Salinas AP Lit

Despite Dracula's immense power, he has a few major weaknesses, including not being able to enter a residency without being invited, garlic, crosses, and most importantly, having to sleep in a coffin containing his personal soil. To mitigate this weakness, Dracula uses coffins as a part of his master plan. When he climbs aboard the ship to Whitby, he brings with him fifty coffins, all with his own soil in them. He then hides them throughout the town in secret locations, meaning he is always close to a coffin. This effectively removes one of his four major weaknesses, as he can travel wherever he wants at night and still be able to sleep in a coffin. Additionally, by disguising himself as a wolf, the townspeople invite him in, meaning he is able to wreak havoc on it. Later, he is also able to use his mind control powers on Lucy to get her to invite him into Mina's house so he can suck her blood. This effectively removes another weakness from the list, meaning he has effectively ...

Many of the characters in Dracula  are not superstitious at first. First, when Jonathan watches Dracula jump off his balcony and climb up the walls of his castle, he wonders if he can do that. He also is a little startled by Dracula reaching for his throat with intensely angry eyes, but he just finds it odd and nothing more. When Lucy is repeatedly bitten, everyone assumes the bite marks are from safety pins, despite her obviously declining health. As she is dying and on the verge of death, no one seems to understand what is going on. Additionally, when Mina sees a mysterious cloud float through the town at night on several occasions, she is suspicious but doesn't think much of it, despite it lingering near Lucy. Only once Lucy has died and eventually brought back as a vampire do people become superstitious. However, Van Helsing is superstitious from the beginning, and he understands the situation better than anyone. When Lucy is dying, he makes sure to cover her house in garlic an...

     I have mixed feelings about the writing of  Dracula . On one hand, the novel is very well-written, and the descriptions of just about everything help transport you to the world of Dracula . On the other hand, there is so much description that it feels like any plot is lost in a sea of words. I believe that choosing to describe the scenery and setting so often was a conscious choice by Stoker, made to add to the terror of the Count. However, it feels far too exaggerated, with endless paragraphs that could be condensed into a few strong sentences. As the novel goes on, the descriptions become more and more relevant, but there is still far to many.      The characters, however, are mostly well-written. Jonathan Harker is meant to be an arrogant lawyer, which he very much is, and Stoker makes a point to show his cluelessness. Despite Dracula acting extremely suspicious, having no reflection, reaching for his throat, and jumping off a balcony, Harker s...