Stoker, Bram. Dracula. Thrift ed. Mineola: Dover, 2000. Print.
In Dracula, Stoker uses the nineteenth century Gothic Horror Fiction genre to expose his readers to a different, yet familiar world. Dracula can also be classified as dystopian fiction because the setting of Transylvania is a fantasy universe. Furthermore, this universe is built to question the societal controls in the nineteenth century and illustrate a dichotomy between traditional and modern values. The character, Dracula is a vampire and desires to regain the power his family lost outside of Transylvania, in modern England. Dracula introduces the the anxieties of society in the late nineteenth century: a questioning of sex, religion, and science. The reading level ranges between grades 9-12.
In-class interactive exercises:
A Creative Writing Prompt: Create a journal entry from the perspective of Count Dracula. Take Count Dracula out of the world Stoker creates and place Dracula in modern time. In this journal entry Dracula is reflecting on his trip to the grocery store. Keep in mind, his mental and physical characteristics, his gestures, desires, fears, and the way he interacts with others.
The purpose of this exercise is to give young readers the opportunity to practice free-writing, explore their creativity, and identify the main character’s traits. As they are challenged to pull Dracula out of this dystopia and into modern day, they will realize the difference, or maybe similarities, between the outlook on society in the nineteenth century and today.
Following the creative writing prompt, students are asked to read their writing out loud to the class. The rest of the class will be responsible for listening and taking note of at least one sentence from the reading they enjoyed the most. The listeners will answer one of the following questions as they take notes on their peer’s reading.
1. Identify at least one of Dracula’s physical characteristics.
2. Describe Dracula’s mood in the journal entry.
3. Analyze Dracula’s gestures and desires that are described.
A Journey to Realization 