Dracula+DL+Lisa

Theme: Good triumphs over evil when everybody collaborates.
Throughout Bram Stoker’s novella, Dracula, there are many conflicts between good and evil. Dracula is portrayed as the evil side and Jonathan Harker, etc, is considered to be on the good side. Although Lucy’s death was left as a tragedy, Jonathan Harker and the rest of the team manage to restrain Mina from turning into a vampire. To top that, they were even successful in perpetually eradicating Dracula as well. After arduous work of locating all the fifty boxes of earth and covering them with sacred objects, the good side triumphed. This was not an individual’s achievement: it was only made possible because everybody collaborated and worked desperately to achieve the goal. Although the evil, Dracula in this case, seemed invincible with supernatural powers, the good triumphed at the end. It is mentioned in the novella that Dracula’s strength is equivalent to that of twenty men. However, even with this great strength and other supernatural powers, such as being able to turn into other forms (dogs, bats), Dracula was eradicated by the good side. Therefore, this novella clearly shows that the good triumphs over the evil when everybody collaborates well.

Key passage

(pg 324 paragraph 2)

“In the midst of this I could see that Jonathan on one side of the ring of men, and Quincey on the other, were forcing a way to the cart; it was evident that they were bent on finishing their task before the sun should set. Nothing seemed to stop or even to hinder them. Neither the leveled weapons or the flashing knives of the gypsies in front, or the howling of the wolves behind, appeared to even attract their attention. Jonathan’s impetuosity, and the manifest singleness of his purpose, seemed to overawe those in front of him; instinctively they cowered aside and let him pass.”

(skip few lines and )

“Under the efforts of both men the lid began to yield; the nails drew with a quick screeching sound, and the top of the box was thrown back.”

This is it. This is the moment that all readers have been waiting for. This is when Jonathan and others finally located the last box of earth and is removing the lid to eradicate Dracula perpetually from this world. Inside this box of earth lies Dracula. This passage is definitely a key passage because it provides suspense as well as give step by step procedural narration about them killing Dracula. Perhaps because it was said so nonchalantly, the last part of this paragraph: “the top of the box was thrown back.” provides readers with great suspense because, although the death of Dracula might have been predicted by a few readers, this is the actual moment that determines whether or not Dracula will be actually killed or not. Since it provides such suspense and final thoughts, this passage is the major key passage from the final chapters of Dracula.

Literary Terms

1. Simile

"It was like a miracle, but before our very eyes, and almost in the drawing of a breath, the whole body crumbled into dust and passed from our sight." (Stoker 325)

- A simile is defined as a comparison between two or more things using the words "like" or "as." This sentence shows that Bram Stoker used a simile to compare the situation that was happening in front of them to a miracle. If Stoker were to say "It was a miracle," than that would have been a metaphor. However, since the work "like" is clearly added to this sentence, this sentence contains a simile. I have noticed that Bram Stoker uses a number of similes throughout his novel, Dracula. This scene is when Jonathan Harker forcibly forces a knife into Dracula's heart and Dracula turns into dust and disappears. I would say that Stoker used a simile here to dramatize the effects of the picture of this scene. Indeed, this is a pretty dramatic scene, the murdering of Dracula. This simile serves well to further provoke the readers' thoughts of the scene where Jonathan Harker forcibly kills Dracula, the ultimate evil of the novel.

2. Personification

"The cold is perhaps beginning to tell upon me, and nature must have rest some time." (Stoker 310)

- Personification is when an author or writer gives human characteristics to non-human creatures or objects. In this case, Bram Stoker uses personification to activate coldness and nature. Of course the cold weather and nature are not capable of talking with human beings, but Bram Stoker uses these words to more vividly portray the scene. It is rather obvious what this scene is. Mina is tired and sleepy after relentless hours of searching for the last box of earth and Dracula himself. Stoker effectively personifies coldness and nature to show how tired and sleepy Mina was and to help the readers picture her emotions and spiritual state of being. This quote effectively shows how Mina was feeling during this time and shows what thoughts were being processed inside her head.

Reflection

After completing our discussion leader assignment, I figured to reflect upon our works. Since our group was the last group to present our discussion leader presentations, we learned a lot from other groups and their mistakes. For instance, although the jeopardy game was a great idea as a review and recapture of the main plot details in Dracula, I personally thought that the format of the game was not working: too many people were shoving and shouting out answers and somebody was bound to be injured. From this, we learned not to engage the students in such an overactive game. I thought our game, Bingo, went pretty well. People seemed to enjoy the game and there was certainly not much disorder, as was seen in some of the other groups' presentations. Aside from our activity, I think our individual presentations also generally went well. We were confident in what we were presenting about and were able to express the key passages/ literary terms without much difficulty. However, I do feel remorse because of the fact that we did not get a chance to discuss some of the discussion questions that we came up with. Our group actually spent the most time thinking and coming up with the discussion questions. We thought our discussion questions were engaging and thought-provoking. It was such a pity that we never got a chance to discuss some of these questions with the students, but it is understandable because of lack of time. Aside from this, I think our presentation/discussion was a proven success, since we were abled to cooperate well together and the end product really reflected our hard works.