Chapter 25: Mina makes all of the men promise that if she ever loses control of herself and completely changes into a vampire, they will kill her so she doesn't kill anyone else. All of the men struggle with this, but Jonathan has a particularly hard time with it. I wonder if Van Helsing had touched her with the Wafer during dawn or dusk she wouldn't have the red mark on her forehead, since her soul is free during those times of day. Mina's reports are still the same: lapping water and darkness. Everyone is grateful that bribery works in those parts of the world. Everyone is ready for Dracula's coming, but he doesn't come. Mina seems to be changing further into a vampire. Dracula's ship doesn't end up docking where/when it was reported that it would, so then the group has to travel to the actual port. It is decided that Dracula is too concerned with escaping to read Mina's actions, so they take her back into their confidence.
Chapter 26: The penultimate chapter! Mina's report is finally different, showing that Dracula is close to shore. They can finally go get him! Unfortunately, it is becoming harder to hypnotize Mina to get her reports of Dracula's actions. I wonder if that's because he cut her off and she's trying to see through a connection that's not there? The men speak to the captain of the ship, but the box was already taken away. They conclude that Dracula is traveling by boat up a river, and they're pretty sure as to which river it is. Jonathan and Arthur decide to travel by boat upriver to try to overtake the box, and Quincey and Dr. Seward decide to go along the river bank on horseback. Van Helsing is to go with Mina by carriage. Everyone is grateful for being loaded with cash. The hunt seems to be going pretty well.
Chapter 27: Mina is changing even further into a vampire. She sleeps all day and doesn't eat. She is constantly becoming more pale, and her trances are nigh impossible to bring about. When they stop for the night, Van Helsing makes a ring around Mina with the Wafer. This proves really useful because later the three vampire women come by and try to get Mina to join them. Mina refuses, which is really good. It shows that she may be changing, but at least she still has control over her soul to some degree. Poor horses. It's really bad that the boat Jonathan and Arthur are on is broken. I wonder if Dracula had a hand in this? Van Helsing comes across the tombs of the three women and he destroys their bodies, thus freeing their souls. It's a good thing he saw their expressions of relief after they were killed, otherwise he wouldn't have been able to go on. A recurring theme in this book is the notion that vampires can easily lure others to join their ranks by being beautiful. The tomb and chapel of Dracula are sterilized forever. Van Helsing and Mina hide out in a cave, and they witness both parties (Quincey and Dr. Seward, Jonathan and Arthur) closing in on the men transporting Dracula's body. Time is running out, since no one want to fight Dracula while he has his complete power. Quincey is injured while obtaining the box, but he and Jonathan open it and kill Dracula. Luckily for all, he has an expression of sheer relief at being released from his curse. It's really sad, though, since Quincey Morris dies. He was my favorite character, too! At least it was for a good and noble cause. The little epilogue is a nice conclusion to the book, since it shows that yes, all of what the band went through was worth it.
I really enjoy this book, as it is so well written. It's also captures the reader's attention by having so much happen in one chapter. I really recommend re-reading it some day since you pick up on so much more and it has much more meaning the second time around.
Wednesday, May 27, 2009
Dracula Chapters 21-24
Chapter 21: This is the chapter in which Renfield's story of involvement with Dracula is revealed. All of the hints dropped earlier in the book are explained here. Renfield reveals his role in letting Dracula into Dr. Seward's home, and the men finally realize what in happening to Mina. Soon afterward, Renfield dies from his horrendous injuries inflicted by Dracula. I'm surprised that they didn't notice that Mina was being preyed upon long before they did, especially after seeing those exact same signs in Lucy before she 'died.' Mina tells about being controlled by Dracula and having been forced to drink his blood. The chapter ends with everybody extremely unhappy and distraught.
Chapter 22: It's incredible to see the faith exhibited by all of the protagonists in this book. All of these dark events are occurring and yet they all are trusting that they will be delivered safely. Everybody decides that it is for the best that Mina is kept in full confidence. At the meeting, they all discuss the ligistics of going and destroying all of the earth boxes of Dracula's. When Van Helsing goes to bless Mina with the Wafer, it sears her skin since she is 'unclean' now. The men then set off to destroy the boxes and are successful in destroying all but one of them. They must then wait for Dracula to come.
Chapter 23: Jonathan, Dr. Seward, and Van Helsing have to wait for Quincy and Arthur to come back, hopefully before Dracula does. That way they could have more people to fight him when he comes. Van Helsing tries to keep Jonathan calm while waiting. Eventually Quincy and Arthur show up, and not long after that Dracula comes to the Picadilly house. He's absolutely furious, and makes a lunge at the men. Jonathan tries to slice him but misses. Dracula escapes, but at least the boxes are sterilized and he can't return to London. Mina makes everyone feel sorry for Dracula by explaining what it would feel like to be outcast for so long. During times of dusk and dawn, Van Helsing hipnotizes Mina since through here connection with Dracula she can see and hear what he sees and hears. They all find out that he is on a boat somewhere in his last earth-box.
Chapter 24: Van Helsing instructs Jonathan to stay with Mina while they search out Dracula, who has gone back to Transylvania. Mina is extremely happy about the fact that Jonathan is staying and that Dracula is far away. Van Helsing describes talking with the men who loaded the box onto the ship and dealt with Dracula. After looking back at the history of Dracula and his bloodline, the main characters see that his actions make more sense than they did before. Van Helsing and Dr. Seward have a discussion and decide to keep Mina out of the meetings since she is changing and can subconciously transmit information to Dracula. Luckily for them, Mina had reached this same conclusion and wasn't too upset about it. She decides that she must go with the men to kill the Count since her times of hipnotism can tell them lots about what he is doing. The men make plans for the journey, and write up their wills.
Chapter 22: It's incredible to see the faith exhibited by all of the protagonists in this book. All of these dark events are occurring and yet they all are trusting that they will be delivered safely. Everybody decides that it is for the best that Mina is kept in full confidence. At the meeting, they all discuss the ligistics of going and destroying all of the earth boxes of Dracula's. When Van Helsing goes to bless Mina with the Wafer, it sears her skin since she is 'unclean' now. The men then set off to destroy the boxes and are successful in destroying all but one of them. They must then wait for Dracula to come.
Chapter 23: Jonathan, Dr. Seward, and Van Helsing have to wait for Quincy and Arthur to come back, hopefully before Dracula does. That way they could have more people to fight him when he comes. Van Helsing tries to keep Jonathan calm while waiting. Eventually Quincy and Arthur show up, and not long after that Dracula comes to the Picadilly house. He's absolutely furious, and makes a lunge at the men. Jonathan tries to slice him but misses. Dracula escapes, but at least the boxes are sterilized and he can't return to London. Mina makes everyone feel sorry for Dracula by explaining what it would feel like to be outcast for so long. During times of dusk and dawn, Van Helsing hipnotizes Mina since through here connection with Dracula she can see and hear what he sees and hears. They all find out that he is on a boat somewhere in his last earth-box.
Chapter 24: Van Helsing instructs Jonathan to stay with Mina while they search out Dracula, who has gone back to Transylvania. Mina is extremely happy about the fact that Jonathan is staying and that Dracula is far away. Van Helsing describes talking with the men who loaded the box onto the ship and dealt with Dracula. After looking back at the history of Dracula and his bloodline, the main characters see that his actions make more sense than they did before. Van Helsing and Dr. Seward have a discussion and decide to keep Mina out of the meetings since she is changing and can subconciously transmit information to Dracula. Luckily for them, Mina had reached this same conclusion and wasn't too upset about it. She decides that she must go with the men to kill the Count since her times of hipnotism can tell them lots about what he is doing. The men make plans for the journey, and write up their wills.
Sunday, May 17, 2009
Dracula Chapters 16-20
Hooray! I finally finished the book! Now for all of the blogging...
Chapter 16: Yay for grave debauchery! This chapter is full of suspense and a sense of sadness for all of the men really, but especially for Arthur, who has to come to terms with the fact that his beloved is indeed a vampire and must be slain by him. At least Lucy is at peace now before her soul could get too plagued by evil. It would have been pretty terrifying to be one of those people in the graveyard when the vampire came back to her lair. It's a good thing they all had the necessary equipment!
Chapter 17: Mina arrives at Dr. Seward's home/lunatic asylum, and she and Dr. Seward decide to tell each other all that has been going on. I believe that this is the chapter in which Mina goes through and types up all of the diaries and documents and compiles them in a book in chronological order (much like the book we're reading!). I'd guess that this was Bram Stoker's intent to make the characters seem more real by having them 'write' the book. It's a really neat device and I really like it. But I digress. Not too much really happens in this chapter. Jonathan goes off to find out about the boxes of earth, and Mina meets Quincy Morris and Arthur Holmwood. She becomes good friends with them both.
Chapter 18: In this chapter Mina meets Renfield, and he seems more sane than he has ever been. She seems to have some sort of a positive effect on him. Everybody reads the compilation of the texts and diaries and then they all meet together to discuss a course of action to rid the world of Count Dracula. They talk about what his strengths and weaknesses are, and also vampire 'cures.' I suspect that Dracula was eavesdropping in bat form, however. At least Quicy got him to leave by shooting at him before he heard too much. Renfield later calls in Mina to talk with her and he begs everyone to let him go that night. The fact that he was denied this request is very important to the story later on.
Chapter 19: The men (Jonathan, Quincy, Arthur, Van Helsing, and Dr. Seward) go into Carfax to see what they can find while Dracula is away. Rats were called from every cranny in that old house and chapel. It is lucky that there were dogs at the command of the protagonists to chase out all of the rats. Later when the men come back to the asylum, Renfield is in distress. This is also extremely important, as is the fact that Mina is pale when Jonathan sees her later that night. What happens is Dracula is invited in, semi-unwillingly, by Renfield, who then regrets his decision. Dracula then proceeds to visit Mina for a while before the men notice. The men decide to leave Mina out of their counsels, since they think that the stress and worry of these is what is making her pale and lethargic. Mina dreams of Dracula coming to visit her in the night, and little does she know that this is more than a dream. The next night she makes the mistake of taking a sleeping drug.
Chapter 20: Jonathan goes about tracking the locations of the boxes that were moved from the house. The men decided that when they go to sterilize Dracula's living places, they should do them all at once. Some of the box-movers were helpful, but all of them required bribes. Renfield is acting reasonable again, and Dr. Seward tries to figure out what he means when he says various things about not being zoophogous anymore. Dr. Seward finally realizes that the Count probably recently visited Renfield. Everyone is off doing their own thing in order to get matters ready to kill Dracula. At the very end, Renfield is found all bloodied in his room. This is probably Dracula's work.
Chapter 16: Yay for grave debauchery! This chapter is full of suspense and a sense of sadness for all of the men really, but especially for Arthur, who has to come to terms with the fact that his beloved is indeed a vampire and must be slain by him. At least Lucy is at peace now before her soul could get too plagued by evil. It would have been pretty terrifying to be one of those people in the graveyard when the vampire came back to her lair. It's a good thing they all had the necessary equipment!
Chapter 17: Mina arrives at Dr. Seward's home/lunatic asylum, and she and Dr. Seward decide to tell each other all that has been going on. I believe that this is the chapter in which Mina goes through and types up all of the diaries and documents and compiles them in a book in chronological order (much like the book we're reading!). I'd guess that this was Bram Stoker's intent to make the characters seem more real by having them 'write' the book. It's a really neat device and I really like it. But I digress. Not too much really happens in this chapter. Jonathan goes off to find out about the boxes of earth, and Mina meets Quincy Morris and Arthur Holmwood. She becomes good friends with them both.
Chapter 18: In this chapter Mina meets Renfield, and he seems more sane than he has ever been. She seems to have some sort of a positive effect on him. Everybody reads the compilation of the texts and diaries and then they all meet together to discuss a course of action to rid the world of Count Dracula. They talk about what his strengths and weaknesses are, and also vampire 'cures.' I suspect that Dracula was eavesdropping in bat form, however. At least Quicy got him to leave by shooting at him before he heard too much. Renfield later calls in Mina to talk with her and he begs everyone to let him go that night. The fact that he was denied this request is very important to the story later on.
Chapter 19: The men (Jonathan, Quincy, Arthur, Van Helsing, and Dr. Seward) go into Carfax to see what they can find while Dracula is away. Rats were called from every cranny in that old house and chapel. It is lucky that there were dogs at the command of the protagonists to chase out all of the rats. Later when the men come back to the asylum, Renfield is in distress. This is also extremely important, as is the fact that Mina is pale when Jonathan sees her later that night. What happens is Dracula is invited in, semi-unwillingly, by Renfield, who then regrets his decision. Dracula then proceeds to visit Mina for a while before the men notice. The men decide to leave Mina out of their counsels, since they think that the stress and worry of these is what is making her pale and lethargic. Mina dreams of Dracula coming to visit her in the night, and little does she know that this is more than a dream. The next night she makes the mistake of taking a sleeping drug.
Chapter 20: Jonathan goes about tracking the locations of the boxes that were moved from the house. The men decided that when they go to sterilize Dracula's living places, they should do them all at once. Some of the box-movers were helpful, but all of them required bribes. Renfield is acting reasonable again, and Dr. Seward tries to figure out what he means when he says various things about not being zoophogous anymore. Dr. Seward finally realizes that the Count probably recently visited Renfield. Everyone is off doing their own thing in order to get matters ready to kill Dracula. At the very end, Renfield is found all bloodied in his room. This is probably Dracula's work.
Dracula Chapters 12-15
Chapter 12: Unfortunately, Lucy has another one of her relapses, this time worse than any of the previous ones. Later in the chapter, when she is actually dying, she keeps switching between the 'vampire self' and her normal self. towards the very end, she calls Arthur over to say goodbye in an attempt to seduce him and make him like her. When she comes back to consciousness and realizes what she did, she is grateful to Van Helsing for not allowing Arthur to kiss her. When she finally dies, she gets back some of her previous beauty. This is a sure sign that something's not right, as Van Helsing realizes. Mina's letter to Lucy is sort of sad for two reasons: Mr. Hawkins died, and also her letter will never be answered by Lucy. The letter written to Dr. Seward by the temporary overseer of the madhouse was pretty interesting. It's not a good thing that the boxes of earth are getting moved around. It's unusual that Renfield would not want the boxes to be moved, since these would allow Dracula to move around London freely. As of this point in the book, Renfield is still under Dracula's control.
Chapter 13: It's pretty bizarre that Lucy's beauty keeps growing in death, which means that she is now almost definitely a vampire. It's a good thing that Van Helsing is gathering up all of the papers, since they will come in handy later on. Dr. Seward got quite a shock when Van Helsing mentioned his desire to cut off Lucy's head and take out her heart, since he doesn't yet realize what has happened to her. Poor Arthur, having to go through all of this. The worst hasn't yet come for any of the characters. Even the normally stoic Van Helsing breaks down at some point. I think Quincy Morris is the only one who doesn't. Mina finally finds out that Lucy and Mrs. Westenra have died, and Jonathan sees Dracula while he and Mina are taking a walk. Luckily he seems to forget the incident later on in the chapter. The occurences of children being attacked by the 'bloofer lady' is not a good sign for anyone, seing as this lady is Lucy.
Chapter 14: Mina decides it is for the best for her to read Jonathan's journal and is greatly disturbed by what she sees. She also recieves a second telegram from Van Helsing (the first being the one that let her know that Lucy and Mrs. Westenra are dead) and meets with him. She gives him a typewritten copy of Jonathan's journal and speaks with him about the strange occurences. Van Helsing lets her know that what Jonathan wrote about in the journal was indeed true, and this knowledge basically cures Jonathan, since the not knowing is what got to him and made him sick for so long. At the end of the chapter, Van Helsing tries to explain to Dr. Seward what happened to Lucy, but Dr. Seward is unwilling to believe at this point in the story.
Chapter 15: Dr. Seward is still quite angry with Van Helsing for saying what he did about Lucy (how she was now a nosfaratu), but he goes along anyways when they go to talk to one of the children attacked by the 'bloofer (beautiful) lady.' Later that night, they go to Lucy's tomb and open her coffin, only to discover that she is not there. They then go and wait for her to come back. A white figure holding a child comes back to Lucy's tomb, and Van Helsing is able to get the child before the figure can hurt it. The next day, they return to Lucy's tomb and see that she is in her coffin, looking more beautiful than ever. Dr. Seward finally starts to believe Van Helsing's theory that she is a vampire. Van Helsing is determined to kill her, but not without Arthur's consent. Van Helsing goes later to block off her tomb at night and leaves a just-in-case note for Dr. Seward. Towards the end of the chapter, the four men (Arthur, Quincy, Dr. Seward, and Van Helsing) meet to talk about what to do with Lucy. Arthur has a really hard time with this, but eventually he is willing to accept what needs to be done.
Chapter 13: It's pretty bizarre that Lucy's beauty keeps growing in death, which means that she is now almost definitely a vampire. It's a good thing that Van Helsing is gathering up all of the papers, since they will come in handy later on. Dr. Seward got quite a shock when Van Helsing mentioned his desire to cut off Lucy's head and take out her heart, since he doesn't yet realize what has happened to her. Poor Arthur, having to go through all of this. The worst hasn't yet come for any of the characters. Even the normally stoic Van Helsing breaks down at some point. I think Quincy Morris is the only one who doesn't. Mina finally finds out that Lucy and Mrs. Westenra have died, and Jonathan sees Dracula while he and Mina are taking a walk. Luckily he seems to forget the incident later on in the chapter. The occurences of children being attacked by the 'bloofer lady' is not a good sign for anyone, seing as this lady is Lucy.
Chapter 14: Mina decides it is for the best for her to read Jonathan's journal and is greatly disturbed by what she sees. She also recieves a second telegram from Van Helsing (the first being the one that let her know that Lucy and Mrs. Westenra are dead) and meets with him. She gives him a typewritten copy of Jonathan's journal and speaks with him about the strange occurences. Van Helsing lets her know that what Jonathan wrote about in the journal was indeed true, and this knowledge basically cures Jonathan, since the not knowing is what got to him and made him sick for so long. At the end of the chapter, Van Helsing tries to explain to Dr. Seward what happened to Lucy, but Dr. Seward is unwilling to believe at this point in the story.
Chapter 15: Dr. Seward is still quite angry with Van Helsing for saying what he did about Lucy (how she was now a nosfaratu), but he goes along anyways when they go to talk to one of the children attacked by the 'bloofer (beautiful) lady.' Later that night, they go to Lucy's tomb and open her coffin, only to discover that she is not there. They then go and wait for her to come back. A white figure holding a child comes back to Lucy's tomb, and Van Helsing is able to get the child before the figure can hurt it. The next day, they return to Lucy's tomb and see that she is in her coffin, looking more beautiful than ever. Dr. Seward finally starts to believe Van Helsing's theory that she is a vampire. Van Helsing is determined to kill her, but not without Arthur's consent. Van Helsing goes later to block off her tomb at night and leaves a just-in-case note for Dr. Seward. Towards the end of the chapter, the four men (Arthur, Quincy, Dr. Seward, and Van Helsing) meet to talk about what to do with Lucy. Arthur has a really hard time with this, but eventually he is willing to accept what needs to be done.
Wednesday, May 6, 2009
Dracula Chapter 11
Chapter 11: Well, it all seems to be going so well, until Dr. Seward and Van Helsing find out that Mrs. Westenra removed all of the garlic flowers from Lucy's room and opened up her window, which is exactly what Van Helsing told Lucy not to do, but neglected to tell Mrs. Westenra for fear of causing her undo stress. I feel bad for all of them, since they're all trying to do what's best for Lucy. This time it's good old Van Helsing that has to give Lucy the blood transfusion. I guess that Dr. Seward hasn't figured out that Lucy's being attacked by a vampire because he's so science-minded and would have trouble believing myths and legends. That's so unfortunate at the end of the chapter that there was a fatal miscommunication! That would have been so terrifying to be in Lucy's shoes! As for the wolf escape, that was quite interesting to read about. The zookeeper's English was a little hard to understand at first, but after getting used to it it's not so bad. Dracula was going around stirring up trouble again. At least the wolf was unharmed. Moving on to Renfield; that's pretty disgusting that he would go and cut Dr. Seward and then drink his blood.
I'll have more later. I've read through chapter 20, but my blogging is lagging a little bit. I'll try to have it soon!
I'll have more later. I've read through chapter 20, but my blogging is lagging a little bit. I'll try to have it soon!
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