One of my greatest interests is friendship, and I love to analyze the differences in how friendship is viewed in different times and cultures. Bram Stoker's novel Dracula is great for many reasons, one of which is that it inc;udes a surprising portrayal of all the facets of late 19th century English friendship. When Jonathan and Mina join forces with their new found friends they truly gain all the special powers of a Best Friends' Club, and only through the awesome powers of friendship do they manage to defeat Dracula. Here's what I learned:
1. True friendship can cross gender and generational boundaries.
The Best Friends' Club includes people of varying ages from the young Jonathan and Mina to the wise old Dr. Van Helsing who has been around the block a few times, and both men and women. At first they try to exclude the gentle Mina from some of the gorier aspects of their pursuit of Dracula, but they soon learn their lesson--that they must all work together to defeat their foe!
2. Spurned loves can make the best of friends.
Towards the beginning of the novel we are introduced to the beautiful and charming Lucy Westenra who tells Mina through letter that she has received three marriage proposals in one day--one from Dr. John Seward, one from Quincy Morris, and one from her true love Arthur Holmwood. Although she rejects the first two men, her suitors are not angry, but rather promise that she has earned their friendship for life. Cool.
3. True friends always hold hands.
These people are constantly holding hands. Any emotional moment. The drop of a hat. You'll be as shocked by this as you will by the fate of card carrying Best Friend Lucy Westenra.
4. Diversity is key.
Just when you think this Best Friends' Club is bunch of stuffy white British people, we are introduced to Quincy Morris, a gunslinging Texan from Texas, USA. Basically, every Best Friends' Club needs some sort of token friend to show that the club isn't discriminating. I think it might be in the rule book.
5. Friends stay friends through thick and thin.
Need multiple, intense blood transfusions because a vampire is sucking you dry every night? The Best Friends' Club is on it. Need to have your corpse decapitated to save your immortal soul? Yeah, they can do that too.
But of course, all this friendship has its costs. Jonathan and Mina are lucky they got married before joining the club. Otherwise their wedding party would have been unwieldy with 4 best men (and possibly an undead maid of honor). The couple did not escape, however, the cost of the first born son, which according to the rule book must be named long-windedly after every member of the cost. A small price to pay, I guess.
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