Week 2: Vampire

Let the Right One In

John Ajvide Lindqvist

I have watched the movie Let the Right One In by Tomas Alfredson before I read the book. After I read the novel by John Ajvide Lindqvist, I have noticed that many of the characters in the movie weren’t portrayed as strong as it was in the novel. In the novel, Oskar’s desperation in wanting to murder his bullies in the beginning of the story was so much stronger than how it was portrayed in the movie. The novel also seem to have explained the outcome of the character’s personality through telling us the story of each character’s backgrounds. Since movies have limitations, many of the scenes were hidden, which I find it very upsetting.

What I found interesting in the story itself was that the vampires weren’t like the typical vampires in many of the vampire movies. Vampires I knew from other novels and movies were creatures that didn’t really have a deep relationship with a human; many of them used their appearances to seduce others into luring them to their sides. However, in Lindqvist’s novel Eli and Oskar slowly and gradually built their relationship. Also Eli is an older vampire trapped inside a young girls’ body. Although she may have lived a long period, her mind is still that of a child’s and she doesn’t wishes for those she bites to become something like her that she always ends up killing them off completely. Virginia, a woman who survived Eli’s attack, end up killing herself by having the nurse open up the blinds exposing herself to the sun, causing her to burn into flames. This explains that ‘vampire’ is something people do not want to become and Eli probably understands it. Due to popularity of ‘vampires’, many people would have a wonder of becoming one if they ever existed in reality, but through the novel, Lindqvist seem to explain that vampire isn’t something people would want to become.

Week 1: The Gothic

Frankenstein 

Mary Shelly

Who’s the True Monster

From the beginning to end of the novel Frankenstein by Mary Shelly, I kept asking myself who the true monster was. If a reader was to define the ‘monster’ according to the visual description of the characters, then the Monster would definitely be labeled as the monster. 

As you continue reading the book, readers may come across to the fact that the Monster is only a name and it isn’t a monster itself. Monster has a heart like a human and hopes for love, however due to his monstrous look, humans fear him and chase him away causing a huge impact on his emotions. To be treated such way, the monsters starts blaming everything on Doctor Frankenstein for creating him in such way. 

When the readers hear the Monster’s side of the story, they may end up thinking that Doctor Frankenstein was the true monster. Frankenstein ended up in his current situation due to his own creation, if he was to never create the Monster his loved ones would never be lost. However, there probably was a way for him to prevent such disastrous incidents to happen if he was to take full responsibilities over his Monster. Like a father teaching a son, if Frankenstein have taught the Monster the rights and wrongs or even simply treated him like a his very own family member, then the Monster wouldn’t have the thought to kill any of Frankenstein’s loved ones. 

I simply find the story really interesting since it ends with two characters revenging one another. Not only that, but a reader may pity both of the characters. Both of their arguments are convincing. It is true that the Monster was hated and feared by every human he encountered and it is true that those Frankenstein loved were murdered by the Monster. There are no good or evil and both Frankenstein and the Monster can’t really be labelled as the ‘true monster’. Exploring the both side of the story throughout the book, it is hard to define who exactly is the true monster since they both end up in the same direction which is ‘revenge’.