Kite Runner

Horror can be defined as an overwhelming and painful feeling caused by something frightfully shocking, terrifying, or revolting; a shuddering fear. (1) This is why one chose this genre, horror in itself shows the personality of a person, the way one reacts to a horrific situation and the way they handle it. In this case, the personality, response and imagination of the author are at the centre of attention. As diverse as humans are to one another, so are their imaginations and with each imagination comes a secret life, a life that will only reveal its secrets through the imagination of another can only be created with an imagination of that of another person. Horror is just another way to show ones expression on life, how to deal with what life troughs at you with, though the stories may be fictional, the essence of the story is filled with truth, truth about life and how one leads it. Horror brings forth characteristics in an individual that one did not know he had, and that is attractive to any one and anything. Plots, characters, authors writing technique and events that influenced authors all have a great impact on the outcome of a horror novel. This is applied to The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde and The Interview with the Vampire by Anne Rice although both of these books were written in their

respective time periods, The Picture of Dorian Gray in the 1800’s and The Interview with the Vampire in the 1900’s, they still share the same elements of one another used to inspire someone’s outcome for each of their novel.

One can assume that the fundamentals of a novel are how well the characters in the novel are portrayed by the author. Both novels demonstrate a similar character analysis with the inner and outer characteristics of the protagonists switched. Therefore the inner characteristics of Dorian are very similar to the outer characteristics of the Vampire. The outer characteristics of Dorian are seen in the inner characteristic of the Vampire. This is evident when Dorian says “You have created a monster within me- I am no longer the man I was.” (Wilde, 58) Dorian realizes here that the emotion and personality that he once use to have has now been “robbed” by the portrait created by his friend Basil Hallward. He is no longer able to express the once fair and sane feeling he had. To keep his perpetual youth and good looks Dorian Gray gave up his equally astonishing personality. Similarly in the Interview with the Vampire, the vampire’s inner emotions and a difference in character all comes out “I respected my brother but when he died and I was the one being accused- well lets just say it wasn’t the turning point in my grief.” (Rice 54) As quoted the inner most feelings of the vampire are expressed and he wants the people of the “outside world” to know that even though he had not committed the crime of killing his brother the pressure from his significant others and society were what was causing his grief. Throughout the novel The Picture of Dorian Gary, Dorian’s outside appearance has been same all throughout the novel never showing any type of difference in the way he talks, walks and looks. “Dorian, my dear boy, I haven’t seen you in ages. It still seems like the first day you walked in to get your portrait.” (Wilde, 154) One can distinguish from the permanent scars of aging and the vitality of youth one has, but in this section it was Dorian’s 38th birthday and he still seemed to look like the first day he was introduced to Basil. Dorian had not changed even to the slightest bit from his appearance; society was growing suspicious about his character as everyone around him was changing in one way or the other. On the contrary the Vampire had, had significant change with his appearance as life became a lot different for him. “I was turning into the Rue Domaine, moving past the darkened windows.” (Rice, 168) This exclaims that the once normal human being the Vampire was, was now drastically changing with the way he had lived his life, his entire life. Due to this the Vampires character changed him from a normal individual to a blood thirsty Vampire. Therefore the characters for both these novel are extremely similar with only there inner emotions and outer characteristics switched.

Furthermore the plots of these two novels are comparable, the dramatic works in both novels are similar, with the way both authors illustrate different mood through their respective novels. Firstly in The Picture of Dorian Gray, Dorian say’s “For some reason or other, the house was crowded that night, and the fat Jew manager who met them at the door was beaming from ear to ear with an oily, tremulous smile.” (Wilde, 83) One can evaluate that in these three lines the author Oscar Wilde illustrate happiness, confusion and hate within a small segment of the entire book. The happiness and hate are seen when the Jew manager comes to the door to greet