Dear ___,

I am very happy to be partners with you throughout our writing class! As you’ve read from my introduction on our class’s Discord server, my name is Callum, and I am a second-year psychology major affiliated with College Nine. A little bit about me that I have not said through Discord is that I am very interested in monsters in literature, and Dracula is definitely included there. The novel Dracula is actually why I am writing to you today. I wanted to share my thoughts and impressions of Dracula with you from what we have read so far.

I am actually quite surprised with how this story has started. I have watched many film adaptations of Dracula, but I have never actually read Bram Stoker’s classic novel. When I picture vampires, I typically picture them as someone who is very charming and alluring. However, all of the townspeople in the surrounding area are terrified of Dracula. From the film adaptations that I have seen, most vampires want to stay hidden so that nobody discovers that they are, in fact, a vampire. While Dracula never tells Harker that he is a vampire, he definitely does not do the best job of trying to hide that he is at least different in some way.

Something in this novel that I would like to look into is the idea of fear and dominance. I would like to see how the strategy of overpowering someone versus seduction and charm influences the story and relationships between Dracula and the other characters. I would like to take examples from outside contexts that still involve the character of Dracula and compare the differences between those adaptations. Vampires, especially in the modern era, have evolved into characters like Edward Cullen — who is completely different from Dracula. I would be very interested to see how Dracula’s demeanor compares to how we view a “typical vampire” and see how these changes impact the narrative.

I am very excited to see what you have to say about Dracula thus far and what you are interested in researching. Thank you so much for taking the time to read this, and I hope to share ideas with you regarding Dracula soon!

Best wishes,

Callum Temple