An Analysis Of The Vampire Images In Anne Rice's Interview With The Vampire

Anne Rice's novels mainly focus on all sorts of social problems and put forward her critical views towards life and society. In Interview with the Vampire, Rice has created many vampire images which have different attitudes towards life and themselves. Since the publication of Interview with the Vampire, scholars mainly concentrate on the problems of the minority groups, like the male homosexual community. Few scholars have analyzed the social meanings symbolized by the three different vampire images. This thesis deals with the conflict between the mainstream and the different marginalized groups represented by vampires like Louis, Claudia and Lestat. The analysis will be conducted from the following perspectives:Louis's religious crisis and identity crisis, Claudia's three steps of achieving her selfhood and Lestat's rebellion and revenge on mortals. Through these perspectives, people's situation during the 1960s and 1970s of America will be displayed. In doing so, the thesis reinterprets the aspiring social significance of Interview with the Vampire from a new perspective.