Mr_Shank

The story Dracula starts with the diary of Jonathan Harker. He is an English lawyer who is traveling to Eastern Europe to from England. He is traveling to see Count Dracula, a Transylvania. On his entry to his journal he describes the beautiful countryside. He stays at a hotel and plans on taking a carriage the next day. The morning was very interesting. He informs the innkeeper where he is going and she tells him that it is the eve of St. George’s Day. All things evil come out. He is disturbed and takes her cross around his neck out of respect. The trip is beautiful until they come closer to the castle. The passengers tell the driver to speed it up! They also offer Jonathan small gifts to ward off the evil. After being dropped off and transferred to another carriage, Harker is spooked by wolves, and the thought that this man takes this route a lot. There are many strange events along the way, like the blue flames, but he arrives at the castle, trembling with fear.

He meets Dracula, and his fear begins to go away. He is impressed with his height and firm handshake. When he goes inside, he sees his sharp teeth, and the fear returns. He wakes up to find that Dracula has left for the day. He starts to explore, and notices that there are no mirrors in the house. Later that night, Dracula returns and they have a conversation in the library about the house he has purchased. The conversation lasts a long time, but Dracula abruptly leaves at daybreak. This increases his suspicion and fear. The next day when Harker is shaving he is rudely interrupted by Dracula. He cuts himself and Dracula is very uneasy at the sight of blood. He warns Harker of the danger of bleeding in the area. Jonathan is very startled and goes exploring again. He sees doors locked after doors locked and realizes that he is a prisoner in Count’s castle.

Harker next starts to ask questions about the history of Transylvania and the people and Count boasts about his people. He asks questions about Jonathan too, and he tells him to tell his fiancé and his employer that he will be staying another month. He feels like he has to agree and does so. Later that night he goes to explore again, and sees the Count climbing the walls. He wonders what the heck he is, and if he can ever escape. Avoiding Count’s advice, Harker goes into a locked room and falls asleep. He thinks he is visited by three women, but he cannot say. The Count comes and tells them to go away, gives them a baby to eat. Harker then becomes unconscious.

The next day, Harker wakes up in his own bed, and wonders if what happened last night was real. Another odd thing that Count does is to tell his fiancé and employer that he has safely left the castle, and to address them a month later. Later that night, a group of gypsies come over and Harker tries to sneak a letter to one of them. Dracula ends up with it and says it hurts their friendship; it’s appalling. He burns the letter. After many weeks pass, more gypsies come to the castle. They bring boxes and Harker realizes that Count is doing nothing but horrible actions. When a women arrives to find her child, wolves come out and kill her. Harker climbs the wall to see Dracula’s room. He sees nothing but gold, and in a box, the Count. He is either dead or asleep, and Harker flees back to his room, terrified. June 29-Harker is promised he can leave the next day. He goes to his room and prays for his safety. He tries to kill Dracula and leave with gold. The entries end with him say goodbye to everyone, including Mina.

The next chapter is an exchange between Mina and Lucy. They are friends who are talking about their love lives. Mina describes her trip with Lucy, and how beautiful it was. Mina expresses that she is worried over her missing fiance. She sees a ship with Mr. Swales and he says that she will hear more about it. The boat that is washed up and crashed is full of boxes and a dog leaps onto the land. The ship is called Demeter. On the sea, there were many strange things happening with the crews. After this, it goes back to Mina’s point of view where she talks about the crash, and the fear of not seeing Jonathan. Lucy continues to walk at night while she sleeps. Mr. Swales is dead, a look of horror on his face, a cause of her restlessness.

Transylvania- I just think this work sounds cool, and it is the setting of the story.

Picturesque- This describes the land in many parts of the story so far. It also sounds cool, and is key to the setting’s description.

Count- I think this is important because it is the vampire’s name, and it is also a verb. His name is count! How many people can say their name is a verb?

Borgo Pass- Also another fun word to say. This is where things started to go downhill for Jonathan.

Evil- This was important to the story because it was the basis for the author’s foreshadowing. He used this to put fear into the reader, and Harker has dealt with lots of evil.

Dan Black