{"id":1896,"date":"2021-10-27T22:56:10","date_gmt":"2021-10-28T02:56:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/secretlives\/?p=1896"},"modified":"2021-10-27T22:56:10","modified_gmt":"2021-10-28T02:56:10","slug":"i-go-by-he-he-him-it-pronouns","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/secretlives\/2021\/10\/27\/i-go-by-he-he-him-it-pronouns\/","title":{"rendered":"I go by he\/He\/him\/It pronouns"},"content":{"rendered":"

This passage is interesting because Dracula is referred to as a variety of pronouns, a person, a thing, and maybe even a supernatural deity. He is given a godlike status by the use of pronouns from the first mate\u2019s perspective just before jumping overboard. The first mate had just witnessed Dracula in a scene the readers do not know about, and now is crazed by the experience. The \u201cHe\/Him\u201d (Stoker 95) pronouns used referring to Dracula are capitalized, usually only used this way when referring to a deity such as the Judeo-Christian God. This could mean that the mate has started wholeheartedly believing in the existence of Dracula as a supernatural figure, and sees fit to use godlike pronouns to suit Dracula. However, when the captain puts together that a monster has been killing his men, he addresses Dracula with \u201che\u201d\/ \u201chim\u201d (Stoker 95) pronouns (not capitalized). This humanizes Dracula in the small moment, making him a man and not an otherworldly being. In the following paragraph, when the captain sees Dracula with his own eyes, the captain exclaims he \u201csaw It-Him\u201d which again switches the way people view Dracula. The Him in this instance is capitalized, again perhaps indicating the deity status. Even later in the novel, when Mina first sees Dracula bent over Lucy, she refers to Dracula as \u201csomething\u201d (Stoker 101). This is yet another way the vampire is perceived because, in this case, Mina only sees his outline and red eyes. She is not convinced by any pretend humanity Dracula shows so she is unsure of the nature of him altogether. So, we have Mina referring to Dracula as a \u201csomething\u201d (Stoker 101), we have the captain referring to Dracula as \u201chim\u201d then \u201cIt\u201d and then \u201cHim\u201d, and the mate referring to Dracula as \u201cHim\u201d. None of these characters are entirely sure of Dracula\u2019s true form, so they range from calling him something otherworldly or godly, to a thing, to a man. It also makes Dracula all the more complex of a character to the readers because the story is written entirely through the eyes of other characters. As readers, we do not know a true unbiased view of Dracula, we only know what he looks like from characters that may have biases or not have a clear view of what he looks like<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This passage is interesting because Dracula is referred to as a variety of pronouns, a person, a thing, and maybe even a supernatural deity. He is given a godlike status by the use of pronouns from the first mate\u2019s perspective just before jumping overboard. The first mate had just witnessed Dracula in a scene the … Continue reading I go by he\/He\/him\/It pronouns<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4750,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[169398],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1896","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\/1896","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\/4750"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/secretlives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1896"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/secretlives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1896\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/secretlives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1896"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/secretlives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1896"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/secretlives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1896"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}