This project is about Dracula, you can create a Newspaper or something else as your project style, the topic and the project style can be chosen as the details described, and there is only one topic o

Cady 1 Dr. Campbell ENGL 2240 11 November 2019 Passivity Killed the Cat The novel Dracula, by Bram Stoker, is a classic gothic tale that has made its mark throughout the literary world of both the past and present. This novel is filled to the brim with a wide variety of topics and themes to discuss. However, one that had particularly caught my e ye was the idea of the characters’ passivity and how it plays a part throughout their hunt for the vampire. Jonathan Harker, my character of focus, begins the novel with his trip to the Count’s castle. Despite encountering strange superstitions and suspici ous mutterings from the local folk about the doom he is about to face, Harker presses on in his business ventures. He presses on, too, even in the face of a terribly dark and crooked host and in the midst of three unannounced ghostly yet enticing women. Th e question I found myself asking throughout my reading and creating process for this project was if Harker is aware of the strange happenings with the Count and his castle, why does he not stand up for himself and say something about it? Therefore, my argu ment is as follows: Harker’s passivity not only prevents him from escaping the Count’s horrors sooner and saving him from later post -traumatic stress, but it also leaves him as an easy target and gateway to Mina when the Count begins to set his sights on h er. Harker describes the ordeal himself when he writes, “The Doctors were quite right to insist on her being kept out of this dreadful business. I must be firm, for on me this particular burden of silence must rest” (Stoker 301). Harker plainly admits that the task of keeping Mina passive and out of loop is solely his business to tend to. It is this passiveness from Mina and Harker that lead to the Count so easily overcoming the two of them. Cady 2 I chose to develop this idea in the creative form rather than a conventional essay because I was excited to put my own creative twist on a story that has already been adapted in numerous other ways in mainstream society. I chose to use the comic strip specifically because it adds a point of comedy to the situation at h and. Harker seems to ignore all the warning signs he is presented with and continues to have a “this is fine” mindset. Although the Count is not known to have been a vampire to Harker at the time of his arrival, I depicted him as so in order to emphasize the fact that it was obvious how peculiar and haunting the Count was even from the beginning. In the comic strip, Harker encounters the townspeople with signs held up to mock the clear warnings he was receiving. The signs are complete with the words “ordog ” and “pokol,” meaning devil and hell, which Harker overhead from the people as he was waiting to travel to the castle. The comic then depicts Harker with the three women who get him to snap out of his passive trans only for second to realize their beauty. Finally, in the last two clips, even the Count himself is wanting to get something out of Harker by gunning for Mina. The Count’s last line stating, “You’ve got to be kidding me,” is meant to parallel the reader’s own frustration with Harker’s inability t o speak up. This shows that even the most powerful being in the story, cannot get Harker out of his passive state. I have truly enjoyed getting to work on this project, and I am thankful of the opportunity to be able to contribute in a creative way to this class! Works Cited Cady 3 Rayner, Shoo, director. How to Draw Dracula Real Easy Step by Step for Halloween . YouTube , YouTube, 26 Oct. 2018, www.youtube.com/watch?v=Aj0mZVr8Oqs. Rayner, Shoo, director. How to Draw Cartoon People Part 2 . YouTube , YouTube, 23 Jan. 2015, www.youtube.com/watch?v=J_OaqIdLT1w.