Journal 1 - Disc and Dracula

 

9/20/2000

Men at Arms by Terry Pratchett

[Note – Discworld].

               It occurs to me that Carrot and Jared [Note: I am referring to the character Jared from the tv show The Pretender] are very much alike.  Both seem to think the best of people and are rarely let down.  Jared convincing gang members to do what he wants is like Carrot with the trolls and the dwarfs.  Except that Jared is a tad bit more familiar with the dark side than Carrot.

               Strange how Pratchett can be hilarious and spellbinding.  I like the fact that he had the “gonne” [Note: gun] tries to take over the user’s mind.  Perhaps that is the way the weapon truly works.  Having it in your hands gives you such a feeling of power that you can kill from a long ways off.

               Poor Gasopode.  I hope just once he meets a girl.

               It is nice to see a human side to Carrot, stops him from becoming a caricature.

 

9/20/2000

Dracula  by Bram Stoker [reread]

               Harker desires to get recipes and the constant memos he writes to himself is such a typical Englishman.  Harker doesn’t appear to be all that sacred of his situation.

               Mina seems so unconcerned about Johnathan.  He writes to tell her that he  will be returning in a week  and yet she seems so unconcerned about his lack of writing and late arrival.  She seems to mention it only in passing.  All her interests benefit Jonathan as if she were becoming Jonathan’s creature.  The perfect little wife.

               Jack Sheppard – escaped four times before hung.

 

               Mina’s views about Jonathan and his faithfulness seem strange and funny, “The idea of my being jealous about Jonathan.  And yet my dear, let me whisper, I feel a thrill of joy though me when I knew that no other woman was a source of trouble” (120).

               Either she doesn’t think anyone else could have feelings for him or she is lying to herself.  For he does have a moment of weakness.

               Mina at times seems so childlike.

               Mina’s a constant references to poor Lucy make it seem like Lucy is a dog.  Mina’s feeling this regard seem to lack sincerity.  Mina herself does not seem to be a very deep character.   For instance, her trick on Van Helsing who was only trying to help comes across as a very cruel joke to make.  She seems, perhaps, controlling or domineering, a woman who says she does not wish to become a “rich” woman but acts like one.  One cane see her as the dominating and controlling mother-in-law.  Nothing seems to affect her.  Dracula has emotion.  Mina doesn’t.  Both control.

               Lucy’s beauty is always remarked upon by the men in her life.  And yet, Lucy seems for more caring, for instance her proposal refusals.  Is that why Stoker had her feed off of a child?  Like Becky in Vanity Fair.  Hurting children makes a character evil.  Lucy’s transformation  is total because she feeds off of children.

               Quincy comes across as the stereotypical  American.  It is interesting to note that we are always told how strong the men are by one of their number.  As if the actions don’t speak for themselves.  Must be  done in order for Lucy’s death to have an real impact perhaps?  Also the men seem to listen to Van Helsing a bit too easily.  The whole novel seems to be about varying degrees of control.  Dracula is seen as evil, not because of the control, but because of the blood and the threatening aspect in the beginning of the novel.

               Why epistolary and journal format?

               Perhaps to raise questions about the believability of what is happening?  Jack tells us that he does drugs (opium).

               Mina herself comes across as too accepting.  Perhaps as a need to justify her husband’s actions?

               Mina’s diary does show signs of editing or Stoker losing the thread of the frame.  She says in regards to Morris, “ . . . and oh, but he proved himself a friend” (258) obviously foreshadowing his heroic death, but how would she known about it if she was writing this in her diary as it happened?  Either Stoker adapted the diary from a 3^rd person story or he slipped or he is telling us something about Mina.  Also Mina’s comforting of Arthur seems weird, as if she sees herself as a mother figure.  Her sense of propriety pops again to.

               Neither Lucy nor Mina come across as sexual creatures  as in Bram Stoker’s Dracula  (the Coppola movie).  Lucy is a lively character but not the oversexualized woman of Coppla’s movie.

               Strange how it is only women and children.  Dracula’s three wives were not allowed to feed off of Harker but were given a single child to share among them.  Why?  None of Lucy’s sisters trivialize her by calling her “poor little Lucy”.  They feel the tragedy (to them at least) and do not cheapen it.

               Having women feed off of children like procreation?

               The writing of all the main characters is shown except for Renfield, Art, and Quincy [Note: this is not exactly true.  Art and Quincy have very brief messages].  And we are constantly being told what a wonderful lady Mina is.  She doesn’t seem that way.  Whose child is Quincy Jr. really?   Dracula’s or Jonathan’s. 

               And why keep a sane woman in a mad house.