Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in The Devil in the White City, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Sanity and Insanity
Modernity and Anonymity
Men and Women
Ego and Cooperation
Civic Pride and American Patriotism
Summary
Analysis
Holmes senses that Anna, Minnie’s sister, is suspicious of him. He tells Minnie to invite Anna to visit them. Minnie is excited to show Anna the city of Chicago, introduce her to her husband, who she still knows as Henry Gordon, and put Anna’s suspicions “to rest.”
The pun on “to rest,” seemingly of Larson’s own invention, is meant to suggest the “eternal rest” of death. Though Anna doesn’t know it, the reader senses that her fate is sealed, along with Minnie’s.
Themes
