Dracula

While reading Dracula, I've come to notice that the novel deals a lot with themes of helplessness and powerlessness. When Jonathan first begins his journal, the reader is given several instances of his struggle to thrive away from his home country of England. At this point, he is not yet helpless, but he lacks the skills necessary to truly interact with his new surroundings. He has a limited understanding of German and has even less knowledge of the culture of the world he has entered. It seems like his broad generalizations about the east, "I had to sit in the carriage for more than an hour before we began to move. It seems to me that the further East you go the more unpunctual are the trains. What ought they to be in China?(11)" are his way of coping with his new environment. Situations like this are the beginning of his loss of power. He's been stripped of the clockwork schedules of England and has in turn been stripped of his control of time. Jonathan is also helpless when he sets off on his journey. He is completely in the dark as the town folk talk about him and he is unable to understand their warnings about his destination and the precarious day on which he is set to arrive there. After Jonathan is picked up by Dracula's coachmen (presumably Dracula himself) the real feeling of helplessness begins to set in. Jonathan is immediately under his host's power, whether he is aware of it at first or not. As they enter the woods, he is subjected to terror when left alone in the carriage and surrounded by wolves. He has no means of defending himself and is only rescued when "he swept his long arms, as though brushing aside some impalpable obstacle, the wolves fell back and back further still. (20)" He is so powerless that he has no choice but to stick with his host. The arrival at the castle does little to increase Jonathan's sense of power. He is given free reign of the house but cannot really go anywhere within it. The doors are locked and there is a real sense of claustrophobia created when he rushes around the castle trying to open each one. He cannot escape the manor and is even more helpless when in Dracula's presence. I think Dracula's iron grip is representative of the grip he has over Jonathan mentally. He may clasp down with vice-like strength during a hand shake but that is nothing compared to the strangle hold he has on Jonathan's mind when he eerily avoids eating, keeps him up all night, and ultimately scales the manor's walls... up side down. The whole purpose of Castle Dracula it seems is to mentally break down and scare its victims into submission all under the guise of old world noble hospitality.