The Horla Comparison

Monsters have always been written about in various forms and types. They range from Dracula the vampire to Scylla the water monster to Pennywise the evil clown, each having its own special type of abilities and dreadfulness. Throughout the horror genre, these monsters are highly focused on to make the story or movie as horrific as possible. Usually these can be divided into two categories: the humanistic ones and the supernatural or horrific type. Each of these two groups makes its story better suited to the effect that author wants to achieve. By using a humanistic or horrific monster, the theme and effects on the character and reader differ depending on the type. “The Horla” by Guy de Maupassant is the story of a man who believes that

Joe is egged on by some townsfolk to do something after his wife, Lena, and seen walking with Spunk. Joe takes out his pocket knife and takes off after the pair, into the forest from which he does not return. Instead Spunk appears and says “he sneaked up an’ tried to kill me from the back, but ah got him good.” (Hurston, Pg 3) After Joe has died, Lena and Spunk are to be married and to move into a new house together. One night a black bobcat shows up at Spunk’s house, who is convinced that is it Joe. From then on he is scared and while working his dangerous job at the saw-mill, he is fatally injured. His last words were that Joe had pushed him from behind like a coward. The two major themes in this piece are courage vs cowardice and fate. Spunk was always seen as a man with no fear, he was able to operate the dangerous job at the saw mill and took whatever he liked but when Joe possibly attacked him with a little knife, he shot him and made up a story to protect his masculinity. Even when he was dying, he blamed Joe for pushing him from behind which may or may not have been true. In reality, it was Joe who had courage because even though he knew there wasn’t much he could do, he still went after a guy like Spunk to try and get his wife back. The other theme is that of fate because Spunk got what was coming

He protects himself by barricading his windows and doors and hunts these vampires during the day while they cannot attack him. His life consists of this same pattern every day, while searching for the scientific reason behind the vampire outbreak. One day, he sees a girl, Ruth, and chases her until she is caught and he brings her into his house. He finds out that she is a different type of vampire, not like the ones who stand outside of his house all night. She knocks him unconscious and leaves him alone for several months. He is then sought out by several of these new vampires and is taken back to the new society’s jail where Ruth visits him and tells him that her kind are afraid of him and gives him pills so that he can die by his hands rather than theirs. The story ends with Robert taking the pills and stating that “I am legend.” (Matheson, “I Am Legend” Pg. 170) The themes of this story are isolation, survival, and insignificance. Robert is isolated in his home with no human company and he is almost positive that he is last human on the Earth. Due to his isolation and repetitive daily behavior, Robert begins to feel insignificant in the world, leading him to want to give up and throw himself to the vampires that taunt him every night. There are several instances where he actually starts to give in to those thoughts until his survival