Devil in the White City (Pgs. 123 to 184)

Summary:

In this portion of my reading Gertrude wishes that she had never come to Chicago, she claims that it is a cruel and dark place. With Gertrude gone, tension between Ned and Julia increased. They almost came close to separating. Ned admired Holmes because he was so successful at under 30 years of age. Holmes proposed to sell Ned the Pharmacy in very generous terms, such that Ned's salary would be increased to make it possible for him to pay it. Meanwhile, the Tribune held competitions that brought forth many proposals for the fair.One of the proposals was a tower. This idea was quickly dismissed by Burnham because he believed that Eiffel had done it first and best. Burnham was very centered around threats that could be brought to the fair. He was especially concerned with crimes and fire.Ultimately, Burnham had come up with an idea of his own—he would create a large police force.


Quote:

"Unlike conventional police departments, the Guard's mandate explicitly emphasized the novel idea of preventing crime rather than merely arresting wrongdoers after the fact"(Larson 138).

Reaction:

When I read this sentence I just felt like it was so well composed. I had to look up the word 'mandate' which means something that is assigned to be done. Ultimately, I was able to connect this sentence to the Science-Fictional movie Minority Report, starring Tom Cruise. I'm not entirely sure what Burnham is talking about preventing. However, Minority Report is a movie which takes place in the future in the 2050s and Police officers can see a crime before they happen. In this movie, people will find themselves constantly running. The system by which they are preventing crimes is conceived to be flawless—until it went after them!