It may seem that the book is more about a virus than it is about vampires; however, I believe this interpretation stems from the recent film adaptation of the novel. While Neville does study the bacteria (not a virus…there’s a difference), he goes out during the day and kills infected people before they kill him. Considering that Neville treats the infected people as if they were vampires and not people suffering from a disease, I see no reason why this book cannot be used for my topic.
The people infected with the vampire bacteria exhibit symptoms similar to the vampires in Dracula. They show the same weaknesses: daylight, garlic, mirrors, crosses. Neville tries to make sense out of the symptoms and how they can all be related to the bacteria, but finds he has difficulty with some of them. He finds that the crosses are psychological and that, when held up to a vampire that was Jewish, it sometimes has no effect. However, when the same vampire is faced with a torah, they will have an adverse reaction. As time goes on, Neville discovers that many of the vampires’ weaknesses were derived from the mass panic that occurred as the virus spread. There was religious hysteria as people flocked to churches in order to try to save themselves from what appeared to be impending doom. The method in which he kills these people is like that of Dracula, with a stake through the heart. Every night, vampires come in droves to Neville’s home to try to coax him out for his blood.
The people infected with the vampire bacteria exhibit symptoms similar to the vampires in Dracula. They show the same weaknesses: daylight, garlic, mirrors, crosses. Neville tries to make sense out of the symptoms and how they can all be related to the bacteria, but finds he has difficulty with some of them. He finds that the crosses are psychological and that, when held up to a vampire that was Jewish, it sometimes has no effect. However, when the same vampire is faced with a torah, they will have an adverse reaction. As time goes on, Neville discovers that many of the vampires’ weaknesses were derived from the mass panic that occurred as the virus spread. There was religious hysteria as people flocked to churches in order to try to save themselves from what appeared to be impending doom. The method in which he kills these people is like that of Dracula, with a stake through the heart. Every night, vampires come in droves to Neville’s home to try to coax him out for his blood.
The vampires portrayed in the novel are different from the movie counterparts. These vampires can speak and appear to retain memories from when they were human. One of the vampires that frequents Neville’s house constantly calls him by name because they were friends when he was human. I feel that there is more to what has happened than Neville knows about. There is something important that he doesn’t know (different from the movie!)
2 comments:
Im glad you brought up the religious hysteria topic because i believe that the idea of "vampires" have a lot to relate to the devil. They are considered frowned upon once brought up. Do you feel this is a sterotypical suggestion or is there really a relation to the two?
I'm not entirely sure of what you mean. Do you mean is the relationship stereotypical? If so, then my answer is yes. More recent books, I've noticed tend to have vampires that aren't evil, but there are always those that are. Vampires tend to be related to the devil because they are the dead come back to "life". They have been denied entrance to both heaven and hell, which was a very scary concept for people hundreds of years ago during the hysterias of the witch/vampire/demon hunts.
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