Essay Comparing Chicago And A City Ready To Burn

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The poem “Chicago,” by Carl Sandburg, and the story, “A City Ready to Burn,” by Jim Murphy, both descried the effects of “fire” on the city of Chicago using two distinctive methods. Sandburg presents a more positive picture of Chicago by identifying its positive attributes and feelings of hope despite its flaws. Murphy on the other hand describes the details of the layout of the city that lead up to the catastrophe demise known as the “Chicago Fire.” Both approaches are used to create a certain imagery of the city.

Both stories identify that Chicago has had its faults and reasons, which had lead to its downfall. In the poem “Chicago,” Sandburg acknowledges that Chicago is in atrocious place filled with crime with several examples. “They tell me you are wicked and I believe them, for I have seen you painted women under gas …show more content…

Murphy describes the city’s niches by listing the “…variety of businesses—paint factories, lumberyards, distilleries, gasworks, mills, furniture manufacturers, warehouses, and coal distributors.” He also mentions the three different characteristics of the middle-class, poorer, and wealthier districts. Murphy described the middle and poorer districts as “Lot sizes were small, and owners usually filled them up with cottages, barns, sheds, and outhouses—all made of fast- burning wood, naturally” (Murphy). He described the wealthier districts as “Stately stone and brick homes had wood interiors, and stood side by side with smaller wood-frame houses. Wooden stables and other storage buildings were common, and trees lined the streets and filled the yards” (Murphy). Each man used the living and working areas to paint a vivid picture of the Chicago

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