Web Blog 2

“What he craved was possession and the power it gave to him; what he adored was anticipation—the slow acquisition of love, then life, and finally the secrets within.
Eric Larson The Devil in the White City

This excerpt from The Devil in the White City gets its power and effectiveness from the organization and structure of the sentence. As I first read this sentence, I was overwhelmed. Larson jammed so much action, detail, and “secrets” into this one sentence; that I had to go back and reread the sentence, in order to, acquire all the clues Larson was presenting about this mystery man. The way Larson organizes his sentence is where he gains his power. As I was reading, I was swept away in the description hoping to find some logical explanation at the end of the sentence. If the sentence was broken down into several smaller ones, it would become less suspenseful to the reader, as they are ardently trying to discover who this man is and what possession does he “crave”.

Larson’s use of the hyphen is particularly significant to the success of his sentence. The hyphen forces the reader to slow down from the intense description, so that they can understand the true context of “anticipation” in Larson’s story. Larson’s vivid description turns this once expected normal man into a monster with unknown capabilities. This sentence left my mind spinning (in a good way). I became so eager to find out who this man was, what possessions he craved, and, most of all, the “secrets” he held within.


“What he craved was love and the passions it gave to him; what he adored was a long lasting relationship—one of undoubted trust, fond memories, and finally unity.”
Nick Curosh