WEEK 2: INTERVIEW WITH A VAMPIRE

Reading Interview with a Vampire left me with a sadness I can’t really describe. I felt almost empty and had a strong sense of loss and numbness to the world. I guess this is probably how Louis felt the whole time he was a vampire. The absence of his feelings was so apparent whenever he was around others and he constantly had no will to live. Not only did he lose people he loved before he turned, but he was constantly being tested and pushed by the circumstances in his life that made him feel more and more numb as the days go by.

I thought it was really interesting to experience the way Louis felt compared to Lestat. Just because he was so flamboyant and lustful. To me it felt like Louis and Lestat as vampires, it was almost like they had awakened abruptly from a dream. Because somehow they are both so very aware of the fact that they are immortal. Every second they know, they can never die. Every second they need to live with themselves and trapped forever in a life like this. Lestat takes to parties and drugs and amplifies a lustful and loud personality while Louis one of a moping and self-indulgent sort. I feel like both of these personalities are ways and outbursts as a result of grief and a state of mind where something is clearly bothering them this is their way of coping.

After learning about the author in class it kind of makes sense too because the way the characters are portrayed really show someone mourning. Both characters mourning their mortality in their own way. I think I really felt for them because despite being vampires and having it in a dressed-up setting, the feelings underneath all of it are so real. The outbursts very honest and their reactions very true. That numbness all the characters can’t escape always show that they are basically trapped and they have to live everyday coping and dealing with it.

Claudia was a character that I really liked, she was twisted and naughty. I thought it was very smart to use a child to portray this type of character because it really showed her mischievous side for what it is. I felt that because she was a woman in a child’s body, all her actions were very clear because we just wouldn’t expect it. And each time we remember she is a child we are just hit with the reality once more and reminded of how dire each situation actually is.