JP Riedel

JP Riedel
Dracula
Bram Stoker
Horror
Challenge
page 272

1. Right now one of the main characters, Lucy, has just died and it is believed that right before she died she was turning into a vampire. Right after the funeral one of hers friends, Dr. Van Helsing, put a crucifix and garlic over her coffin for protection because he believes that she was turning into a vampire. Now he has just proposed an autopsy to Arthur Homewood, Lucy's finance, to find out what was going on with her. Though Arthur is somewhat against it because it involved cutting off her head and removing her heart. So now they plan to do that in the middle of the night.

2. I fee that the book is very good so far and is keeping me very interested. It is a bit of a challenge because it is set near the turn of the 19th century and is in very old language that is sometimes hard to follow. However, it is easy to figure out what is going on based upon the words I do know and with the help of a dictionary. It is full of suspense and mystery that keeps me reading and wondering what is going to happen next in the story. It is very exciting.

3. So far I believe the theme is mostly about determination. Van Helsing is determined to find and kill all vampires, but mostly Dracula while Dracula is determined to survive and turn more humans into vampires.

4. Dr. Van Helsing is my favorite character because he is very confident and always knows what to do. He always stays calm no matter what the situation is and can always figure out how to solve the problem at hand. For example when Lucy was sick and dying, Dr. Van Helsing decided to bring garlic flowers into her room to prevent her from changing into a vampire. Also he figured out that she was under the evil spell of Dracula.

5. At this point Dracula is my least favorite character because he truly is evil when compared to any other character in all of the books that I have read. For example he has tortured one of the main characters, Jonathan, and kept him a prisoner. He also is responsible for so much death which is unexplained.

6. I predict that since Lucy is now dead, Dracula will seek out a new victim to suck their blood. That victim may be Dr. Van Helsing since he has figured out that Dracula is the cause of all of the killings.