Final Paper Proposal

Option A: Extended Literary Analysis Paper

You can also write a new paper if you wish. For this paper, you will also be required to bring in a second text: either a text from our class or a text of your choosing (for instance, you could do a comparative analysis of Carmilla with elements of the television show Buffy the Vampire Slayer; or compare some song lyrics to aspects of I Am Legend…). This paper should be indicative of your critical understanding of the novel in terms of the Irish tradition as applied to the course texts.

                For the Extended option, I would like to analyze Bram Stokers Dracula against Charlotte Bronte’s Jane Eyre.  First, the papers goal would be to establish the comparisons between the two novels; their similarities in influence, such as political and cultural. Comparisons will be made too the suffrage movement that Bronte lived in compared too the reform acts happening at the time of Dracula’s publication and how they had common catalysts and how similar the plight of women is during Jane Eyre’s publication date to the plight of being Irish with Dracula’s.

The second goal of comparing these two works is to show how the middle class, the rising power during this period, placed a majority of its superiority over others by claiming they had a better sense of morality and its role in history during the time of these novels. Specifically, the paper will look too pinpoint what influenced the strong messages from Irishman Bram Stoker towards the British Empire with his novel Dracula.

Examples of placing importance toward morality among the middle class are numerous between both works. With Jane Eyre, this is shown with the role of a governess, who must be the angel of the house. With Dracula, the various characters portray various middle class Irishmen, all who place importance on technology or morality, who are trying not to succumb too the foreign, immoral influence of Dracula. Finally, the aspect of sexual portrayal of Irishmen and Women will be compared between Jane Eyre and Dracula in a hope too prove similarity.

It is hoped that by proving comparison points in the suffrage movement and the inequalities of Irishmen during this time period, the paper will show a blueprint or larger map toward what spurns or has spurned such marginalization.

Comparing Vampires, Haggerty and How to Address a Sullen Vampire

                Throughout this class we have learned a lot about the importance of perspective. With Dracula we had shifting narratives, but with Anne Rice’s Interview with a Vampire we have a running story told by a sympathetic character, Louis.  I could not help but compare the two vampires by noticing that even though there are different styles of narratives, they have a similar outcome.

Starting with the vampires themselves, consider the differences from Louis to Dracula; Dracula was a character who, especially with his early scenes with Jonathon Harker, looked English from the outside and had the want to be English but himself, when viewed up close was horrific and beastly. Dracula had invited Harker over to deceive him into teaching Dracula how to become more English. He was a foreigner, looking to disguise and live among the regular humans. 

Louis is quite the opposite. He in fact begs for death from Lestat initially and fights off his feelings of being a monster by eating off animals. Even though Louis succumbs too feeding off humans due to Lestats charms, he still resents doing so. And is frustrated with the inhuman characteristics of Lestat who seemingly, has no remorse for feeding off of humans. This again shows how our major vampires are different from each other. Interview has a major plot devise with Armand however, as he introduces sub culture too Louis and Claudia. It is quite ironic that Louis ends up burning down the very theatre that Armand operates from and that they travel together.

With Dracula, his castle represented sins and desires to Jonathon Harker that he did not want to partake in as he was conditioned they were horrible. With Louis, we have someone who is conditioned to believe that life is terrible. What is ironic, is that he seeks to create companions or help other vampires, such as Claudia, work on creating traveling friends for themselves. Louis is not looking to become English or to blend in; he is looking to hide in the shadows.

The profound difference between these two vampires is important to note as the outcome for mankind is the same; vampires kill humans.  To try to change this outcome, I would of started with providing education to the masses. As the boy giving the interview, personally, my response to Louis would be one of reverence and respect. And since he demonstrates elements of remorse and hopelessness, I would be very wary to ask of any favor, especially for someone in a state where they feel a need to confess. Louis whole story was about how looking for companionship destroyed him, how he must stay in the corner of society. Instead of using society as a smokescreen like Dracula, Louis must be the smokescreen. Asking to become a vampire too Louis when he is in this mindset, well, it would be easy to understand why someone would find that as insultive.

Finally, I would like to note that with our reading of Anne Rice and the Queering of Culture, I to found that it is beneficial to read as the characters being gay. The following line states this case well:

“To understand the Chronicles, in fact, they must be read as gay, and their relations can only be understood in terms of male-male desire. (p5)” Indeed, Interview starts with Lestat and Louis, and this respect and fear they have for each other has many elements of love. As Haggerty says, “…the homoerotics of Rice’s vampires are at least as culturally telling as anything that happens in Byron, or LeFanu, or even Stoker. Rice makes her vampires homoerotics for reasons that tell us more about their moment of creation than they tell about any historical precedents, however rich these might be.”

I Am Fear of Racial Change

"The vampire was real. It was only that his true story had never been told."

In the essay Echoes of Dracula by Katy Davis Patterson, there is an idea explored called Africanist. This idea is quoted, from another essay titled Playing in the Dark… by Morrison, that states that Africanist is: “the denotative and connotative blackness that African peoples have come to signify, as well as the entire range of views, assumptions, readings, and misreadings that accompany Eurocentric learning about these people”. These ideas run into the novel I Am Legend quite profoundly. As, in I Am Legend, it is a novel about change, and as Patterson explains, WHAT DOES HE EXPLAIN?! This aspect of change and race is easy to see, as those that cannot change are stuck into past preconceptions. The current preconceptions in I Am Legend, with the case of Robert Neville, is racism. The very creatures he fights, the reformed vampires, are the actual future of planet earth. In this case, the vampires are the heroes.

            Robert Neville is a monster attacking the aspects of what it is to be Africanist. How do we know this, as a reader? As noted by Patterson, vampirism is not supernatural, it is actually natural. Man did not bioengineer this virus, it was introduced. The vampires, having survived, are actually the stronger of the species, or races. This fear of Neville is a fear of white people who believed in manifest destiny. I wonder what Berkley would think, reading I Am Legend, or anyone who believed in Westward Expansion. It is interesting that Neville also quips about a vampire not being so bad as “all they do is drink blood”. Is this commentary on how the white race feels about the black population?
            Fear has always been used as a way to control a population. I Am Legend is filled with fear, all coming from up and coming species; the adaptable vampires. In a way, I Am Legend promotes the idea that Darwin has long believed: it is not the strongest or the smartest, but those most prone to adapt that survive. Clearly, Robert Neville was not ready to adapt on a biological sense. He becomes a raving madmen, destroying those that are rebuilding. Robert Neville is a legend because he is the new monster, the new scary monster in the shadows that the upcoming species of vampires will talk about. He is a creature of fibula, even though his fibula is one of fear. But, that is understandable, as again, fear is used as a controlling agent.

            When considering the Africanist presence, of what blackness is, it explores what race is. Patterson also explains how I Am Legend speaks toward the issue of black and white relations exactly; Robert Neville always describes the vampires in blackness, which is the heart of Africanist thought. Neville is attacking the very essence of blackness.

            When analyizing any novel critically, it is important to consider all avenues and incorporate them. I Am Legend leaves many possible outcomes, however, after reading Patterson, it seems obvious that racial commentary is the primary force behind I Am Legend. Interestingly enough, when one considers Night of the Living Dead, which is inspired by I Am Legend, director George A. Romero also believed in the aspect of Africanist being attacked. While not said directly, consider the finaly scene: white hillbillys, aiming their rifles, looking to take down one of the zombies, only to kill the only human remaining in a farmhouse. This same man, an African American, was hidden in the shadows. He also was the only man with a conciouse or any set of morality. This begs a question; does Matheson see attacking blackness as the downfall of society? I believe this is the case, and in a way, I Am Legend speaks towards a collective consciousness of understanding, promoting peaceful resolution instead of knee jerk reactionary violence.

I Am Lonely or Why I Thought of Bronte and PTSD While Reading Matheson

UPDATE: More material, academic papers, analysis & critique @ my current blog Elastic Collisions - http://elasticollisions.blogspot.com/.

Richard Matheson has a way of leaving the reader in suspense near the end of every chapter with a story unfolding of a monstrous plague that is well paced and culturally relevant. When reading through I Am Legend I recall elements ranging from literature such as Dracula and early films such as Night of the Living Dead. This is because I Am Legend features many elements that would go on to inspire the horror genre, but it is also inspired by the gothic literature before it. This is all very apparent with the traits seen in the book: Neville finds the corpse in town and assumes sunlight kills these people like vampires is a great example. These similarities help toward the understanding of the text, especially since this book reminded me of a much slower paced, but also gothic piece, predating it by almost a hundred years.

A resemblance to the classic novel Jane Eyre resonance when reading through I Am Legend. In Eyre there is a man named Rochester who reveals, on his wedding day, that he is in fact already married, but that he keeps his wife in the attic. Throughout the novel, we never see the wife’s perspective, only Rochesters. We do not know if this woman, named Bertha, was made crazy, born crazy or is in fact crazy. Bertha could represent many ideas:  she could be an example of what happens to a woman when trapped in a voctorian ruled world. She could be an example of the stifled fate of women and the lack of gender equality. She could be a representation of how old monarchal rules amalgamated with middle class morality tears a person apart.

However, when one looks at the protagonist Robert Neville in I Am Legend, you can see similarities between these two works. Consider that Neville is immune to this disease that has spread throughout all of mankind because he has been bitten by a vampiric bat. This seems historically inspired of itself immediately, as smallpox was originally vaccinated by administering a patient cowpox. This was discovered when smallpox epidemics would break out, with everyone becoming infected except the farmers. This immunity that Neville has allows him justification to assume that he is the lone survivor. We know early on that Neville is prone to addictions and vices; he smokes cigarettes constantly. Interestingly, Bertha in Jane Eyre is described as having addiction problems, which cause her to go mad due to her ‘unfavorable genetics’. Neville has favorable but altered genetics, in an unfavorable landscape. Still, the only perspective we receive in this tale, at least so far, is Nevilles. He makes it seem as if he is not crazy, making to do lists that involve hauling bodies and checking generators, but what is most striking, is that he actively fights this aggression coming at him. Is this all really outside influence, or is it brought on Neville?

From this point it is interesting to consider that Richard Matheson took part in World War II as an infantry soldier. Although he was American and not Russian, I am sure he saw his fair share of bodies in the war. I researched some of his other stories and found many shorts with twists endings, along with other first person narratives.  With Neville, we have a strong perspective of his character. He retreats too drinking often, is sarcastic, and understandably gloomy. But he is quite active against the horrors around him. This could be a commentary on the human condition; how impossible the onslaught of war is. What hope does Neville have, if he assumes the world is taken over? Only to stake the hearts of his neighbors until his death? Are we reading a mental account of Neville considering suicide? Is this a metaphor for a man locked in an asylum, much like Bertha is locked in the attic? Or, what I find most plausible, is Matheson really bringing us into the mind of someone with post traumatic stress disorder?

Consider again the corpse Neville assumed was killed due to sunlight. Was the man a man before, or a corpse?  Again, everything is assumed from the narrators point of view. This leads me to believe that most of what I am reading is culturally relevant in its commentary of post world war 2 lifestyle being attacked, on violent human nature in general and, more importantly, the lack of help from the outside world It helps that Matheson, like Bronte, can craft a good story too go with it with a protagonist who is arguable both stubborn, heroic, addicted and insane. The eventual introduction of Ruth helps the tension raise, and where it is going, seems to have a very Kafka potential.

Arata on Dracula

UPDATE: More material, academic papers, analysis & critique @ my current blog Elastic Collisions - http://elasticollisions.blogspot.com

Stephen D. Arata has many things to say about Dracula. From the Orientalist approach with Jonathon Harker and the gothic portrayel of traveling, to the effects of Dracula being Occidental. There are a few specifics in Arata’s well written essay that this post will go into specifically.

As stated in The Occidental Tourist: Dracula and the Anxiety of Reverse Colinization, Dracula himself is an Occidentialist, which is “someone who views the western world in a dehumanizing light” (Wikipedia – Occidentialism http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Occidentalism).  According to Arata, Dracula’s “Occidentialism represents the essence of bad faith, since it both promotes and masks the Counts sinister plan to invade and exploit Britain and her people.”  Indeed, other students have noted on Englands desire for strong social change (such as Andrew) in the Victorian period, and Dracula represents this, as looking at Arata’s essay will show. This social change, however, is brought upon through fear. What I am looking to focus on his how Arata’s essay relates too England’s fear of the upcoming power in the west. What will be most looked at is the character of Dracula, what elements of the west he embodies and what effect this could have had for readers at the time.

Around this period there were a few philosophies kicking around the minds of the colonialists. The idea of westward expansion almost coincides with other ideas that are easily described as more sinister, such as manifest destiny, all which were well publicized beliefs by westerners. Keep in mind that the character of Dracula embodies the evil growing power of the western world, which I feel Arata argues. There of course are many reasons for this culturally and historically that would cause Arata too believe this; the whole drive of the middle class in England, which is part of its boom, is due too resources being shipped and creating jobs this way. America, through many years of fighting taxation and eventually separation, caused England to lose its title of “workplace of the world” through the 18^th and 19^th centuries. Then there is the idea of westward expansion, as these divine, holy people (the now inhabitants calling themselves Americans), bringing education with the likes of Berkley and ‘taming’  natives, being ideologies that are easy to attack and become frustrated with as they have inherent self righteous connotations. Arata almost seems to be stating that Bram Stoker is well aware of this, and that Dracula, sucking Europe dry, relates too this America, sucking up its lands. And not just with religion, but agriculture and manufacturing. With every essence of being a British Citizen. On top of that, Dracula is a foreigner.

Arata also points towards something else, hinting at a more passive effect. “Dracula is different, however. A large part of the terror he inspires originates in his ability to stroll, unrecognized and unhindered, through the streets of London.”  This is the passage that most struck out to me, as Literature is at, arguable, its strongest point. And here, with the human races most popular medium, is Dracula, so dangerous because he is so deceptive he can hide among the Englishmen, before he uses them by feeding on their life essence.  This also creates an attack on the idea of “Englishness”; what it means to be an English man, which was quite popular at the time.  It creates an important connection; western ideas can invade and effect the English identity. It can be so unnoticeable that someone may not perceive it. The message too the Englishman is simple: Be warned. Dracula is still there as America is. It may even walk around you. Be vigilant. Be English.

Dracula and the Fear of Women

There are many elements in Dracula that play on the culmination of the Romantic and Victorian era. When reading through the first chapters, one can see fears and moments of the 19^th century finalizing in this novel. Not all these themes are new, in fact, Dracula seems too invoke now classic Gothic tropes, along with using tactics from other popular literature before it. Consider Frankenstein, a monster made of other parts, made at a time when Mary Shelly and Lord Byron witnessed galvanization. It is no far stretch too say that Frankenstein is made up other parts of humans in a way to demonstrate man looking to remove one undeniably necessary trait of women; birth.  Dracula as well is looking too sap something from women. It’s what he is trying too sap and who these women are that is important.

The style of the book is quite inspired by popular literature at the time. Much if it is written as letters back and forth, starting with notes from a man named Jonathon Harker eventually moving onto the two main characters of study for the novel, Lucy Westenra and Mina Murry. Their flat characters, unchanging in demeanor, show that Dracula, as a general commentary, is noting the act of men trying to dominate women, primarily with the theme of sexuality through blood sucking. Or, as Dr. John Seward might call it, a sort of zoophagous behavior. 

During the suffrage movement there were handbooks being created that would dictate how a woman could be a governess of her home. This involved being an ‘angel of the household’; she was a moral compass for the private life.  Consider that through the 19^th century there were many reformations upon parliament and society. This was needed for women more than anything, and the eventual education boom is welcomed upon historical view. But this does not just mean it is one sided; in chapter 10, Dr. Seward offers his ‘lifeblood’ to Lucy, saying; “No man knows till he experiences it, what it is like to feel his own life-blood drawn away from the woman he loves.”

This passage is especially interesting as it touches on something not seen in British literature often; fear of women due to their power. Some cultures would tattoo and chisel their bodies, not just for decoration, but to protect their pores so they did not lose their essence from being with a female. These discoveries date too the time of Captain Cook, which predates Dracula. It is possible this could be inspired by the art discovered in Polynesia at the time, as the locals would initially tell of the meaning of their work. 

It is with these issues in mind that I continue reading Dracula, which is a first for me. I do find it somewhat progressive in that regards; despite it mashing up many popular elements, it still brings forth a necessary critique while being entertaining. It is also striking how these similarities can be found across multiple authors of the period.