The section of Anne Rice's book, Interview With a Vampire, that struck me quite a bit was Luis’
final interaction with Babette. In this moment, Babette seemed to embody Luis’
frustration with own existence as a demonic being. Although he tried his best
to help Babette and right Lestat’s wrongs against her family, she still sees
him as a negative, other- worldly force. In this moment it seemed that Luis was
never going to be anything more than the wildly vengeful killer Lestat
embodied. While this interaction did not completely deter Luis from trying to
be greater than Lestat, I really enjoyed the line “And then on this vast
desolate landscape of night where I was standing alone and where Babette was
only an illusion, I saw suddenly a possibility that I’d never considered
before, a possibility from which I’d fled, rapt as I was with the world, fallen
into the senses of the vampire, in love with the color and shape and sound and
singing and softness and infinite variation,” in which Luis considers his
efforts are worthless.
I also
found it interesting how many sections of the story end with fire. While fire
is clearly a threat against vampires, specifically, it being one of the only
things that can kill them, Rice also seems to use it a transitional device. When
Luis’ slaves rise against him, he is forced from his home as it goes up in
flames. When trying to find shelter with Babette, she throws a lantern at him,
again causing him to flee. Claudia and Luis leave Lestat in a burning building
when the escape to Europe and Luis also burns the theater in France, killing
the vampires inside. It appears that almost every major life transition Luis
faces is signified with fire, an imminent threat at first, forcing Luis to move
forward and then becoming a tool Luis uses, perhaps signaling that Luis is
finally free to make his own path in his life.
Relationships
are a major part of this story, the relationship between Luis and Lestat being
the most prominent. I found it interesting that Luis repeatedly described his
relationship with Lestat as if he were Lestat’s slave. While Lestat takes advantage
of Luis is almost every way, financially, emotionally, and morally, Luis makes very
few attempts to leave him, especially towards the beginning of their
relationship. While I understood the implications of the almost romantic
balance Luis and Lestat had before and during their raising of Claudia, the
class discussion made this clearer to me. The toxic cycle of Luis wanting to
leave and Lestat forcing him to stay out of guilt reflects many bad relationships
in the real world. This is especially evident when contrasted with Luis and
Armand’s relationship later in the book.
Note: A part that I really enjoyed was when Lestat first
turned Luis and they had to sleep in the same coffin on the first night. It read
as ridiculous fanfiction to me. Not to be offensive to Anne Rice as this was
one of my favorite books I’ve read recently, but I guess that part aged in a
very silly way. “Oh no! There’s only one bed!”
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