4/2/20 Michelle Kang Period 8

Michelle Kang PD8

Blogger #9

4/2/20 

Modern Mythology 2020

Write about your thoughts regarding the reading

Throughout my reading, I found small connections between vampires and Grendel. Lestat and Louis have very different mindsets on life, partially due to their experience as a vampire, but in a way, the two remind me of Grendel. In the interview, Louis talks about how difficult it was for him to come to terms with what he has become and we can see by his lack of drinking human blood. He often calls in his servants for assistance, only to be seen as a monster. Louis reminds me of young Grendel and when he tried to approach humans. Lestat, on the other hand, is the older/nihilistic Grendel. He does not care about who he kills, he simply does it because he is a vampire. 

During the beginning of my readings, I was able to understand Louis’s inability to kill humans or watch Lestat kill them. At the same time, I also thought it was cruel to kill animals but then I realized that Louis was doing a favor by killing the rats who are known to spread the plague. Lestat’s disregard for human life made him seem like the bad guy, but as I continued reading my opinions about him have changed. To me, Lestat is always trying to clean up after Louis, by killing any witnesses, which is the opposite of Lestat telling Louis that he is his slave. Being seen was the thing Lestat seemed to fear the most, mostly because people would run away screaming just like when the overseer or Babette saw Louis. It seemed that Lestat spent his years, living in fear of judgment so when Louis came along, he no longer had to hide his true nature. When you compare vampires to other predatory animals, they like to go solo. Hunting by themselves was the only way to guarantee their own survival. Lestat even points this out when he tells Louis that other vampires would “seek to kill you”. Although we don’t know if Lestat is telling the truth or lying so Louis can stay with him, it seems that he doesn’t want to be alone considering he had many chances to kill Louis. With his father gone, he was going to need Louis even more and that’s why I thought it was endearing how he wouldn’t let him leave. Although it may have been selfish for Lestat to keep Louis by throwing the responsibility of a vampire child onto him, I considered the idea of Lestat wanting to start his own family.

I feel that modern movies and shows have glorified vampires. After all who wouldn’t want to have superpowers and live forever but after reading this book, being a vampire is a punishment. It’s like reading a neverending story. I’d like to think of it as humans have a deadline to fulfill their purpose in life but vampires have all the time in the world and I think because of this, Lestat’s immortality holds him back from doing anything purposefully. You could think of it as procrastinating, teachers assigning due dates vs having all the time in the world. 

What is it like working from home?

During the first week of being home, I was able to get in a lot of sleep which means my days weren’t exactly long but nevertheless, I was able to catch on my hobbies such as drawing or watching movies. By the end of week two, I had already run out of things to do.  When we started REMOTE learning, I was glad to find out classes started at 9:00 am. So far, I have only been in a video call a few times. The online classes and assignments were flexible, most of my assignments are due by the end of the week which gave me time to plan out what I was going to do for the whole week. Despite having more time to complete my assignments, my entire family is home so I do see this as a setback especially since I share my room and the walls are not soundproof. In addition to that, unlike being at school, there are so many more distractions at home, such as video games and all the snacks lying around the house. As an introvert, I can say that I’m doing fine working from home but as the weather gets better I hope we can return to school. 

What are the updates around the world/community regarding the virus?

So far the number of coronavirus cases and deaths has been growing exponentially since day one. Today on April 1 there have been over 1 million cases worldwide and over 50,000 deaths worldwide. Of the 1million infected, 95% are in mild conditions while 5% are in serious/critical condition. The top countries with most cases of this pandemic are the US, Italy, Spain, Germany, China, France, and Iran. While there are 244,230 cases in the United States, in New York there is 92,381 cases which means for every 100,000 people 470.9 are infected. Other states with the highest number of cases include New Jersey, California, and Michigan. So far in my community, the supermarket near my house closed down the other day. My parents including many others in my community, were all at the supermarket that day waiting for hours in line. People remembered to stand 6 feet away from one another which resulted in the line stretching down the entire block.