Anne Rice
Terri Thampan 804
I have recently put away the book "Interview With The Vampire", not because it was badly written, but because if I read anymore "detailed" scenes with blood, I would start to get really squeamish. It's more like, if I see a lot of blood, or actions such as "slitting wrists" are written out, to help the vampires get blood, my wrist automatically goes on spaz mode, just to stop freaking out about how gross that is.
The book is really, just Louis, a Vampire, having an interview with a boy, telling him the story of his life so far. How he was turned by the Vampire Lestat, and his Vampire "Daughter" Claudia.
What I really liked about the whole book was how deep it was, how like For Louis, the main character and the one telling the story, it's like getting more in touch with his humanity, even though he is a vampire.
Louis, is more of an intellectual character. He prefers books and deeply thinking. He likes to use his heightened senses to look at the beauty of the world, think more deeply about things, and realize how fragile and precious life is. He, is the more, human-like, in the three main characters.
Then, we have Lestat. He is described as the type of man who who does most things as revenge. He is angry at the world and wishes for revenge. He also likes to live lavishly. Louis thinks the reason Lestat even stays with him is so that so he can still live the life of luxury, while Louis makes the money for them, Louis being educated in money making skills to keep his plantation running. Lestat, can also be described as flashy, a show off. In the beginning, while his father was alive, I feel like the times Lestat were nice to him, were not only partly because he did care for his father, but because he wanted to make a show of it, seem like a nice guy. He's described as taking great joy in playing around with his victims, which gives him a sadistic personality.
The last Vampire is Claudia. She was a young five year old girl who was crying over the corpse of her mother, pleading for someone to save her mother, who she thought was still alive and sick. Louis, who was already thirsting for blood, suddenly couldn't help but try to drink her blood. Lestat stumbles upon Louis drinking Claudia's blood, and shamed, Louis stops. Louis at first thinks that Claudia's dead, but then Lestat shows Louis that he has turned Claudia into a vampire. Louis feels as if Lestat gave him Claudia, so Louis wouldn't leave.
Louis and Lestat are like Fathers to Claudia. She learns from Louis the ways of the intellect, and from Lestat, how to kill. She froever will remain looking five years old, but her mind changes. She is described as the least human among the three. She kills Lestat, in order to free herself and Louis. She clings to Louis, and says she loves him, but Louis feels that the only reason why she does so, is because he is the only one closest to "Her Kind".
I feel, that even though they are Vampires, Lestat, Claudia, and Louis, all describe the different sides of humanity. Louis being the most close to humanity, and Claudia being more in touch with her creature side, her animal instincts. Louis is of course, the more good things about humanity. Reading, looking deeper into things, discovering more and more, wanting more answers.
Lestat, is more of a bitter side. He is the side, that wants revenge. Everything that has happened to us, every bad day, every single mean look, insult, or punch in the gut, he wants revenge for. He is the side, that likes to spite things. He enjoys the life of luxury, which is something most people dream for. He likes to show off his expensive clothing, and items. He likes to spite. I feel as if he does this, to spite his own past as well, a past he wan't too fond of, ad tried to gain everything he didn't have then, and have it all as a vampire. Everyone, in one point of their lives want to spite others. Want to get back at someone for what they did. It is like the more Bitter side, has taken up the role as boss of the more human like side, and the more animal like side.
Claudia, is like a human's more primal urges. She has instincts, ad she has intelligence. But she lacks humanity. The reason why we think of animals like dogs, or cats, or pigs, and such, as inferior, is because of their lack of humanity. They cannot talk like we do, they do not feel, the same way we do, they don't understand things the way we do. If anything, Claudia has not enough emotions as to recognize her as human. She can feel anger, hatred, and negative emotions, but the more positive emotions in human life might be different to her. I have no doubt she can feel joy, or happiness, but I feel she cannot feel things that people say come from the heart, like passion, remorse, guilt, or even compassion. She does not understand these things, and represents the part o us, that is different. Some times we don't feel those things, this is the more darker part of humanity, where we get rapists, and murderers, and terrorists. They lack those more human feelings.
I feel like the reason Claudia is like this is because she was turned into a vampire at too young of an age. While being a child has its innocence, it also meas you know less. She has not developed her humanity yet, and because of that, her mind developed differently. She has less humanity then both Lestat and Louis.
I think that, age isn't the only reason why Claudia has the least amount of humanity. It's also because, in the story, Claudia killed the mother and daughter couple, which is around the time Claudia started to ask who turned her into a vampire. This makes me think that Claudia started to remember more about her human past, or what little of it she has. I think she struck out, killing the mother and daughter because she thought of her own mother, and how her mother had died of sickness. I think she felt a bitterness, over her mother's death.
The thing is, monsters like vampires and werewolves are only there to look into the darker parts of human nature. Anne Rice definitely knew that, and started to help me look at characters, and their more human like features.
Very interesting character analysis!
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