5. Larson sets the tone to be almost calm and nonchalant throughout the entire book.
"One morning in August... as heat rose from the streets... The air was stale and stiff, suffused with the scent of rotten peaches, horse excrement, and partially combusted Illinois anthracite... exhaling steam into the the already-yellow sky (p. 35)." This quote shows the calm scene but you feel that the mood is on a more gloomy side as H.H. Holmes enters the scene. "Hundreds of people had crowded the roof walk of the Manufactures Building each day, but their only way down was by the elevator. Burnham imagined terrified men, women, and children trying to slide... then falling two hundred feet to the exhibit floor
(p. 304)." This quote exhibits a fearful scene. Children crying, humanity screaming, and all hell breaking loose if a fire broke out. "For Olmsted the rain was particularly disheartening... The wheels of heavily loaded wagons sank deep into the mud... adding to the list of wounds to be filled, smoothed, and sodded (p. 228)." Again, a dark, gloom filled scene has been brought upon the city.
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