Dracula+DL+Jenny

= Chapter 13-16 - Jenny P. = =Analysis=

6-TRAIT IDENTIFICATION - Word Choice
The most crucial trait that contributed to enhancing the writing quality of this section is the word choice that Bram Stoker used. As much as this section shows how Lucy changes by transforming into a vampire, it was important to make a clear difference between the "old" Lucy and the "new" Lucy by using colorful words. Bram Stoker succeeded in using the appropriate words to create a clear contrast between the former and the latter. The following example clearly shows how Stoker utilizes the various words. "My own heart grew cold as ice, and I could hear the gasp of Arthur, as we recognized the features of Lucy Westenra. Lucy Westenra, but yet how changed. The sweetness was turned to adamantine, heartless cruelty, and the purity to voluptuous wantonness." (Stoker 187) The former Lucy had characteristics of sweetness and purity. However, now she is left with heartless cruelty and voluptuous wantonness. These words have directly contradicting meanings, which makes the readers think and ponder whether the two people described are even the same person. The transformation of Lucy from an ideal Victorian woman to a vampire really becomes evident. Bram Stoker's use of words in this section thus contributes greatly to the high writing quality as well as the captivation that this section has on the readers.

CRITICAL PASSAGE
"There, in the coffin lay no longer the foul Thing that we had so dreaded and grown to hate that the work of her destruction was yielded as a privilege to the one best entitles to it, but Lucy as we had seen her in her life, with her face of unequalled sweetness and purity. True that there were there, as we had seen them in life, the traces of care and pain and waste; but these were all dear to us, for they marked her truth to what we knew. One and all we felt that the holy calm that lay like sunshine over the wasted face and form was only an earthly token and symbol of the calm that was to reign for ever." (Stoker 192)

As Van Helsing describes the Un-Dead earlier in this section of the novel, he also describes that Lucy is different than the typical Un-Dead. He says when the typical Un-Dead sleep, malice is shown on their faces; however, when Lucy sleeps, she still looks sweet and does not possess any signs of malign purposes on her face. The quote above is said after Arthur kills Lucy. Lucy seems sweet and pure after she dies just like her old self when she used to live. However, while she was a vampire, she possessed qualities that were rather frightening and irrational especially in the Victorian Era. By killing her in the vampire state, Lucy found herself again and looked calm. This shows a significant feature of vampires. It seems that vampires seem to suffer by even just existing. They seem to be more comfortable being dead rather than to exist as neither a living nor non-living monster forever. Even in the previous sections, this idea was shown during the transformation of Lucy from a human to a vampire: "We thought her dying whilst she slept, And sleeping when she died" (Stoker 147). Thus, this passage reveals and supports the idea that vampires actually suffer more as they exist.

LITERARY DEVICES

 * Imagery
 * "by the concentrated light that fell on Lucy's face we could see that the lips were crimson with fresh blood, and that the stream had trickled over her chin and stained the purity of her lawn death-robe." (Stoker 187).
 * Stoker uses very descriptive words that depict an image in the readers' minds while reading. In the quote shown above, any reader can clearly imagine the scene. I think he did this on purpose to give the readers a sense of horror and to realize how horrible Lucy has become.
 * Allusion
 * "The beautiful colour became livid, the eyes seemed to throw out sparks of hell-fire, the brows were wrinkled as though the fold of the flesh were the coils of Medusa's snakes," (Stoker 188).
 * Medusa in Greek Mythology is a beautiful woman who turned into a monster with a head full of snakes. Anyone who looked at her turned into stone. I think Bram Stoker used this allusion because Medusa's situation is very similar to Lucy's situation in the novel. They were both once beautiful women, but they have transformed into monsters: a vampire and a gorgon. I guess he wanted to show how horrible Lucy has become by referring her to as Medusa-like.

=Reflection=

After my presentation, I learned that Bram Stoker uses many literary devices to enhance his writing and make his writing interesting to read. It was interesting to see how he used allusions to Greek mythology, and it was also interesting to see several descriptive vocabulary he used in Dracula. I also gained a better understanding of the two major topics of this section: supernatural vs. science and women who do not meet the typical Victorian standards. The activity was a good way to discuss in a sense that the students could choose their characters and talk in their perspective. I think this was helpful because it not only helps students understand the major themes of the section by discussing, but also lets them understand more deeply about each character's point of view. However, one imperfection of this activity was that not all characters could participate in discussing one topic because not all of them were involved in that topic in the novel. In order to improve this in the future, we could make the questions very general and broad so that everyone can contribute to the topic equally.