Contrary to what the title might suggest, I will not be talking about deep dish pizza. I will, however, discuss Carl Smith\u2019s well-written article, \u201cFaith and Doubt,\u201d and the importance of the Chicago fire. Rarely do I ever enjoy reading (I picked the wrong major), but Smith\u2019s analysis of the fire\u2019s social affect on the city whetted my appetite for something different than descriptions of the fire\u2019s physical destruction. One of his arguments claims that, at least among fire literature and Chicagoans, the city\u2019s importance grew following the fire. He claims \u201cthe destruction indicated not the degree of Chicago\u2019s venality or misfortune, but the grandeur of its destiny.\u201d (130) The Chicago fire became the city\u2019s \u201cepic moment\u201d that spawned a belief that Chicago was \u201cpure, heroic, and modern.\u201d (131) Religious explanations for the fire further contributed to this thinking by claiming \u201cGod smote the city…as a warning and a lesson for all other cities.\u201d (135) Therefore, members of the city and nation must protect the valuable future of Chicago (by protecting the social order) because only Chicagoans could withstand such a divine beating. I viewed these religious justifications as comparable with the struggles of Job in the Bible. Smith cites individuals that believed the deaths as a result of the fire were deserved due to a lack of \u201ccharacter and resolve.\u201d (150)<\/p>\n

Countering this view of Chicago\u2019s perfect post-fire community, Smith provides numerous examples of terrible actions performed by these supposedly \u201cgood\u201d people. Thieves, looters, and whiskey-drinking women plagued the city. Although many of these criminal accounts were exaggerated, Smith hits the nail on the head by claiming that the fire brought all forms of society down to the lowest level. (151) To quote my esteemed colleague Price, who quoted Smith, \u201cinequalities of society were now leveled off as smooth as the beach itself.\u201d (157) The fire evened up the playing field by destroying a significant aspect crucial to class separation: material wealth.<\/p>\n

Perhaps because Chicago did not witness a pivotal battle in the Civil War, I often forget of its existence during this period. Reconstruction, disenfranchisement, and southern hostility are the key words I think of eight years following \u201cThe War to Suppress Yankee Arrogance.\u201d* Smith, however, reminds us (me) that the city did exist and became instrumental in the nation\u2019s healing process after the war. I never thought of that angle, but his justification for this claim persuaded me to believe him. Many Americans donated to assist the burned city and focused on Chicago\u2019s needs instead of other social disagreements. \u201cThe rest of the country forgot its petty artificial division and rediscovered its finest collective self,\u201d claimed Smith. (141) Although I think Smith may have exaggerated to the extent these petty differences were forgotten, I thought back to 9\/11 and how unified America was. Following 9\/11, President Bush\u2019s approval rating was through the roof; proof that disaster causes those affected to forget other predicaments. In the wise words of my Davidson advisor, \u201cwhen shit hits the fan, people rally around their own.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

*One of many ridiculous names for the Civil War. For further reading and laughs, http:\/\/civilwartalk.com\/threads\/the-different-names-for-the-civil-war.76252\/<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Contrary to what the title might suggest, I will not be talking about deep dish pizza. I will, however, discuss Carl Smith\u2019s well-written article, \u201cFaith and Doubt,\u201d and the importance of the Chicago fire. Rarely do I ever enjoy reading (I picked the wrong major), but Smith\u2019s analysis of the fire\u2019s social affect on the … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “Chicago Exceptionalism”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[57,61,149,160,192],"class_list":["post-328","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-carl-smith","tag-chicago","tag-exceptionalism","tag-fire","tag-healing-a-nation"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.shroutdocs.org\/his254-spring2014\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/328","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.shroutdocs.org\/his254-spring2014\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.shroutdocs.org\/his254-spring2014\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/courses.shroutdocs.org\/his254-spring2014\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/courses.shroutdocs.org\/his254-spring2014\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=328"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/courses.shroutdocs.org\/his254-spring2014\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/328\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":936,"href":"https:\/\/courses.shroutdocs.org\/his254-spring2014\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/328\/revisions\/936"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.shroutdocs.org\/his254-spring2014\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=328"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/courses.shroutdocs.org\/his254-spring2014\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=328"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/courses.shroutdocs.org\/his254-spring2014\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=328"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}