The World's Fair Character Analysis

Eric Larson has the insane ability to create an extremely in depth description of a character. He so masterfully illustrated H. H. Holmes personality and character as a person throughout the entire book. Larson described the horrible serial killer so effortlessly that it seemed as if he was never a real person at all, and was just part of an author’s imagination. In the real world Holmes was an intelligent and manipulative man who thrived on having power over people, and getting away with all his atrocious crimes. He became, what some call, a criminal mastermind and took advantage of any situation possible. The World’s Fair became part of a situation that Holmes used to further his schemes, it was the beginning and end of many things. Holmes

He convinced so many people to do so many things for him. When people think of a male being manipulative, many assume he was just doing it to women so he could take advantage, but Holmes manipulated everyone. He was a smooth talker and had his own way of getting things done. When he needed workers to build his “hotel” he would hire them, but act in such a way that they would quit and he would not have to pay them. He figured out that he could keep doing this over and over until his building was completely erect. Holmes also preyed on women in his lifetime, in fact, the majority of his victims were young women. He gained so much power over these women, because he somehow managed to gain their trust. He used his good looks and charm to lure the women to him. He used the fact that most of the women were visiting the city alone as an opportunity to take advantage of them. In addition to the women just being

The World’s Fair became a huge part of showing how great the country was. The fair brought the country together and spread nationalism all over. Holmes evaded the authorities for so long mainly for that reason. He operated within the busy time of the fair, and portrayed himself as someone who could do no wrong. “As best anyone could tell, [Holmes] also was a forgiving soul” (245). The people were decepted and even if they suspected Holmes of anything, something about him kept they from telling somebody. Along with the distraction of his charm and the busyness of the fair, Holmes’ capture was delayed due to the police department backups. There was plenty of theft going on during the fair in addition to the amount of people in such a small area, required much of the police’s attention. Many people were too ignorant to the true intentions of Holmes, and if they opened their eyes just a little bit more, a few more lives may have been