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Jesus Cardenas
Professor Batty
English 113B
7 May 2015
Realitys Mirror: Vampires Reflects What is Abnormal
Once a terrifying and dark bloodsucker the vampire has changed to a creature that
promotes sex. In the novel Dead Until Dark the author Charlaine Harris focuses on challenging
what is normal sex by forming a forbidden relationship between a female human named Sookie
Stackhouse and Bill the vampire. Since the relationship between humans and vampires is
abnormal it creates various conflicts for Sookie. Harris wrote Dead Until Dark to reflect reality
by making vampires represent abnormalities that society fears such as racism, sex, and
homosexuality in order communicate her message of being open minded and allowing the
oppressed to express themselves. In the novel Dead Until Dark Harris is conveying that sex is a
natural part of life and it makes no difference whether the other mate is from a different race, sex
or ethnicity.
Originally vampires were dreadful creatures that had no sexual attraction or appeal
towards the audience, yet Charlaine Harris gave a new definition of vampire compared to the
previous vampires. In the scholarly article Fearless Vampire Kissers: Bloodsuckers We Love In
Twilight, True Blood And Others by Bernard Beck it explains that Vampires are different; our
agitation is produced by fear and arousal presenting that vampires have a dramatic influence
towards the audience by making the audience enjoy getting frightened and aroused by these
vampires (Beck 91). For example, in the novel Dead Until Dark vampires have the ability to
make humans sexually desire them as if the humans were addicted of getting aroused and having
sexual contact with vampires. These people who only desire to have sex with vampires are
known as fang bangers. The main character Sookie also desires to have intercourse with Bill
the vampire and they end up having sex several times throughout the novel. Sookies sexual

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relationship with Bill conveys that it is all right to have sexual intercourse with someone with a
different race, sex, or ethnicity. However, some people in reality still fear that mating with
someone outside from their own race is unacceptable due to the lingering of racism.
The relationship between vampire and human is viewed as something forbidden and
feared by people in the novel Dead Until Dark. The novel Dead Until Dark challenges the
traditional relationship between humans and vampires by changing the relationship from the
hunter and the hunted to a love relationship. The secrecy of vampires has been broken, but
vampires are still looked down upon as an unwanted race representing racism and discrimination.
In the scholarly article Introduction: Undead Reflection the author Sam George states that
recent developments of vampires such as True Blood and other vampire sources show how the
vampire as racial other has both endured and yet been radically transformed to articulate
contemporary positions towards race presenting that the development of vampires has been
reflecting realitys racial norms as time changed (George 4). In the novel Dead Until Dark the
relationship between Sookie and Bill progresses from being strangers to lovers, which is seen as
something that is out of the norm towards society. Soon after their relationship turns to a sexual
relationship, Sookie internally thinks, I was acting like I was ashamed since society does not
accept vampire with open arms (Harris 149). As Sookie announces she and Bill had sexual
intercourse with her coworkers she was indecisive whether to hide it or share it due to the fact its
unnatural for a humans and vampires to have sex. Not only is the relationship between human
and vampire considered taboo, the novel also reflects another factor of taboo, homosexuality.
Vampires in Dead Until Dark are a representation of homosexuality, which reflects
society's fear of unnatural gender norms. Although society describe homosexuality as taboo,
Harris expresses that homosexuals should have the right to express themselves and be accepted
into society. The connection between both homosexuals and vampires in the novel is presented

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that they both share similarities on the reasons of not being accepted into society and the
struggles they have to endure. In the scholarly article Vampires Are Us the author Richard S.
Primuth states, As times changed, these vampires and vampire stories, movies, and later
television evolved as well. Vampires, especially in modem American literature, film, and
television, can be used as a window on gay culture of the corresponding era (Primuth 1). This
conveys that modern vampires are an expression of homosexuality that is feared by society due
to gender norms. Homosexuals are known for the phrase coming out of the closet and as soon
as homosexuals reveal their true identity they face several challenges of discrimination and
become violently harassed. In the scholarly article A Little Extra Bite: Dis/Ability And
Romance In Tanya Huff And Charlaine Harriss Vampire Fiction" the author Kathleen Miller
expresses that Harris makes vampires come out of the coffin. Harris is attempting to make
humans and vampires coexist, but vampires still face the same challenges as homosexual in
reality. Both vampires and homosexuals face discrimination, verbal mental, and physical abuse
from society. For example in the beginning of the novel Bill gets attacked by two people who
attempted to drain Bills vampire blood and sell it in the black market. Since Vampires and gays
reflect one another it presents that the fear and discrimination towards homosexuality results into
an unsafe community for gays. The coexistence between vampires and humans has caused fear
of getting infected by their virus.
Along with vampires being feared as creatures that promote sex, they are also feared as
contagious and contaminated due to carrying the virus of vampires. Throughout the novel people
view vampires as outcasts and a dangerous virus epidemic that is already run amok. In Dead
Until Dark people are frightened of the virus that turns people into vampires reflecting the fear of
people catching the unwanted disease of HIV and AIDS since vampires represent gays. For
example, once Sookies co-workers discovered the sexual relationship between Bill and Sookie

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the co-worker Charlsie shares with concern, honey . . . Bills, ah, got that virus expressing how
vampires are viewed as a contagious creature and it being taboo for a human to get the virus
(Harris 149). The fear of receiving the virus only causes the coexistence between humans and
vampires to be more complicated. In the novel it mentions this guy was the victim of a virus
that left him apparently dead for a couple of days and there after allergic to sunlight, silver, and
garlic showing that the virus converts a human into a vampire (Harris 13). There is no human
desire in becoming a vampire because vampires are seen as a disgrace to humanity. Vampires are
only depicted as outcast that nobody wants around. The virus of vampires is only one of the
many other factors that make the modernized vampire monstrous such as sexuality,
homosexuality and racism.
In the novel Dead Until Dark Harris presents several abnormalities reflecting the peoples
fears in reality such as sexual activity, racism, homosexuality, and other social abnormalities.
Harris included several different properties that made vampires fearful trying to ask the audience
what is normal? Even though vampires did change from a traditional blood-sucking monster into
a sexual figure that is both a representation of homosexuality and racism, Harris is trying to
promote that sexual intercourse, different races and homosexuality is perfectly normal and
should coexist peacefully. The monstrous vampire that once lurked in the night searching for a
victim is now a modern monster that symbolically represents the fear of societys anxities.

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Work Cited
Beck, Bernard. "Fearless Vampire Kissers: Bloodsuckers We Love In Twilight, True
Blood And Others." Multicultural Perspectives 13.2 (2011): 90-92. Academic Search
Premier. Web. 3 Mar. 2015.
George, Sam, and Bill Hughes. "Introduction: Undead Reflections: The Sympathetic
Vampire and Its Monstrous Other." Gothic Studies 15.1 (2013): 1-7. Web. 2 Mar. 2015.
Harris, Charlaine. Dead until Dark. New York: Ace, 2008. Print.
Miller, Kathleen. "A Little Extra Bite: Dis/Ability And Romance In Tanya Huff And
Charlaine Harriss Vampire Fiction." A Little Extra Bite: Dis/Ability And Romance In
Tanya Huff And CharlaineHarrissVampireFiction (2010): n. pag. Web. 3 Mar. 2015.
Primuth, Richard S. "Vampires are Us." The Gay & Lesbian Review Worldwide 21.2
(2014): 17-21. ProQuest. Web. 3 Mar. 2015.