Dracula+DL+Lynn

**Trait: WORD CHOICE**
// One of the most important traits that stand out throughout this book is WORD CHOICE. Each word has a specific use and helps illustrate the symbol of something. One example is the use of describing people with color. On p // age 247, he uses color to describe the Count: “His eyes flamed red with devilish passion; the great nostrils of the white quiline nose opened wide and quivered at the edge; and the white sharp teeth, behind the full lips of the blood-dripping mouth, champed together like those of a wild beast.” The "flamed red" is specifically used to show the devilishness of Count Dracula. In just this one sentence alone, readers can see how Stoker professionally uses words to get his meaning across. "kneeling on the near edge of the bed facing outwards was the white-clad figure of his wife. By her side stood a tall, thin man, clad in black" (246-247). This sentence uses a juxtaposition of color. By using a variety of similes, metaphors, and imagery, Stoker allows the readers to visualize the scenes even better. By using certain words, he transforms simple behavior into something with more meaning. His word choices give the novel life and help get his point across. "Last night he was a frank, happy-looking man, with strong youthful face, full of energy, and with dark brown hair. Today he is a drawn, haggard, old man, whose white hair matches well with the hollow burning eyes and grief-written lines of his face" (Stoker 263). This sentence is another example that shows how Stoker deserves a 6 in word choice. This sentence also uses color to help get the point across. The context of this sentence is that Mina just had the little feeding incident with Dracula, and Harker is going through a lot because of the event. The "brown" in the first sentence sort of gives off a connotation about youth and assists in emphasizing how Harker had been a man with no worries just the day before, and how all of a sudden, he becomes old because of his hardships. "Hollow burning eyes," "grief-written lines," and "white hair" all help in describing in even more detail what Harker is going through. Instead of simply stating straight out, Stoker uses words in a playful way to make everything even more accurate. Critical Passage

//" 'There are here some who would stand between you and death. You must not die. You must not die by any hand; but least of all by your own. Until the other, who has fouled your sweet life, is true dead you must not die; for if he is still with the quick Un-dead, your death would make you even as he is. No, you must live! You must struggle and strive to live, though death would seem a boon unspeakable. You must fight Death himself, though he come to you in pain or in joy; by the day, or the night; in safety or in peril! On your living soul I charge you that you do not die-nay nor think of death-till this great evil be past.' "// (Stoker 254).

This is a critical passage in the novel because it emphasizes how important it is to stay hopeful in even the most pessimistic situations and to fight off the obstacles. Mina has become extremely depressed after Dracula forced her to drink his blood; she keeps talking about how she is "unclean" and about how she must die if she must. However, Van Helsing says this little speech in order to wake her up and shake her to her senses. Although everything seems hopeless and Dracula seems undefeatable, Van Helsing keeps on pushing the rest of the group to fight him off. Another reason why this passage is significant is that because of these words, Mina finds the courage to move on and keep on living; these encouraging and optimistic words help her to keep on helping the men in their quest to fight off and stamp out Dracula for good. Mina has been and still is a valuable member of the group. From the beginning, she has types out all the transcripts, and now, after she got bitten, she uses her connection with Dracula to help the men formulate their plans to defeat and ambush Dracula.

Literary Devices
//** __Simile__ **// Page 252 “Then she began to rub her lips as though to cleanse them from pollution.”

Through this quote, Stoker shows how being a vampire is just truly filthy and looked down upon by comparing the blood and pollution. Mina's actions clearly show how she feels: that drinking the blood was an unclean and unpure act that has tainted her and polluted her. This is another example of Stoker's vivid descriptions to clearly illustrate how the characters are reacting.

//__Imagery__// "As the Count saw us, a horrible sort of snarl passed over his face, showing the eye-teeth long and pointed; but the evil smile as quickly passed into a cold stare of lion-like disdain... only the diabolical quickness of the Count's leap back saved him... The expression of the Count's face was so hellish, that for a moment I feared for Harker, though I saw him throw the terrible knife aloft again for another stroke." (Stoker 266)

In this sentence, Stoker uses imagery to describe in detail what is going on in the scene. Throughout this whole novel, Stoker uses the imagery literary device in order to make scenarios even more suspenseful and interesting. __Dracula__ is a plot-driven novel, and in order to stimulate the audience more, it uses a lot of interesting descriptions, like this sentence above. This sentence describes Count Dracula and uses specific words to show the evil and coldness in Dracula. The sentence makes the scene even more dramatic and shows how the men are in danger by using images to describe Dracula in a menacing way. Also, by using imagery, it intensifies the action scenes, making the scenarios more exciting to draw the readers in.

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Not everything went the way we planned it to be, but our discussion leader project was still successful. The guys became a little competitive and kind of got to the point where someone could have gotten hurt. However, most of the people seemed to really enjoy the game and had fun answering the questions in a competitive way. Sadly, we didn't get to go over any of our discussion questions, but our Jeopardy made up for it. All of our group members contributed to the game, and even though we had some technical difficulties at time, it's okay; we're all human and we make mistakes. Also, I think our winners of this game enjoyed their prize, so that made me happy.======