How is everybody's reading going so far? Did you make it past the slow introduction?
I'm interested in hearing about your intial impressions of Count Dracula. Consider the following suggestions: where does he live, how does he speak, act, smell? In other words, how would you characterize this character? And what about Harker's reaction ot the Count? Do you think he's too naive or does he act reasonably?
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In all honesty, I think Harker is a fool when it comes to the Count. If he had heard the vampire legends, and you find out later in the book that he had, than he should have put two and two together quite easily! The Count refused to eat, did not show up in a mirror, crawled up and down walls, and controled a various number of despised beast. If he had any sense he would have found a way to escape a lot quicker than he did.
ReplyDeleteWhen it comes to the Count, a lot of people would think Harker was crazy for not realizing that something is amiss. They argue that between the Count's lack of appetite (mentioned throughout the beginning chapters of the novel) and the fact he does not have a relfection (page 30), Harker should have realized how suspicious the Count was acting and that he should have caught the next train home. These people probably forget that, in the time of this novel, people were taught as children to be respectful and to mind their manners. In that society, it would have been shameful of Harker to pack up and leave the man who was his host. Of course, no one could blame Harker when he finally did leave!
ReplyDeleteI like your thought process, Alyssa, but in the case of manners and respect, I don't think it mattered much in Harker's dilemma. He obviously didn't mind his manners when he tried, unsuccessfully, to decapitate the Count (ch. 4). Besides, if a life was endangered than I believe it was considered perfectly adequate to drop all manners of cilvility in a search for protection.
ReplyDeleteYou make a good point, Cassie. I was merely trying to offer a possible explanation as to why Harker did not leave right away. Of course, when the situation got more dire, Harker first made an attempt to contact people on the outside (to be more specific, Mina and, if I recall correctly, Hawkins), and then he made his escape.
ReplyDeleteAfter re-reading the beginning chapters, I now do think that Harker was fairly naive when it came to the count. He witnessed some unsettling occurances, yet he waited to act.
You are both right. Harker was dim-witted but as ALyssa noted, it would have been rude for him to be rude to his guest. This is a different time. Nice discussion girls! Always a great idea to re-read too!!
ReplyDeleteWhen an indivdual starts reading Dracula they are aware that it is about a vampire, so obviously when Dracula appears in the book, the reader immediately knows what he is. The fact that this Count can have control over wolves, not have a reflection, and never seems to eat would be a clue to anyone that he is not a human being. However, Jonathan Harker was a naive man that only tried to be polite during his stay with Dracula. In the beginning of the book Harker does not express in any way that he thinks the Count could be anything but human. Harker only thinks that he is eccentric. The longer Jonathan has to stay with the Count the more he realizes that something is fishy, but he never really shows any disrespect. The Count's foul odor and act of climbing walls makes something click in Harker's head. He realizes that he is not dealing with a normal being. At this point in the book the reader may be annoyed with Harker's ignorance, but he does try to escape. He wasn't stupid enough to just accept his situation; he wanted to leave! I know Harker was a very naive person, but he was just trying to be a respectable business man by not judging his client.
ReplyDeleteWhen I started reading Dracula I thought that Harker was very naive and foolish to not believe and take heed to the warnings of the villagers in Translyvania. But, honestly how many of us would believe in vampires even if we saw all the horrors that Harker witnessed with his own eye. Of course we would blame it on lack of sleep or a mind trick just as Harker did. So I believe that Harker was just as reasonable as any human would be when faced with that situation.
ReplyDeleteWhile reading Harker's journal entries about the strange happenings before meeting Dracula and during his stay in the Count's home, I thought Harker's oblivion annoying. It bothered me that Harker did not realize the trap he had so willingly walked into. But now as I ponder it a little more, I feel I would have reacted the same way as Harker did. In the beginning I thought that the Count's intentions were harmless. I tried to see him as just a prisoner to this lifestyle, but after reading further I just cannot seem to get past the fact that the Count did so many vile things. So in my opinion Harker did act reasonably to the situation. His actions were that of a well raised young man of the 1800's.
ReplyDeleteBefore starting this book, I knew nothing about it. I did come to the conclusion that Dracula was a vampire on my own, but only because of today's literature and tv shows. The first thing I noticed was that he would never sit and eat with Jonathan Harker. It was not significant by itself though, until I realized he also never came out during that day. The moment it actually dinged that he was a vampire was when Harker was looking at his own reflection in the mirror, but Draculas would not appear, even though Harker could see he was standing right behind him, the mirror said otherwise. I think Harker wasn't naive because it took me awhile to come to the conclusion that he was a vampire so there may be the chance he didn't figure it out for days either. And also, I think if you are locked in a castle with someone, you would not want to believe you are locked in with someone who wants to suck your blood, maybe it was denial instead of being naive. However, when Harker starts relizing his life is in danger, I think he reacts responsibily by realizing he needs to escape, and by doing it in a cautious way. I believe even if Harker had asked to leave, and it had not been thought of as so disrepectful Dracula would have taken offense and Harker would not be the same as he was, he would have been immortal and a vampire. And once he was realizing leaving was his only hope, everything was locked and the only way out of the castle was down the wall, which took courage for his life could have ended many ways in the very beginning of the book.
ReplyDeleteHarker acts very reasonably during his first few nights with the Count. As days pass however he begins to notice that the Count has many strange qualities to him. When Harker was shaving and he noticed that the Count had no reflection was rather disturbing, but how the count reacted to the blood on him from accidentally cutting himself with his razor was the most peculiar to me. The Count saw the blood on his face and made a grab for Harker's throat! Harker described that the Count was furios until the Count had seized the beaded necklace around Harker that held the crucifix. (31) The Count's anger then rushed away and he stormed out of the room after taking Harker's shaving glass and removing it by throwing it out of the window to shatter on the rocks below.
ReplyDeleteWhile I read the book I new it was about a vampire, but I new nothing about vampires other then they sucked human blood. As the story mentioned Dracula not having a reflection, not eating and behaving in a different matter, Mr. Harker may have known little about vampires as I did. A vampire could have been far from crossing his mind in the beginning of the story. But as the novel grew I think Harker could have taken notice much sooner then he did. The vampire image could have been seen when the Count saw blood on his face when shaving and the Count grabbed at Harker's throat and when the Count was asked about Transylwanian history Harker said Count Dracula spoke as if he was there. Mr. Harker should have taken a little notice that vampires don't die and Count Dracula was in Transylwanian history.
ReplyDeleteThe beginning was very slow and difficult to understand. Before reading, and by the book cover, I already knew this book would be about vampires. Count Dracula acts very strange and mysterious. Count was friendly and harmless when Jonathan met him. So i did not really think Count would keep him as prisoner it came as a surprise to me. Then Jonathan notices one night that Count is crawling on walls and not appearing in a mirror and also grabs at his throat when Harker cuts himself shaving.(page 31), but I do not like how the Count has people put on Harkers clothes and makes people think that Harker is delivering his own letters and letting other think that is Harker when its really not, like Jonathan Harker said its counts "New scheme of evil" (page 45)
ReplyDeleteI found Harker to be very naive at the beginning of the story. He wrote of many strange occurrences before even meeting Dracula. I feel like he should have gotten some clue that something was amiss.Then when he finally came into contact with the count I thought that Dracula's appearance would have made him realize at least a little bit of danger.The count seemed to be an intimidating being because he was dressed in black all the time, and completely pale. Then with the progression of the novel more and more strange things about the count were revealed. So, I found Harker to be extremely naive in this situation.
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ReplyDeleteThroughout the beginning of the book Harker writes of many of the vampire warning signs in his journal. He does so without acknowledging that Dracula is a vampire. I realize that Stoker did this to make the reader aware that Count Dracula was a vampire but it makes Harker seem oblivious to the fact he is in complete danger. When he notes certain things but thinks nothing of it has Harker looking as though he is blind to something obvious.
ReplyDeleteOn a different note I really appreciated the amount of imagery Stoker has put into this novel. Though the beginning wasn't very fast paced, I liked how vivid all the scenes where.
When I started reading Dracula it was going really slow and i really wanted something to happen. I wanted to stop reading when the new characters, like Lucy and Mina, were introduced because I wanted to know what was going to happen with Jonathan and Dracula. I liked when Mina was puting all the journals in order that it came together as the book, which was very creative.
ReplyDeleteHonestly, it was painful to read the introduction. Like so many others have said, it was the overly-descriptive details that made me want to put the book down. I prefer to read dialogue or character's thoughts than what the background looks like, so it was a real nightmare for me and left me forgetting what had happened so far. But the story got more interesting once Harker began to understand what Dracula really was, even if he was a bit naive. He wrote down all the strange characteristics of the Count, and all the while not noticing that he was a vampire... but Harker's naiveté is understandable: maybe he was ignorant, or maybe he didn't want to believe that the man who's place he was staying at was a creature of legend in the beginning.
ReplyDeleteHarker could have been a bit smarter while he was in the castle. He began to get suspicious when he thought there were no servants which he comfirmed when he saw Dracula making Harker's bed and setting the table in the dining room(page 23). He noticed strange things about the Count. The count would leave him at the first hint of sunlight, he had no reflection, he went crazy at the sight of blood, and he could climb walls. Harker should have been able to tell that Dracula was not just a "very peculiar man."
ReplyDeleteEven though I already knew that Count Dracula was a vampire, it would not have been hard to figure it out after spending a few nights at the castle. Before Harker even arrives at the castle, people are warning him of evil. Then when he arrives, he finds out that the Count is very strange. The Count does not have a reflection, he lunged at Harker at the sight of blood (page 31), he never eats, and he crawls up and down the side of the castle. Harker is naive for not putting together these clues. He should have realized he was in great danger and got out of there as soon as possible.
ReplyDeleteI think Harker's reaction to Dracula was very naive. With all the signs of a vampire surrounding him if he did not notice that, Harker should have at least noticed the odd things about the count. Just to name a few the fact that he never eats, Dracula didn't have any servants or people at the castle with him, and no reflection. Harker should have been a little more worried with all of the signs before getting to the castle. Such as the old woman putting the cross around his neck and all of the people warning him of evil. He should have been aware that something was not right and should have been a little more leary of the situation.
ReplyDeleteMy first impression of Johnathan Harker was that he was very niave when it came to Count Dracula. All the signs were there to show that he was a vampire but it took him a while to realize. Dracula lived the life of a typical vampire. His castle seemed deserted. He had no servants and people kept there distance. Dracula had a firm handshake which could lead you to think that he had great strength. He also was very pale, had no reflection, and "had more like the head of a dead than a living man."
ReplyDeleteMy general assumption I gained of Jonathan Harker after the first few chapters was how dismissive he was to the tell-tale signs that pointed to the Count being a vampire. Even before arriving to his castle, he noticed the superstition of locals regarding Dracula and conversations of vampires. He seemed very naive at the signs when he spent time at the castle, first when he shook hands with the Count, regarding his magnificent strength, noticing he never ate in front of Jonathan, how he would disappear completely during the day, and when Harker discovered he had no reflection. However, his views and actions could easily be recognizable as any of us from our time period, thinking of superstition and myths as unlikely and illogical. Some would say he was naive when he encountered the Count, I would say he was in a mindset of denial. Not many sensible people today would actually honestly think of someone as a vampire, just as Jonathan couldn't abruptly call Dracula one until much later in the book when his thoughts are justified by the opinions of others as well as the evidence against Dracula.
ReplyDeleteI actually liked the introduction of Dracula, at least when I got to chapter two. Johnathan was a peculiar fellow. He kept on his journey even though he was confronted with many tell-tale signs something was amiss, but he did have a job to do. I believe at the beginning of the book, Johnathan was quite naive about Dracula. He seemed frightened, but not as much of Dracula as he was of his surroundings. As he spent time with Dracula, he noticed the signs that pointed towards Dracula being abnormal such as crawling down walls, no reflection, and the fact that he never ate in front of him. I believe that if Johnathan did think of the Count as a vampire, he convinced himself otherwise, putting him in a state of denial, which later turned out to be almost deadly.
ReplyDeleteHaving heard about the book and being a lover of vampire folklore, I had already known that Dracula was a vampire. His demeanor was very stern. He seemed to be a secretive man, even though most of the town suspected his true identity anyways.
Harker was extremely oblivious to his surroundings and everything else that was going on around him. When he was in the castle he saw that Dracula had no reflection in the mirror at all, and that should've been a big hint that there was something suspicious going on and he needed to get out of there as fast as he possibly could. Also when Dracula would completely disappear during the day, that was even more suspicious.
ReplyDeleteConsidering my initial impression, I thought it was very suspicious who Count Dracula was. I thought is was mistrustful of him that he lived in a worn-down castle, far from civilization. His appearance, as described in chapter one, give the reader an uneasy feeling that something is wrong with this character. Harker realizes this about Count, but he is to timid to ask any oblivious questions so that he won't ruin his visit. But even so, Harker realizes in what a situation he is in, but by then it was to late.
ReplyDeleteDracula lives in a great wilderness, full of wolves and other horrible things. His house is a dark, dusty castle full of spider webs and locked doors. He himself is a suspicious character. He is very old but also very strong, he has hairy palms, and his breath smells of putrid death. He also seems to never eat, and casts no shadow or refletction. This in itself is enough for me to want to leave his presence. But even on the way there people were warning Johnathan not to go to his castle, and using words like, "satan" and "witch" when referring to the count. And also the woman at the inn begging him not to go to the castle. All these things would at least delay my going to the castle. When he first got there though, Dracula didn't seem too bad, but when he saw that the count had no reflection, he should have tried to get out of there. But in all reality there was nothing he could do, as soon as he got in the Dracula's carriage he was ultimately his play thing, to do with as he willed.
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