Week 8

“Dracula” came to my mind when I thought about the blog post for this week. I am not sure why; maybe I like this book more than I thought. Bram Stoker uses journal entries as his form of storytelling. This style made it easier for Stoker to tell his story from different points of view. Ironically, the only perspective not included in the book is Dracula’s. Here is the excerpt I have chosen to analyze:

Suddenly with a single bound he [Dracula] leaped into the room, winning a way past us before any of us could raise a hand to stay him. There was something so panther-like in the movement—something so unhuman, that it seemed to sober us all from the shock of his coming. The first to act was Harker, who, with a quick movement, threw himself before the door leading into the room in the front of the house. As the Count saw us, a horrible sort of snarl passed over his face, showing the eye-teeth long and pointed; but the evil smile as quickly passed into a cold stare of lion-like disdain. (Stoker 266)

I love reading this passage out loud because it sounds amazing to the ear. Stoker has a talent for using strong words. He used snarl, versus look, to describe Dracula’s face. This paragraph also uses a lot of alliteration. The s sound adds to the intensity of the moment. Stoker skillfully describes the appearance of Dracula’s face instead of saying Dracula is angry. His details are descriptive and his imagery shows, rather than tells. Stoker is also very original in his writing. I have never heard the phrase “the eye-teeth long and pointed” be used to describe the appearance of someone’s face. I especially like how Dracula is compared to a panther and a lion to illustrate how he is not human.

Here is the mistake I found this week:

How these papers have been place in sequence will be made made manifest in the reading of them. All needless matters have been eliminated, so that a history almost at variance with the possibilities of later-day belief may stand forth as simple fact. There is throughout no statement of past things wherein memory may err, for all records chosen are exactly contemporary, given from the standpoints and within the range of knowledge of those who made them. (Stoker 5)

The paragraph above is the preface in “Dracula.” The editor/author forgot to take out the second made.