The title is a link to a pretty interesting criticism of Luella Miller. It's pretty long, but if you're bored, then take a look. It discusses the 'addiction' exhibited by her victims. The author makes some interesting points about the story being horror not because of the deaths, but because of the "loss of self". He goes on to point out that Luella's victims follow the same path as many drug addicts, applying their lives to the drug, even possibly showing "mothering" actions toward it and finally losing all sense of self and dying (or going crazy from the drug). I think that's a pretty cool idea.
It also discusses a little about the depiction of single women as babies, unknowledgeable, unable to care for themselves and lacking a sense of self. The paper also makes Luella a victim in some ways.
The only thing that drives me insane about this paper is the author grabs the idea of vampires and proceeds to only give credit to the idea of vampires, despite the fact that he says she is not supernatural in any way. He even at one point says "she is obviously a vampire." Sorry, this bothered me a ton. A counter argument would have been nice.
2 comments:
I can't find the "obviously a vampire" remark, but Nakagawa seems to be arguing that a vampire story need not be a supernatural story -- that Luella, though no supernatural being, is nevertheless a vampire.
I disagree wholeheartedly! I do NOT think Luella is a vampire at all. Never in the text does it mention sucking blood. Her "victims" seem to waste away but if it was loss of blood wouldn't there be different symptoms? Another strange element is that she is often present and active during the day which isn't a very vampiric (is that a word) characteristic. The way she dies is odd too. Vampires don't really die in the stories I've read. They become weaker and weaker if they don't have blood, yes, but they don't die due to the lack of it. Also Luella eats and drinks human food numerous times in the story. It even seems to help sustain her in a weak point in her life. This is not normal of vampire behavior. If she is a vampire-and i completely disagree with this thought- than she doesn't possess the confidence that most others do. Most evil vampires (and she would be classified thusly) are cocky and in your face about their power over others: Luella is weak in every sense. She takes verbal beatings from Lydia and never once talks back. She just appears sad and hurt.
Talk about a rant...sorry
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