WEEK TWO: Interview With a Vampire by Anne Rice (6)

 The Interview With a Vampire was both predictable and surprising for me. One of the things that amused me was the emotional aspect of Louis. For me, he became more sensual after his transition to vampire than he was as a human. The way he describes his last sunrise, or the caring about other people, especially Claudia is very delicate and emotional. Living as a vampire for more than two centuries Louis decides to tell his story to a young reporter which for me sounded less of an interview than a monologue, a lesson for an audience. Unfortunately, at the end of the story the boy makes the opposite conclusions based on the story he just heard and wants to become a vampire as well. Lestat’s character is a curse itself let alone for the whole eternity. In my opinion, if Lestat was a human he could be considered as an emotional vampire as he keeps poisoning the life of Louis and drains his energy. There is a feeling of late motif throughout the story when Claudia and Louis start to kill Lestat. I felt sorry for Claudia the most, although she was not the brightest persona but she did not have a choice, she was raised by vampires and was more of a vampire than she managed to be a human. Even before she transformed Lestat used her to keep Louis around then she was stuck in the body of a five-year-old while being a grown up woman. The locations described in the novel are commonly associated with vampires such as New Orleans and the whole Europe as the stories of vampires originated and spread in Europe first. The difference between New Orleans and Europe is that their existence is better known in Europe than in their hometown.  Anne Rice has an interesting word choice to connect the generations as Louis is talking to the boy. He explains the words in the boy’s vocabulary using words such as “bullshit.” The boy that was scared in the beginning gets used to the vampire and begins to talk more freely. The novel starts with this scary vampire who turns to be the protagonist of the story. The real antagonist is Lestat who makes himself a mentor for Louis in order to take over the Pointe du Lac but does not succeed in a way.  I think the moral of the Interview With The Vampire is the curse of eternal life, especially for Louis who wanted to die more than others but stayed alive and alone without Claudia, Armand and even Lestat.