Blood
This one is practically a no-brainer—of course blood is important in a vampire book. Whether they're vegetarian Twilight vampires chugging down elk's blood or gleefully stating "Mwahaha! I vant t...
Communion and the Sacred Wafer
Here's the clincher: It's not just the vampires who are drinking blood. It's also (gulp) the good guys.As long as we're talking about drinking blood, we should pause to think about the Christian ri...
Dracula's Move to England
Dracula ain't just about the paranoia that your neighbor might be a psycho. It's about the (hopefully more justified—we hope your neighbors are the kind you can borrow a cup of sugar from) parano...
Windows and Doors
Check the locks on your windows tonight: You don't want foreigners invadi... um, we mean vampires entering your home. If Dracula's immigration to Britain can be read as an allegory about foreigners...
Sleep and Sleepwalking
In the world of Dracula, if you don't want to have your blood sucked you'd better down a lot of Red Bull... because being asleep tends to get you bitten. When Jonathan Harker is staying at Castle D...
Maternity and Motherhood
The only real mother we meet in this novel is Mrs. Westenra, Lucy's mother, and she dies pretty quickly. Mina takes over as everyone's mother, and boy is she good at it: Not five minutes after she...
Technology and Superstition
Bram Stoker, as you've probably noticed, is totally obsessed with trains. In the world of Dracula, trains are representative of Stoker's wider interest in the latest, most up-to-date technology. It...
Modernity and History
Another effect of all the science and technology in Dracula is to create a contrast between modernity and history. You can read Harker & Co. as Team Modernity and Dracula himself as Team Histor...