Sunday, April 21, 2013
Commentary on Let the Right One In, Part 4 through Epilogue (Student co-leaders Rhi H., Tony J, Josh K, Lucy P)
Please respond to one or more of the below comments/questions from student co-leaders.
In Dracula, we have discussed that it seems that the vampires enjoy what they do, and feel no remorse for the blood and lives they take. I Am Legend showed us very hostile creatures that seemed to not have a real sense of "right" and "wrong" or any emotions, they just did what they had to do to survive. In The Lost Souls, each vampire seems to feel different emotions for each act they carry out. Christian seemed to feel remorse, while Zillah, Twig, and Molochai seemed to take pride in taking someone's life and feel no sense of sorrow. In Let The Right One In, we see Virginia slowly turning into a vampire, describing it at an infection that, "had its own life, its own force, completely independent of her body," (pg 299). In this section, the author describes Virginia realizing that she needed someone else's blood to survive (because drinking her own blood wasn't cutting it). She feel "anguish" when she realizes this, and later thinks, "I am never again to see anyone I love."
Do you feel any sense of sympathy for vampires in general and/or the vampires we have read about through the class? Further, do you think any characters in any of the novels feel a real sympathy for the vampires they are in contact with? Do you think any vampires feel sorry for themselves and their fate? In what ways do the authors of the novels influence the readers' opinions of the vampires in the way they are described? Is there a particular vampires character that you have felt a strong sense of sympathy or hate towards? Why? (Rhi H.)
In the second half of "Let the Right One In", we have many of the characters contemplating what has become or is becoming of their lives. First is Oskar, who now has learned about what Eli really is and has experienced her past through Eli's vision, he begins to see his everyday life as something he isn't connected to. He starts to think about Eli constantly; even when his life is in danger at the train station, he doesn't resist simply because he only wants to reach Eli's apartment faster to make sure she is alright. Second, we have Virginia, who has accepted her fate of becoming a vampire, wanting to not see the ones she loves because she does not want them to suffer the curse that she has contracted from Eli's attack. We also have Lacke, who gives a very thoughtful speech about life in Blackberg. He says that the plans for the city were laid out so the city would be a perfect place to live, but somewhere there was a wrong "angle", as Lacke puts it, that skews this "perfect" life into something dreadful and detestable. He states that he feels suffocated by Blackberg and wants to get away from it all.
From these multiple character view points, we have many different looks on life. From the various events in the novel, what do you think Lindqvist is trying to say about living or which view on life leads to the most success. (Tony J)
Compare to other novels we have discussed in the class, Let The Right One In shows different characteristics of a vampire. The novel seems to ignore what many people believe about vampires. Also, in this novel, the vampire seems very vulnerable as normal humans; in other words, more man-like than the vampires from the other novels. Eli, the vampire from the novel appears to be a victim as well as Oskar. How does this relationship between two "victims" from the novel influence the whole story of the novel? Do you think if they share common things, human and vampire can become friends? Also, do you think Eli's excitement toward killing others for blood has anything to do with her appearing to be a victim? (Josh K.)
After being attacked by Eli, we witness Virginia's transformation into a vampire. Virginia's transformation offers some insight on vampires, how they become what they are, and the thought process behind it all. There seems to be a kind of battle going on in Virginia's head as she transforms into a vampire-- a battle between the old, human Virginia who has a conscience and the new, vampire Virginia who only wants to feed. Eventually, the old Virginia wins and commits suicide, rather than allow herself to exist as a vampire. Why do you think Lindqvist has Virginia kill herself instead of just letting her become a vampire? Also, why do you think that Eli didn't follow down the same path as Virginia? (Lucy P)
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To answer Tony's question, I think the author is trying to convey the idea that no one is ever satisfied with their own life. In the beginning, Oskar is clearly unhappy with his life, just basically doing whatever he can to get through the day while being bullied. After he meets Eli and learns her story, he seems to refuse to think about himself, as he only seems concerned for Eli (as Tony pointed out in his question). Before she is attacked, Virginia is unhappy with her life because of her alcoholic boyfriend. Understandably, she isn't very happy when she discovers she is becoming a vampire as she will never be able to see anyone she loves for their own safety. Lacke is unsatisfied with the town he lives, saying he's suffocated by it. It seems that even when their lives don't seem that bad, to the readers at least, the characters are all extremely disappointed with the lives they live. While some of the characters' circumstances are not by their own choice, they can't really do anything about it. In the real world, if you can't change something you usually just accept it. Maybe this is an underlying concept the author is trying to convey to the audience.
ReplyDeleteI found the description of why there are so few vampires (that they usually end up killing themselves) was the key difference between this book and the others we've read so far. In terms of the world the book is set in, Eli is irregular because he is so young-the immoral aspect to the way he has to live is not as strong as the desire to live. Lindqvist seems to be offering us the "traditional" vampire in direct contrast with Eli; one who not only wants to live, but wants things. (A home, friends, love, etc)
ReplyDeleteThe vampires in this novel do seem to have several human characteristics; I agree that they are incredibly vulnerable emotionally and even at times physically. What makes this book unique is the portrayl of Hakan after he's been "vamped". Eli doesn't refer to him as a vampire, he's "undead". In this narrative, to be undead is to be unfeeling, to possess no memories or moral compass, in effect to be the shell of the person they'd been in life. This is very different from Dracula, who Van Helsing assures us is "undead", the word just means to very different things in the novels. Hakan actually is a monster, whereas Eli and Virginia are "infected" against their wills and now have to choose to live with it, or end their life.
I think Lindqvist has managed to create a genre of vampire lore that is sympathetic not because the vampire is this romantic, misunderstood sexual object, but something frail and desperate. Everyone has moments where they feel helpless, and to see Eli as Oskar's personal savior in addition to Oskar becoming Eli's new guardian seems to point out the weaknesses in both, and the strength they find together. It's actually surprisingly optimistic for a vampire novel...
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ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteI had a rather long post earlier that I accidentally deleted... unfortunate. In it, I addressed both Rhi's and Madeline's posts to help me answer Lucy's (and perhaps Tony's) question. It boils down to this: I believe that Lindqvist uses Virginia's suicide not as a victory, but as a sort of hammer to fall.
ReplyDeleteRhi noted that 'Let The Right One In' has themes of dissatisfaction and emptiness. Indeed this is true, especially for its adult characters. They all seem to suffer for lacking something: Oskar's mother left his father because he was an aggressive drunk; Hakan the pedophile will never have a completely satisfying relationship because, well, he likes boys (and a vampire who is capable of understanding love only as it fosters consumption: H: "You only love me to the extent I help you stay alive." E: "Yes. Isn't that what love is?"); Eli's first victim, Jocke, had been divorced and alone for eight years and finally found a place in a pair of arms that strangled and feasted upon him; Lacke hates the suburb; Virginia feels tied to a lousy alcoholic boyfriend; and finally, Oskar grapples with growing up ostracized. All these people want to be close to something, yet they remain removed.
Eli victimizes these humans because, firstly, as a vampire she has the sole urge to feed, yet her choice to feed on these lonely/empty/notably damaged people perhaps exhibits something else. As Madeline said, Lindqvist’s vampire is weak. I thought this was shown well alongside the emptiness of people, because the weakness of Lindqvist’s vampires is their own emptiness--the distance from all others associated with the inherent need to feed on those who inherently seek closeness. Virginia’s transformation into a vampire is narrated in a way that brings these two flaws into great tension: her heart becomes, “a still-developing cyst in the sinoatrial node[...] that controls the heart's contractions. The cyst has now grown to twice its former size. A cancer-like growth of foreign cells continues unhindered.” / “the tumor in the sinoatrial node consists of brain cells[...] it would live on even if her body died.” Turning into a vampire consumes her body in the same way feeding would; unhindered, controlling. The heart, associated with humanist ideology, feelings, compassion and the like, is replaced by a supremely sensory and controlling organ: a brain. A brain that can exist as a life itself, without the body required of a human (animal?) as we understand our own existence.
Finally, though, the dichotomy of consciousnesses within Virginia reaches the heart-wrenching point where I understood that neither vampire nor human in Lindqvist’s novel will ever fill its void. In the bathtub once she is turned, Virginia thinks about how she must feed, as a vampire, but as a woman, cannot bring herself to imagine doing so on anyone she loved or even liked. Here the distance is paramount--it is not to defeat vampirism that Virginia commits suicide, but because the emptiness and solitude is unbearable, probably for either consciousness alone, let alone the two combined. Eli, having become a vampire as a young boy and not having experienced loss, regret, passion, responsibility etc that the adults in the novel have, is not grappling with these tensions within him as a vampire. Ergo, he is not so lost as these other miserable characters.
Ultimately, Lindqvist seems to suggest that the experience of growing into a human adult is cultivating the same emptiness that is inherent to vampires. I believe it’s an optimistic story, too, because Eli and Oskar, both so young (comparatively, with Eli having become a vampire as a young child), can still foster a sort of hope: E: “... I haven't had a . . . normal friendship with anyone in two hundred years.” Just had to include that because it was adorable.
Wow, this was a lot, sorry!
The process of Virginia's transformation and her committing suicide reminded me of the movie Exocist. The younger priest from the movie chokes the girl who was demon-possessed and the demon tries to move on to the priest and that is when he jumps out of the house and commits suicide. It was very interesting to see the similar story from the novel. This novel is quite different from the others in many ways and this part is another one. Compare to the other victims, who did not have any option to not become a vampire, Victoria battles in her head. I would not say committing suicide is an action of victory over becoming a vampire but at least in a sense that she had an option to battle in becoming a vampire was quite interesting. Relating to the movie Exocist I have mentioned earlier, I think the author put this setting to show that humans' will is stronger than the evil and we do not have to always give in to the evil; if we fight, we can exercise justice in our lives.
ReplyDeleteI think in Lindqvist’s novel we see a lot more of the ‘victim’ characteristic in vampires. Generally, we’ve seen vampires as the strong type, who have control over others. While Eli obviously does have control, we also see a side of her that is victim-like. Furthermore, her excitement toward killing others for blood and her appearance as a victim go hand in hand. She enjoys that rush of being in control and having them fear her, while she can roleplay as the victim on the other hand as well. I think that us being exposed to this human-like vampire allows us to believe that Eli and Oskar can have a relationship. If Dracula went and started being friends with Mina, we wouldn’t exactly believe it right away. In that world, Dracula does not have those ‘human’ emotions, where as Eli clearly is intact with her ability to feel.
ReplyDeleteI feel sympathy for some of the vampires we have been introduced to, namely Dracula. I understand there permanent isolation and longing to become apart of every day life; however, I do not think the vampires in I Am Legend feel this sense of us and them because they proceed to kill Robert Neville. Ben Cortman is simply a freaky character that I do not like, and he tormented Neville, so I do not believe I could force myself to feel sympathy for him. The vampires in The Lost Souls were very creative and all possessed unique characteristics that people reading the novel became fans of; however, within the novel I did think it was completely brutal for them to prey on humans. I felt badly for Dracula in the beginning of the novel, but as the plot progresses he has shown that he is acting on his vampire instincts through clever, sadistic tactics.
ReplyDeleteI feel a sense of sympathy about the vampires we read from class because many, if not all of them had not chosen this fate for themselves. Although there are a lot of perks, there are also a lot of setbacks to being a vampire, for one, you have an eternal life. There is something about this that is unnerving. Living an eternal life means that you will lead a somewhat lonely life. Everyone you know is sure to die, so long as they are human; and for the most part turning them into vampires would mean sharing your misery and loneliness with you. There is a great burden that vampires hold. They can both grant life and take life away at the blink of an eye. They can never experience daylight again the same way they did as humans. I think that based on the stories we’ve read vampires do have some sense of self-pity. For example, Christian from Lost Souls seems to no longer find excitement in his vampire lifestyle and almost seems depleted and sorrowful. This is seen in chapter 21 when Nothing asks Christian what it is like to live for such a long time and Christian answers with “I would not wish it upon anyone.” This is an extremely powerful moment because it is the first time we have really seen sorrowful words come from a vampire’s mouth in this story. It is because of this that I had a lot of sympathy for Christian. He seemed to be the most human-like vampire of them all with real emotions and real sadness. Poppy Z. Brite shows Christian’s human-like characteristics all throughout the novel as he “pours the whiskey down Jessy’s throat like water” and takes care of the baby after birth. This shows that he genuinely cares for Jessy, at least a little bit, for him to try and lessen her pain through alcohol.
ReplyDeletePoppy Z. Brite makes a clear distinction about each of the vampires to influence the readers’ opinions of them. She does this by making Christian kind and gentle, Zillah vicious and adventure seeking, and Twig and Molochai young and gluttonous. She takes these personalities and intricately places them in certain parts of the story where the reader either likes them or hates them.
I feel like the whole “victim” idea is what really builds on the closeness between these two characters. As victims, they not only become close, but they also develop somewhat of a protectiveness over one another. When it comes to this idea and the influence on the whole story, I believe this is a major component of it. By creating this closeness as victims, both characters are able to basically save and protect one another in ways that weren’t available to them without one another. This is super evident with the way things ended with Eli saving Oskar’s life. I personally believe that humans and vampires can become friends when they share common things. I feel like that is basically a universal thing for everybody. Although nobody is exactly the same, we all choose the company we surround ourselves with based on characteristics we like, which are often characteristics we ourselves have or demonstrate. I think similarities are what connects individuals on a deeper level. Commonalities is where all bonds being, and then they develop from there, so I feel like with humans and vampires, if they could get over the potential danger and fear of survival from either parties then friendship is easily achievable because I feel like in all these novels they kind of emphasize a similarity between the two species.
ReplyDeleteAs Josh K. said in the question, Let the Right One In shows different characteristics of vampires. In the novel, vampires are weak, vulnerable and more human-like. Hence, the relationship between two victims is more effectively and surely influencing the story plot by making them need and care one another which can be implied as friends. I think if human and vampire, or any of species in our universe, share common things, they can be friends. Because of these characteristics of the novel, I believe Lindqvist is more focused on what is to be a human rather than showing what typical vampires(?) are alike.
ReplyDeleteI definitely felt a sense of sympathy for Neville and Dracula. I felt sympathy for Neville because he was the last of his own kind. I felt bad for Dracula for the similar reason, the loneliness he must feel sleeping during the day by himself in a solitary coffin then going to attack at night by himself. In a sense in Lost Souls I think that Christian is a victim of this isolation as well- being that he does not take pleasure out of feeding off killing humans like the others do. I do think that vampires in these novels feel sorry for themselves and their fate. Just go back and read Christian's thoughts as he killed that little boy. He was not happy about that; he felt guilt. If anything I have had the most mixed feelings about him because I strongly dislike him for taking part in the vampire orgy in the beginning of the novel and killing that little boy, but then I feel throughout the book you get the sense of how sad and lonely and isolated this vampire really is and how unhappy he is with his lifestyle. Authors definitely influence the readers I feel by giving these vampires such human characteristics. Suddenly Dracula had someone he used to care about.(He reveals in the scene with the three women vampires and Jonathan). Caring about someone? That is a human characteristic.Virginia feels deep pain over wanting blood other than her own. Pain? That's a human characteristic. The authors definitely influence our opinion of vampires by making them more human, by making us feel a connection towards the supernatural.
ReplyDeleteAkanimoh E
I think Lindqvist has Virginia commit suicide after she becomes a vampire in order to emphasize that as someone who was human only a few days prior, the lifestyle of a vampire is horrifying. Virginia can only think of her loved ones and how she knows that she can never see them again. This life to her is revolting and she has nothing else to live for if she could never see her family or friends again. I think this also highlights the differences between human nature, with needing loved ones, to vampiric nature, which seems to be very isolated. Eli does not follow down the same path as Virginia because he was turned into a vampire too young in life to develop those strong human connections with anyone special. He is too young to realize the horror of what he has been doing for the past 200 years, and has only ever met one other vampire besides the one who changed him. Even the connection he develops with Oskar probably will not make him want to end his vampire life, but I do wonder how their friendship will develop as Oskar gets older and Eli stays 12.
ReplyDeleteKim K.
As for why Virginia kills herself, I think it's mostly because she is an adult, and she realizes the gravity of what she will have to do to survive. By contrast, Eli is a child. Not only has youth caused the thought of suicide to not come into the picture, but Eli has Hakan. As such, Eli doesn't have to be close to the down and dirty aspects of vampirism.
ReplyDeleteIn response to Lucy's question, I think that the fact that Virginia's human side of her mind decided to commit suicide is significant. I think that the author made this decision for a few reasons other than just feeling that a character needed to be killed off for the sake of the plot. The first thing that comes to mind is that I think that the action was fitting for Virginia's character and shows that not everyone is made to be a killer and what she was going through terrified her. Another reason that comes to mind, which could answer why Eli didn't follow the same path as Virginia, is that Virginia actually showed more strength by not allowing herself to become a vampire; that her human self was stronger and knew that relenting and becoming a vampire, was the wrong path to go down. (Micaela M.)
ReplyDeleteI do feel sympathy for the vampires in the novel because a lot of the time they show many human characteristics that makes them seem very vulnerable. For example I often times feel sympathetic to the vampires when they talk about their feelings of isolation. In particular I think of the vampires in I am legend who are just trying to accept the fact that they have to deal with the illness that caused them to turn in the first place. In Lost Souls Christian also seemed to feel very lonely after having to spend so many years just watching the people around him die. I think it would be hard to live in a world where you are estranged from everyone because they fear you. I think that the readers opinions are most influenced by how much emotion the vampires themselves seem to show at the time they are in their predator mode. With vampires such as Molochai and Twig who showed very little remorse for their actions it was harder to sympathize with.
ReplyDeleteI think Virginia killing herself before she made the full transition to Vampire highlights not only what Lindqvist wants to say about Vampires but also about life. Virginia, I think kills herself as she realizes not only is she a Vampire, but she will never be completely satisfied. So much of this novel deals with the idea of the real not living up to the imagined and I think that this is a point that is stressed with Virginia killing herself. As she realized that she was a blood craving Vampire, willing to consume herself to find satisfaction, I think she must have also realized the kind of stress such an affliction would be on her. She realized that as a Vampire she could never be fully happy, fully content. I think this is different with Eli only because she was a child when she was turned and is in a sense in a state of arrested development. As an adult however I think one must contend with such ideas as purpose, and contentment. From the very beginning of the novel we get a bleak picture of Blackberg, even though it was created to be a sort of model city. Contrast this to realities of Sweden at the time and it is clear the message that Lindqvist is trying to send. At the turn of the century and indeed up until the 1950s, Sweden was the poorest nation in Europe. Extremely agricultural and very sparsely populated, by the 1970s Sweden was one of the wealthiest countries in Europe, yet its transition was anything but natural, and life anything but perfect. In the end I feel this is Lindqvist message of the book: life is far from imagined and often short of what we try to make it.
ReplyDeleteBrandon W.
In response to Lucy’s question, I think Lindqvist is trying to draw a parallel between right and wrong, maturity and immaturity, and humanity versus inhumanity. I think it is interesting that he shows suicide as an option. This tells the reader that there is a choice after all, though not a very happy one, and vampirism is not something one necessarily has to enter into. By providing a second option, Lindqvist makes the reader question what it means to be “human.” For instance, does being human entail doing what is necessary to survive regardless of lives lost, or is it making sacrifices in order to save those lives? Along with this, I believe Virginia had a greater understanding of what it would mean to become a vampire than Eli did upon transitioning. Eli’s inability to reach full maturity seems to save him from full comprehension of his lifestyle choices and removes a very heavily guilty conscious.
ReplyDeleteSarah S
In response to Tony’s question in particular, it seems like none of the viewpoints necessarily lead to success but rather illustrate a different kind of tragedy or reality of life for the characters in question. Oskar is bullied and tortured by the boys at school and is extremely lonely before he meets Eli. At the same time, we have seen that Oskar himself has some cruel tendencies and his emptiness is filled by his love for Eli, something which becomes his outlet and almost an obsession. It seems like he is destined to become Hakan’s replacement. In the end the novel seems to suggest that Oskar too will eventually be sucked dry by Eli.
ReplyDeleteVirginia is also a tragic character. She is a divorced woman now in a dysfunctional relationship before coming into contact with Eli and being transformed into a vampire. She understands that life as she knows it is over upon her transformation, even though her life was not happy to begin with, so she decides it will be better to end her life. In this way Virginia is sacrificing herself for the ones she loves. This noble cause is never the less quite tragic and it almost shows the inevitability of all fates.
Even though Eli is immortal and in a way removed from many of the problems faced by the other characters because she/he is trapped in a child’s body and mind forever, this is also what keeps Eli in a state of eternal limbo. Perhaps more so than any other vampire we have seen in other novels Eli is dependent on other for life. Also Eli is older than any of the other characters in this novel but she/he has never truly experienced the fullness of life. Being trapped in a child’s body and mind makes Eli unable to truly change moving from one host to another, from one love to another, without really understanding the full significance, as is seen with Eli’s transition from Hakan to Oskar. Unlike Virgina, Eli is unable to grasp the horror of her/his existence as a vampire, but this almost makes Eli more tragic.
Finally, Lacke seems to echo much of the dissatisfaction and tragedy of the other characters. Lacke is an alcoholic and sees the seemingly ideal suburb of Blackberg for all its misery. On the whole he reiterates what all of these characters experience either consciously or not, a sense of constant restlessness, anxiety, and uneasiness. In this way Lindqvist is able to convey the more tragic elements of human existence and the inevitability of human destiny.
Concerning Lucy's questions,
ReplyDeleteVirginia ultimately killed herself because she learned the meaning of compassion. Even after she became a vampire due to one of Eli's violent streaks, her virtuous self did not go away. I think this speaks volumes about the fact that vampires still have a humanity. Virginia's compassion and remorse leading to her suicide further emphasizes the internal conflict vampires go through; fighting against their animalistic traits with the little humanity they have left.
In contrast, Eli did not follow on the same path because, unlike Virginia, he had given up on the social norms of humanity. He had embraced his vampirism, coming to terms with the fact that he is a natural predator to human beings. However, I do not think Eli completely lost his humanity because of his intimacy with Hakan.
I suggest that Eli did not exhibit the compassion Virginia had simply because he found an enjoyment in living outside of the moral grounds of humanity. Eli did not reluctantly feed on people, he embraces his homosexuality, and he never showed any kind of remorse in being a vampire.
I agree with Micaela when answering Lucy’s question. As Lucy points out, from our assigned reading for today, we perceive Virgina committing suicide upon contemplating and having an inner-conflict: Virginia’s “old” human-self wins over her “new” vampire-destined self, thus leading Virgina to die from committing a suicide. Virginia’s suicide surprised me, as it was an abrupt and unforeseen event unfolding; however, such drastic choice of hers can be understood as Virginia’s conscience guiding her to believe in that a pursuit of life as vampire is “wrong” and unforgiveable to humanity and of her strong desire to remain human valuing humanity. Such plot and Virginia’s presence, in my view, is significant, since Lindqvist demonstrates the power and superiority of both human will and conscience over destiny to live as a typical vampire and one’s need to satisfy the immediate needs for pleasure and survival. In other words, through Virginia, Lindqvist foreshadows the possibility of human will and conscience to ultimately “win”. From our reading so far, Eli serves as a “foil” to Virginia; Eli follows down the typical “track” that vampire-destined individuals take. However, by having this “foil”, I see that Virginia’s presence and her choice to commit suicide has been further highlighted and praised; after all, through such “foil”, readers get to truly understand how difficult it may have been for Virginia to carry on with an inner-battle and still value her old human self and of the values she has cherished then.
ReplyDelete