In spite of the ultimate success of the Ferris Wheel, it’s installed at the World’s Fair so late that it doesn’t make remotely as much money as it could have had Daniel Burnham accepted it a year earlier. Most ironically, though the wheel is meant to be a symbol of America’s technological power, there are actually far more impressive monuments elsewhere at the World’s Fair, including the the AC light bulb and the moving picture. Thus, while the Ferris Wheel exemplifies America at its best, it also alludes to America’s propensity for poor planning, sloppiness, preference for spectacle over substance, and short-sightedness.
Blue Eyes Quotes in The Devil in the White City
The The Devil in the White City quotes below all refer to the symbol of Blue Eyes. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
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Part 1, Chapter 3
Quotes
He had dark hair and striking blue eyes, once likened to the eyes of a Mesmerist. “The eyes are very big and wide open,” a physician named John L. Capen later observed. “They are blue. Great murderers, like great men in other walks of activity, have blue eyes.”
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Part 3, Chapter 12
Quotes
Holmes was such a charming man. And now that Anna knew him, she saw that he really was quite handsome. When his marvelous blue eyes caught hers, they seemed to warm her entire body. Minnie had done well indeed.
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Get the entire Devil in the White City LitChart as a printable PDF.
Blue Eyes Symbol Timeline in The Devil in the White City
The timeline below shows where the symbol Blue Eyes appears in The Devil in the White City. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Part 1, Chapter 3: The Necessary Supply
...in Englewood, a suburb of Chicago. He is young, handsome, and well dressed, and his eyes are blue and hypnotic — a trait, a physician once pointed out, which many murderers,...
(full context)
Part 2, Chapter 2: Cuckoldry
...to Iowa, she becomes ill and dies. Holmes tells Ned he is sorry, but his eyes continue to look as calm as Lake Michigan.
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Part 2, Chapter 13: Dreadful Things Done by Girls
...he is an educated and wealthy man. Even at 68, he is handsome, with blue eyes and a youthful face. He wins the nomination for the Democratic Party, and faces off...
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Part 3, Chapter 12: Independence Day
...Minnie, to his hotel. Anna thinks that Holmes is a handsome man, with beautiful blue eyes, and knows that Minnie has chosen a good husband.
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Part 4, Chapter 3: The Tenant
Thomas Ryves tells Geyer that he remembers a blue-eyed tenant who asked to borrow a shovel to dig a hole for burying potatoes. Geyer...
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