Dracula Chapters 6-10

Chapter 6: Ah, good old Mr. Swales and interpreting his English. It makes more sense if you read it quickly rather than slowly, by the way. He's a swell old character, and it's fascinating to hear his stories and theories about life. It' s pretty sad at the end of the chapter when he tells Mina that he believes his time is soon to be at hand. That Russian ship is pretty important later on. The case of Renfield- is there anything more disturbing and fascinating to read about in this book? Probably, but it is a valuable part of the book all the same. Renfield is so unpredictable and yet intelligent, which makes him so dangerous. I wonder what would happen if he were to ally himself with Dracula? *hint hint* That Mina is one smart person in how she could tell that something was up with the letter that she recieved from Jonathan. If only she could figure out what was wrong with it...
Chapter 7: This whole chapter tells of the storm and the ship washed ashore with a dead man tied to the wheel. It's a pretty ominous chapter, if you ask me. Reading the ship's log was my favorite part of this chapter. Can you imagine being on a boat with its occupants being picked off one by one? At least the captain had some sort of an idea as to what he was dealing with and tied the Rosary to his hands so that Dracula (of whose presence on the ship he wasn't aware of until far into the voyage) couldn't touch him. The black dog who runs off of the ship is, of course, Dracula. How else could it have disappeared without a trace? It's also characteristic of Dracula to summon storms if he so desires to accomplish some dark task. Poor Mr. Swales, being killed by a vampire and all. At least he knew that his time was coming and he was ready for it, but that doesn't make it any less terrifying.
Chapter 8: Lucy's sleepwalking experience must have been quite an ordeal for both Mina and Lucy to go through. Hopefully no permanant damage is done to Lucy. Hopefully Lucy's and Mrs. Westenra's health(s?) hold out, since each seems to be relying on the other staying well in order to survive. It's strange that Lucy doesn't really remember here sleepwalking experiences. Uh, oh! Dracula's dirt has arrived at Carfax, which is right next to Dr. Seward's insane asylum. Renfield escapes and runs to Carfax, so there's almost difinitely some sort of communication going on between him and Dracula. At least Mina finally knows about Jonathan and where he is. Unfortunately, he's recovering from deleria, but he's alive and in a safe place. I'm glad that Mina and Jonathan can finally marry!
Chapter 9: What a sweet reunion between Mina and Jonathan! That was a pretty great wedding present, with Jonathan's diary all wrapped up to prove that they trust each other. I suspect that they may need to look into it sometime, though. There's definitely something up with Renfield and the sun going down and his second escape. He seems to know that the time is coming for Dracula to brak out and start preying upon the citizens of London or somesuch. I'm glad that Lucy's finally keeping a journal so we can see her thoughts on the situation. The doctors and everyone seem to be perplexed as to why she is showing clear signs of blood loss, but they can find no lacerations nor signs of anemia. We finally meet Van Helsing, who is traditionally fabled as a vampire hunter! As of this point of the story, he doesn't go around slaying vampires for fun, he's just a super-smart physician that knows a lot and trusts his intuition. I'm glad that they brought in Van Helsing to evaluate the situation.
Chapter 10: Oh, poor Lucy! She's doing so much worse and is right on the edge of death! That last-minute blood transfusion really saved here. If only someone could stay with her every night, since Dracula seems to strike only when she is alone. Unfortunately, that is not possible, since everyone needs to sleep. Van Helsing is one of my favorite characters in this whole book. He knows what he is doing, and he's entertaining. When they find Lucy in need of a blood transfusion a second time and they see the puncture wounds in her throat, Van Helsing seems to catch on as to what is happening and goes to get some preventive measures, such as the garlic all around the room and around her neck as she sleeps. The chapter ends with such suspense, as Van Helsing is confident that his remedy will work and Dr. Seward is questioning it, since last time he thought that Lucy would by alright, she ended up even worse than before.