(Dracula) Reading Journal 1

Bram Stoker's Dracula is a composition of letters, journal entries, and articles. Each chapter is one of the previous that describes the character's about events taking place. The actual story starts out with Jonathon Harker being invited to Count Dracula's Castle. From London to Eastern Europe he travels and talks to people of his travels. All of the people he talks to warn him of the evils that he is going to encounter. A female inn keeper even gives him her crucifix to aid him against evils. They also remind him it is St. George's Day Eve. which means that evils are stronger at his time. Also, while on the train the over passengers were pointing at him and wishing him luck against the "evil eye." When he gets off the train, his chariot is late. Once on the chariot riding to the Count, he realizes that there is no real driver of the chariot. Harker's first journal entry ends with him terrified standing at the entrance to Dracula's castle. Despite this fear, Dracula quickly cures his fear with a very warm welcome. Later on in the night Harker realizes Dracula has sharp teeth, is extremely pale, and has pointed ears. Harker continues to stay with Dracula growing more and more cautious of Dracula. Harker never sees Dracula in the day and Dracula always has an excuse. Harker also encounters three mistresses in what could be a dream or reality. They are going to harass Harker until Dracula steps in and stops the girls reassuring them that Harker is all theirs once he is done with him. Harker quickly realizes that he is not actually a guest but a prisoner of Dracula. Dracula continues to act wierd. He asks Harker to write letters with future dates. Finally, Harker decides to investigate. He scales up he castle in the middle of he day and finds Dracula eiher dead or asleep in a box. He decides to try and kill the Count with a weapon however the weapon was simply deflected by Dracula's head. Harker's journal entries end with the words, "Good-bye, all! Mina!" The interesting thing about reading this book in 2011 is thinking about how people reading Dracula in the early 1900s would think. Because Dracula is directly linked to vampires. Without Dracula there just simply are not vampires. But reading this book before that link would make the book a good bit less predictable. For instance, when Dracula tells the mistresses "after I'm done with him." We immediately know he means to suck his blood while if you were reading this book in the 1900s you wouldn't make that connection instantly. Even knowing what he means the entire thing is still creepy, so without knowing what he means and there could beinfinite possibilities the book must have been terrifying.