{"id":1855,"date":"2021-10-28T09:31:43","date_gmt":"2021-10-28T13:31:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/secretlives\/?p=1855"},"modified":"2021-10-28T09:31:43","modified_gmt":"2021-10-28T13:31:43","slug":"look-bending-over-lucy-its-a-shadow-its-a-figure-its-something","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/secretlives\/2021\/10\/28\/look-bending-over-lucy-its-a-shadow-its-a-figure-its-something\/","title":{"rendered":"Look! Bending over Lucy! It’s a shadow! It’s a figure! It’s…something?"},"content":{"rendered":"

“When I got almost to the top I could see the seat and the <\/span>white<\/span> figure<\/i><\/b>, for I was now close enough to distinguish<\/span> it <\/i><\/b>even through the <\/span>spells<\/span> of<\/span> shadow<\/b>. There was undoubtedly <\/span>something<\/i><\/b>,<\/span><\/i> long and<\/span> black<\/b>, bending over the half-reclining <\/span>white<\/span> figure. I called in fright, ‘Lucy! Lucy!’ and <\/span>something <\/i><\/b>raised a <\/span>head,<\/span><\/i> and from where I was I could see a <\/span>white<\/span> face <\/span><\/i>and <\/span>red<\/span>, gleaming <\/span>eyes<\/span><\/i>.”<\/span><\/p>\n

In the above passage, there is evidence of gothic elements that contribute to the monstrous nature displayed in <\/span>Dracula<\/span><\/i>. For instance, the juxtaposing repetitions of white and black (along with shadow and light) contribute to the chilling setting. In addition, the colors play with purity and corruption. Furthermore, Dracula is constantly referred to as a \u201cfigure\u201d, \u201cit\u201d, and \u201csomething\u201d, an unrecognizable and monstrous abomination of nature that cannot and will not be named. With this doubt of what Dracula is in this passage, there is a mood of eerie uncertainty that further emphasizes the concept of fearing the unknown. <\/span><\/p>\n

The utter powerlessness Jonathan feels comes from not being able to identify the something before him. If we know the name of something, it helps to ease our fear of it. You could say that true names hold power. Actually, this reminds me of holding control over a demon when you discover and say it’s real name.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

“When I got almost to the top I could see the seat and the white figure, for I was now close enough to distinguish it even through the spells of shadow. There was undoubtedly something, long and black, bending over the half-reclining white figure. I called in fright, ‘Lucy! Lucy!’ and something raised a head, … Continue reading Look! Bending over Lucy! It’s a shadow! It’s a figure! It’s…something?<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4770,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[169398],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1855","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-2021-blog-post"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/secretlives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1855","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/secretlives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/secretlives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/secretlives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4770"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/secretlives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1855"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/secretlives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1855\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/secretlives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1855"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/secretlives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1855"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/secretlives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1855"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}