Monday, December 20, 2010

Alternate Ending part 2

Sharon White
English 263
Essay: Interviewing the Vampire





Throughout this semester, we have read a numerous amount of books that were interesting and the whole concept made a lot of sense once the semester went on, but this book really made me think about it once I finished reading it. One thing that this book made me think about was , the grass is not always green on the other side meaning that, Louis finally realized that a vampire was not were what he want at all. As this semester come to a close I look at books in a whole different light. I do have to say the books you choose to get your point across this semester was genius. What I mean by that is each book has a special meaning. I was sure how this book was going to end like all the other which included killing of the vampire, or having the interviewer being the vampires next victim. However, to my surprise the book had a very different ending as I had predicted when I read the first thirty or so page. As I began to read the book, “Interview with a the Vampire” by Anne Rice, I was not as interested in the book as most people most likely were. What really got my attention while reading the novel was the setting of where the story of the interviewee started, which was in New Orleans, Louisiana during the period of slavery. The author, Anne Rice goes into details of things associated with New Orleans which included the music, the diversity and the swamps. What really drew my attention on Louis, the vampire that is telling his story to, “The Boy” his recollection on his past before and after his vampire days. Louis describes in detail of his brother's death and how everyone blamed him for it. The whole story was focus on Louis and his life experiences. I really like the given autobiography of Louis and his background information before going into the actual story of what is happening now in this novel, which at this point I am hooked and wants to read the rest of the book. Louis in the story, meets a man named Lestat that is the one to blame for Louis's immortality.
As I read, (page21), Louis described how if felt when he was turned into a vampire:
I saw nothing but the light when I drew blood. Then the next thing was sound. A dull roar at first and then a pounding, like the pounding of a drum, growing louder and louder, as if a enormous creature were coming up one slowly through a dark and alien forest, pounding as he came, a huge drum.
Louis was describing the transformation from human to vampire. This is also where Lestat, become the focus point and dominant person in Louis life. The way that the author describes the making of Louis is that he was reborn. As I continued to read the story I see that Louis was just an impressionable man, but as the book goes not he finally became a man, but learned to think for himself. The main character Louis, seems to have experienced a lot as a child and that is another reason I choose this book to write an alternate ending because it gives off a different side of the story that hasn't been told and it comes from your own imagination.
My alternate ending was about the Boy waking up and realizing that he was, by mistake turned into a vampire by Louis when Louis attacked him. On this realization, he finds out that Louis is going to look for Armand back in Europe and the Boy plans to find him to get answers. When he gets to the ship deck, he meets a guy named Timmiy and they talk and 'befriend' each other. Once in a room together and alone, they Boy kills Timmiy for his one-way ticket to Britain and gets on the ship waiting for the journey ahead of him.
What I tried to accomplish with this creative project to utilized my writing skills yet show that there are different ways that a story can be told just using your imagination in a way that would make sense and connect to the story instead of having something that doesn't fit in and makes no sense what so ever. Making a alternate ending for the story was a very good idea for me because I got to have my saying in how the story goes and show off some of my reactivity and writing skills.
Even though I believe I did a really good job, I am concerned with the length of my alternate ending. My alternate ending is only about a page long. My alternate ending is a page long because I don't want to go into another dramatic scene. I want to go into a “spot” where it leaves the reader hanging and wanting to go buy the next book in the series instead of telling what happens like the Boy going to Europe and finds Louis and lives happily ever after. I feel that it doesn't seem right to end off a book like that when you want to have another book after it. One good example of this is the famous Harry Potter Series. I am a fan of Harry Potter. At the end of book 1, the Chamber of Secrets, they didn't end the book with Harry, Hermione, and Ron finally killing Voldemort. They didn't do this because they wanted to keep selling books and more sequels than just that first book, so they ended with him as usual going back home for the summer to the Dursley's and until the next adventure (book) farewell. I feel that the Harry Potter series was a perfect example of what I am trying to point out. So I am concerned yet satisfied with the length of my alternate ending.
Even though I am concerned with the paper, I also enjoyed righting my paper and using my creativity to come up with something that fits the story boundaries and is somewhat enjoyable to read. The best part of doing the alternate ending was the brainstorming part and putting piece by piece together. When I first started my alternate ending, I got out a piece of paper and started brainstorming. After coming up with a plausible ending, I went to type. I like my story because it gives an insight on what could have happened if he, the Boy, actually woke up and realized that he was a vampire and set off to find Louis for answers to his many probing questions. I believe that my plot for my ending was well thought out because I took about a week or so working on my actual plot before typing anything on the computer. I thought of many ways it could go. I could have the Boy be turned into a vampire by accident and have Louis and Lestat fighting then the Boy jumps in and helps Lestat because Louis hated him, or that The Boy went looking for Lestat and begged Lestat to turn him into a vampire then have Lestat acting like he was and kill the Boy for his own usage of blood supply. However, I decided to go with my 3rd choice of the Boy becoming a vampire going on a European journey in hopes of finding Louis so the Boy would have a immortal companionship like the relationship Lestat and Louis once shared.
I decided to do “Interview with a Vampire” by Anne Rice instead of the other books we read because “Interview with a Vampire” seemed like the fun one to do, having the drama that happens in the story, the traveling and the interviewing that is happening throughout the story and the overall plot of the story. I also chose this book because this was the book that I was less familiar with other than the novel we read called “Carmilla”. This book creates a picture in my mind that a two people are in a dark room, one with the usual reporter outfit with paper, a pen or pencil with the tape recording somewhere near and a odd, creepy looking vampire speaking softly sitting in a chair telling his story in a dim lit room. To me, a story can easily be told by the settings of the story.

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