I Read Books: Dracula

I’ve talked about Dracula before, and other, smarter people have mentioned the way it has class and national narratives baked into it. So instead here’s Mr Quincey Morris of Texas proposing marriage to Lucy Westenra:

Miss Lucy, I know I ain’t good enough to regulate the fixin’s of your little shoes, but I guess if you wait until you find a man who is you will go join up with them seven young women with the lamps when you quit. Won’t you just hitch up alongside of me and let us go down the long road together driving in double harness?

Morris flatteringly suggests that if she waits until she finds a man worthy of her she will have to be a vestal virgin. Interestingly he has come down on the (now) generally doubted number of seven for them rather than six. Still, this suggests that our cowboy character has had a gentleman’s education; perhaps he is more worthy than he makes out?

Lucy turns him down and instead choose to marry Arthur Holmwood, the heir to Lord Godalming, because she is a massive snob.

(This is not a review of Dracula though if you have any interest in vampires or epistolary stories for that matter, I suggest you take a look.)

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