Assignment #2

I am sure Kelsey has already found this but I think this web site is pretty interesting. I found the site http://vampires.monstrous.com/dracula_history.htm. It has the history of a lot of popular vampires and short stories about them and he history of them. One of the ancestors of Dracula is Basarab the Great (1310-1352). He was the first Prince of Wallachia which is a province of Romania. Dracula’s grandfather, Prince Mirces the Old regained from 1386-1418. Mircea had an illegitimate son named Vlad (Dracula’s farther) born around 1390. Vlad served as a page for King Sigismund of Hungary because he was educated in Hungary and Germany. Vlads son Vlad Tepes (Dracula) was born sometime between 1430 and 1431 in a Transylvanian town called Schassburg (aka Sighisoara). Just a little bit after he was born Vlad joined the order of the dragon. We think he got the name Vlad Dracul because it was believed the dragon stood for the devil or that Romanian archaic word for dragon is drac, so his subjects called him Vlad Dracul (Vlad the devil). The ending –uela means “the son of” so Druculs son Vlad III this became Vlad Dracula (the Son of the Devil). I recommend looking at the site because there are 4 pages on just the history of Dracula.
Ligeia- I think that the Vampire in the story is Ligeia, his wife. I think the way he describes her body in the second and third paragraph shows the she could be a vampire. He also showed signs of a vampire a little bit in the den of the first paragraph. I was really confused in the part of the story that is written like a poem I didn’t understand what that was supposed to be or what.

The Oval Portrait- I honestly can’t really say much about this because I was confused for the entire thing I couldn’t even sense a little bit that was like vampires. I mean is a good story but it is very confusing.
The Fall of the House of Usher. All I can really say is I think the friend at the beginning of the story is the Vampire because I can’t explain why but I just feel that it is. after that part I was confused again. I love Edgar Allan Poe but his stories can be really confusing to me.

1st Assignment

1).In my mind a vampire is nothing like they are portrayed as. Everyone who thinks of a vampire the first thing that comes to mind is a person who only comes out at night and can turn into a bat. Also they think a cross or sunlight can kill them, garlic keeps them away, and the only way to kill them is to shove a wooden stake through their heart. My view is a mix of Edward from Twilight and Mic from the show Moonlight. If you have never seen the show Mick St. John is a dective that is also a vampire. He is nothing like a normal vampire. He surpissilying hate being a Vampire, the only way they don’t age is if they feed on blood, but they can’t kill him, they only way to kill him is like you can kill a human. He doesn’t sleep in a coffin he sleeps in a freezer. To him garlic is very tasty on pizza. If you toss holy water on him he just gets wet, a cross doesn’t do anything to him. He can’t turn into a bat, and finally sunlight irritates him after a while. And I have a feeling a lot of people in the class know what Edward is like if you don’t you will when we read twilight. To me a vampire is a person who looks like a normal person and acts like a person. A vampire can go out in light and sunlight and nothing happens, a vampire can be catholic for all I care so a cross dose nothing to them nor dose holy water, a wooden stake hurts them but it won’t kill them. They do drink blood but they could get it from someone like Mick St. John or kill someone if they want to like Edward Cullen. They sleep in a bed, they could like garlic.

2).I hate to do it but a lot of the books I read are just plain horror so the only book I can think of is Twilight. I will not give anything away because I am guessing that there are some people in the class who have read it. But is about a guy and a girl (Edward and Bella) who meet when Bella moves from Arizona to forks Washington. They fall in love and Bella finds out that Edward is a vampire. So the book is a lot of Bella learning a lot about Edwards’s life and family. But later toward the end of the book there is a major twist but you will find out what it is. Werewolves play a little role in it but it doesn’t matter. The Cullen’s in Twilight are a lot like the vampire that I imagine but they only kill to get blood they don’t have a guy. Sunlight bothers them but lights like in a house or school don’t bother them.

3).Honestly I am happy about all the books that we are reading. I am just a little worried about me being able to finish the reading assiments because I am a slow reader but I will try my hardest to finish them. I have no problem with Twilight; in fact I’m almost done with New Moon the 2nd book. If I had to make a change I would say that we do not read the Historian just because it is very long. I know that because I have gotten all the books besides Vampires: Encounter with the Undead; by the way if anyone knows where to get it please tell me. If you do take that out of the list I am still going to read it on my own time.