Reflection on Interview with the Vampire

In my opinion two main ideas that the author pits against one another is the subconscious pull of natural instinct and the drive to hold onto ones self and their beliefs of morality. I believe that these ideas, throughout the vampires story of his life, are continually resurfacing and creating an internal struggle for him. At the beginning of his story he has a hard time coming to terms with the fact that he was a vampire. He originally did not want to kill anyone because of moral reasons but as the story went on he became more and more ok with it yet only did it on occasion when he was in dire need of human blood, like a person having a hard time keeping to a healthy diet. To me it seemed that the way the story tells about the vampire's life and his going about the moral decisions he is posed with are constructed to make the reader think about the situation themselves and what they would do his position. The story is interesting because it comes about morality, particularly the value of human life, from the different perspective of a detached immortal being. It seemed like they began by seeing humans as equal sentient creatures but after the story went on they turned more into cattle. The main character fights his changing circumstances and the fact that he is no longer human. Part of him still believes he is human but he knows that there is no going back and that he must become accustomed to this new immortal life yet he just cannot let go. It is interesting how as the story progresses the idea of right and wrong changes. It is no longer black and white and the fine line begins to mottle, blur, and grey. 

Gothic Culture

Usually when someone mentions the word gothic my mind shoots straight to Gothic architecture. However when they are talking about the subculture I instantly think of a person dressed in dark or black clothing with far too many piercings and wearing a downcast or pissed look. I am not a Goth myself so I am certainly no expert on the subculture and only have the view point of an outsider looking in. Generally I associate Goths with dark, depressing, or morbid subject matter, this covers all medias and mediums. In terms of films, I have watched maybe a handful that could be considered to fit the culture, I'd have to say films like those of Tim Burton. Also I think of music like death metal or any form of heavy metal to fit in very well with this subculture. Honestly, in my opinion, it seems that this type of music represents very much how Goths seems to view themselves next to the rest of society. Jarring, visually jarring at least. Their dress, their personas, their taste in art, seem to attempt to hold much of the real world at bay and keep them fixed in a mind set. Again the music can almost do this on its own. Again I have to say that what I write is based on assumptions with little to no exposure to the subculture itself.