I think we’ve all seen where the earth looks bejeweled because of the darkness of an approaching storm.
Mr. Swales’ comments here make me think of a great-aunt of mine who lived to the age of 96. A few years before she passed, she admitted to my dad that being old was terribly lonely- she was long widowed, she was the last survivor of her high school graduating class, and even for being the oldest sibling in her family, she outlived all of them except for one younger brother. She was devoted to her kids, grandkids, and great-grandkids because otherwise she would have gone stir-crazy.
In the week before she passed, she started having fainting fits - and the last day, when the doctor started recommending a treatment plan, she told him in no uncertain terms that she’d known death for many years now and that this was her time. Sure enough, she coded within the next hour. I don’t know if she greeted Death joyfully, but she met her with a clear head.
I’d forgotten the detail that the gang can see the Demeter struggling before she comes in. How awful it must be for the guardsman to know that the vessel is in trouble, but that it’s too dangerous to send anyone to her rescue.
Mina starting to cry when Mr. Swales talks about accepting death gets me every time. He thinks it is because she’s distressed by the idea of him dying.
But no, it’s thinking about Jonathan that is so upsetting, since she hasn’t heard from him in so long and the last letter was so suspicious.
Last night was very threatening, and the fishermen say that we are in for a storm. I must try to watch it and learn the weather signs.
I love how Mina is just constantly looking to learn things. Sure, she’s probably trying to distract herself here, but this is also just what she does. She is always so interested in knowing stuff, in understanding how to know.
I love the “Everything is grey—” descriptions, so evocative. And reflective of Mina’s mood as well as the weather, I’m sure. The quiet music, especially that higher couple of notes is so lovely, and I really noticed it here.
On “Here comes old Mr. Swales!” Mina sounds so cheered by the sight of him. Their friendship is so lovely. It sucks even more that what he has to say is the last thing she wants to hear right now.
“For life be, after all, only a waitin’ for somethin’ else than what we’re doin’; and death be all that we can rightly depend on.”
Mina’s currently stuck waiting for something else (Jonathan’s letter) and absolutely doesn’t want to depend on death. And of course, for Mr. Swales too - she just got to know him and has enjoyed talking to him, and hearing him go on about expecting to die makes her so miserable. But the way he tries to comfort her is so sweet… but when he seems to spot something in the water, the audio does a great job of making it seem like he forgets her entirely for an instant, as he truly does sense some kind of Death coming.
Last note but I just really loved the coast guards voice. Sadly, the information he gives is a final death knell for our captain.
Mina: I’m so anxious now. I’m literally counting the days since I last heard from my beloved. I want to not think about the worst-case scenario. I’ve been unable to sleep. And I can’t do anything about it but keep it all deep inside for weeks and weeks.
Mr Swales: Hello Miss Mina, you seem upset. It must have been my morbid talk the other day.
Mr Swales: Anyway, me, your newest friend, will die soon.
this line from swales really hammers home the inherent existential horror of vampirism: it removes and perverts the one unifying constant of human existence. death may not often be welcome, but if you can’t count even on that then what can possibly be relied on? the horror of the vampire is not just about the threat posed to individual characters but about how destabilizing vampirism is to their understanding of how the world works (which, again, the thing i am always thinking about with this novel is that its core anxiety is the possibility that somehow the glories and advances and science and knowledge of the west have mapped the world only incompletely…). this obviously has a particular terrifying and unsettling resonance for our cast of 19th century protestants with a certain set of views about the afterlife, but i think there are many ways to tap into this aspect of the horror, as is probably evidenced by how the figure of the vampire in so many ways as popularized by stoker has endured.
Haunting feelings of something coming to Whitby, and everything around it preparing for whatever coming aside, Mina’s writing today is so sad and gothic, yet so beautiful at the same time.
So far, we have seen Mina practice how to write like a journalist. Recounting entire conversations from memory, putting down relevant information between wonders that captivate the reader, and noting every detail that she deems important.
Yet, in Mina’s writing there is always this spark of what we could call gothic writing that is never far away from her, and it’s when she writes about everything which such intensity that it feels like Mina can’t put her pen down until she has poured her heart on the page.
“To-day is a grey day, and the sun as I write is hidden in thick clouds, high over Kettleness. Everything is grey—except the green grass, which seems like emerald amongst it; grey earthy rock; grey clouds, tinged with the sunburst at the far edge, hang over the grey sea, into which the sand-points stretch like grey fingers.”
When everything is all grey, and dark around you, it could be very easy to simply let yourself be consumed by the feelings that such weather brings. Moreover, it could be easy to fall into the trap of simply describing everything in a sad, and defeating tone.
“All is vastness; the clouds are piled up like giant rocks, and there is a "brool” over the sea that sounds like some presage of doom.“
However, Mina takes this opportunity to learn how to describe the weather, as any good journalist would, while holding her gothic right at the tip of her pen. She tells of how even with all of the grey clouding Whitby, the sheer vastness of the sea, the cliff, and the sky doesn’t let itself be shortened. With heaviness in her heart Mina gives a beautiful paragraph that highlights the hidden calmness between all of the grey.
Welcome, welcome, welcome...
I'm the one fan from Apocalyptour SF, the one with- well, the rhyming t-shirt. My name's Lars, nice to meet you! God, can't believe I'm an adult now. My original posts (especially those tagged 'my writing') are always ok to reblog! :)
