Arata "The Occidental Tourist"

In the essay “The Occidental Tourist” written by Stephen D. Arata the main points are location, race mixing, and all the characters status’ in the novel. The opening sentence in the essay is a good candidate for a thesis, “In many respects, Dracula represents a break from the Gothic tradition of vampires” (462). This statement is simple, but it gets to the point. It says that Dracula is different in what the world expected of a vampire at the time. This makes sense with the title of “Occidental” because Dracula is a more modern, western vampire. He departs from the typical eastern myth of a vampire. Another sentence later in the essay also captured the main points, “His (Dracula) activities after death carry on his activities in life; in both cases he has successfully engaged in forms of conquest and domination” (464).  This sentence discusses how Dracula’s new life is a continuation of his old life. The article talks about how Dracula would have been a warrior and in death he continues his war but now on the civilized people of London. His quoting of Emily Gerard is a very interesting in that it discusses how vampires are similar to Roumanians. It dehumanizes the Roumanians but it also humanizes the vampire.

The essay was persuasive in showing why Bram Stoker chose Transylvania as the location for his novel. He talks about how Transylvania is the “Eastern Question” (462), and was an obsession of Britain at this time. The essay is less persuasive in his deracinating of the victims. He has some strong evidence with the blood transfusions and the order they are done in but it’s all conjecture. Lucy was given Arthur’s blood first because he was her fiancé, nothing to do with him being aristocratic. Quincy gives his blood last because he shows up to Lucy’s after everyone else. The last thing that made the essay unpersuasive was his ranting at the end of the essay about Ireland. Stoker being Irish but living in London doesn't seem to be an important detail and it didn't pertain to anything the rest of the essay discussed.