Daniel Burnham is one of the main characters in the story and his belief is ambition. Daniel Burnham is constantly haunted by the rejection from Yale and Harvard as a young man. Through out the book he constantly thinks about being snubbed from both universities. This drives him to sacrifice all else and bend everything and anything to gain power and show his worth as an architect. On page 105, Sullivan describes Burnham, “Daniel Burnham was obsessed by the feudal idea of power.” Burnham is highly motivated to complete this fair and is even willing to sacrifice seeing his family to pursue this ambition.
John Root- Creativity, This may seem very easy to pick for John Root, because his creativity and innovation is what allowed him to get a contract with Burnham on the World Fair. What stood out to me the most about John Root’s creativity was the admiration and respect he was given by Burnham and other architects. Root was known as the architectural genius between him and Daniel Burnham. The biggest insight to John Root’s innovation and creativity came from Burnham. At the end of part I (pg. 108), when Root dies you can see how much Root meant to Burnham and the genius he brought to their partnership.
Holmes is the other main character in this story and his main belief is power. He enjoys having this control over young women traveling to Chicago and he uses his charismatic demeanor to attract these women. I think he obsesses over this power and enjoys this rush when he kills. He benefits greatly from the World Fair and uses his hotel to further his quest for power.