Bram Stoker’s Dracula begins with the travels of Jonathan Harker, an Englishman on his way to Transylvania to meet with Count Dracula in his castle, where he has business to attend to with the Count. Jonathan Harker travels through Eastern Europe on his journey to Count Dracula’s castle. The journey takes him five days, though he only briefly mentions the first two days, and instead goes into great detail about the last three.
Harker describes most of the countries as very beautiful. They seem to be all rolling hills, castles, and blossoming trees. There isn’t much depth to his descriptions of the various lands, besides that they are aesthetically pleasing. There is, however, much more to draw from his thoughts on the people in the towns he passes through. Harker judges the people as being quite poor, going so far as to call them peasants and question the women’s modesty (or lack thereof). It almost seems that he regards their fears and religious beliefs as quaint; that is, until the end of the chapter, where he starts to doubt himself and become as fearful as them. One also gets the impression that he sees these peoples’ lives and the places they live in as novelties. Harker takes on a “tourist” persona as he travels through Eastern Europe, a place he has never seen before. It’s almost as if he is on vacation, trying different foods and meeting different people, only to be shoved into reality when he is whisked off to Count Dracula’s castle.
The countries and people are only depicted in this manner because this chapter is written as a first person narrative by Jonathan Harker. One could also describe it as an intradiegetic and autodiegetic narrative situation, such that Harker is the main character/protagonist inside of the story. The format of the narrative is also extremely important; Harker’s narrative in Dracula is presented to the reader in diary format. With this form of a first person narrative, the reader gets to look into the protagonist’s thoughts from the perspective of a personal journal. Another thing worth noting is that it seems that Harker writes in the diary at the end of the day, so one may also consider that the narrative is told in the past (rather than being delivered as a play-by-play in the present tense), presumably giving Harker time to reflect on the day’s events before writing them down.
Being introduced to the basic concepts and techniques of literary theory has aided in my interpretation and analysis of the text. Breaking down the process definitely made answering these questions much easier, and I think my answers are the more developed because of it. As Peter Barry said in Beginning Theory, “Require [theory] to be clear, and expect it, in the longer term, to deliver something solid.” I think, if one takes the right steps, theory will always be clear. Simply breaking down the narrative situation and how that affects the text is an easy and very important first step to any sort of analysis. One needs to understand the voice of the text before proceeding to dissect the meaning of the words.
I would have to agree with Mimi, being introduced to basic concepts in literary theory has helped with this assignment (as well as other readings). However, with this text, as well as Interview, I still couldn’t help but get sucked into the story and continue to read the book from how I normally would have done so; simply as the reader who is enjoying a story. I tried to stop numerous times and decipher things from a more academic viewpoint but I am still finding it hard to do so.
ReplyDeleteThe first chapter of Dracula was very descriptive, and although that usually annoys me, I found myself trying to let go of that annoyance and appreciate the writing style. Once I was sucked into the story I found myself only noticing “too much detail” from time to time. As Jonathan was describing his journey and the landscapes, he painted a picture in my head, which I appreciated. But I felt as though he spent too much time talking about the driver and such. I did, however, enjoy his rants about the towns-people and how they seemed to be poor but fascinating. As Mimi said, his tourist side truly came out when he was describing them because clearly they were different from what he was used to seeing in England. As I said before about the Hunger Games, and how I was irritated with Katniss’ inability to see what was to come, Jonathan’s inability to acknowledge how the locals were reacting to his visit to the Count also irritated me a bit. There was no real rhyme or reason as to his fearless persona, except perhaps that this part of Europe is more superstitious than the Western parts. C’est la vie.
I really liked the first person diary narrative; although Jonathan was oblivious to what he was getting himself into, I appreciated the transition that was happening and being told by him made it more suspenseful and interesting than if it were told through third person. Although still an introductory student to literary theory, I am enjoying the experience of picking this book apart. It, along with our discussions and posts, is giving me a better view of the story. Had I been just reading it on my own without this class I may have no picked up on many little details, such as his writing in first person past tense. I cannot comment any further, because I think Mimi pretty much summed up the first chapter and its content. But I will say that I am looking forward to continuing this book. Although I know the story for the most part, reading and dissecting it from a new point of view is making it that much more enjoyable.