in his failure. Jadwin had predicted the market correctly on previous occasions and hence it is more likely that his emotional issues played a much larger role than business skill or luck.
Laura feelings towards her husband and towards Corthell caught my attention. Throughout the reading, I was attempting to answer the question of whether Laura wishes for and enjoys Corthell’s company because she is lonely from the marriage of her husband with his work or because she genuinely likes Corthell and the art which they appreciate together. This is a difficult to answer as I personally do not feel that Laura’s relationship with Corthell would have existed as such if Jadwin was around in the house. Hence, it can be inferred that the absence of Jadwin is a cause of the relationship. However, I cannot deny that Laura does like Corthell and the knowledge and skill at art that he possesses. The question can be answered by saying that both can be causes to the relationship but I still cannot decide on which is the stronger reason.

Aniruddha Joshi

English 1102

Dr Reynolds

January 14, 2009

“The Pit” by Frank Norris was a very interesting book thus far. While I was reading the first chapter of the book I was posed with the question of why Laura had a very uninterested tone towards Corthell while he was expressing his love to her when suddenly in the same conversation she cries out that she is extremely glad that he loves her. Furthermore, on the way back to her home she again internally accepts that she does not love Corthell. Her actions do tend to be a little confusing to me. I do feel that many of the romantic conflicts which occur in the book could well have been avoided if she were to be completely honest with the gentlemen rather than, in effect, raise their expectations only to disappoint them in the end. I understand that she would be looking for company and hence would have liked Corthell’s love in that way but I do feel that her behavior was somewhat unnecessary. Laura’s behavior as a whole was quite difficult for me to relate to and I did feel that the character did fluctuate a bit through the course of the first five chapters.

I feel that Norris has successfully managed both the romantic side and the business side of his novel very well. However, I did find them to be somewhat disconnected at times. This may not be such a bad thing but nonetheless it did grab my attention. I found that Norris moved from Laura to the Pit in a very sudden manner at times. For instance in chapter two the reader has his full focus on Laura and in chapter 3 the reader is suddenly dragged to the Pit.