Twig's very chaotic scrapbook

ALSO TELL ME WHETHER YOU WANT IT DONE WITH ONE OF THOSE “MY MIX” YOUTUBE PLAYLISTS OR THE PLAYLIST I’M MAKING WHERE I ADD 1-3 SONGS FOR EVERY DAY OF THIS YEAR

Till the last drop

Then, when he says "I dared not go below, I dared not leave the helm," all his uncertainty and just how lost and afraid he is truly comes out. I love how soft his voice gets.

"so here all night I stayed, and in" he's so good at using this little half chuckle to make me very distressed for him. Here he's laughing at himself once again, what a fool he was for not understanding, once again he was a fool to have any hope that he would be alone now and no more deaths would follow...

"in the dimness of the night I... saw... Him." CHILLS. soooooo creepy, sooooo well done.

The way he says "no man can object" just hits so hard, it feels somehow like an apology to the mate in a way even more than the line saying he was right did.

"But I am captain, and I must not leave my ship." ABSOLUTE BANGER OF A LINE. GOD. I knew it would be, but. Oh my god. He's choking up, how he almost fades away on captain, how his voice shakes somewhere between helpless laughter or tears but helpless either way. I love the long shaky breath before this line, building up his resolve. And then how he just sits with it for a couple seconds afterward, quiet, as the music grows stronger (I love the music)

And he comes back determined. He can do so little, but he will do it. He will baffle this monster in whatever way he can, he will protect his own soul though he couldn't protect any others, and he will keep his honor as well. He won't let this monster take what little he has left.

(I think part of the next line is missing, since it goes right to "-ight is coming on")

His determination holds strong, but his final lines show that this isn't a dramatic last stand, full of heroic vim and vigor. It's a long, aching, terrifying standoff, trapped alone with a monster who has killed everyone else, who has taken away the very sun, alone with only the God that the Captain already feared had abandoned him as any sort of comfort at all. He's scared and worn and he doesn't have any real hope left but he will cling to his role as captain, when nothing else is left. Dracula's laugh coming right after "God and the Blessed Virgin and the saints" and then echoing over "help a poor ignorant soul trying to do his duty...." makes it all even worse, because even as they are invoked the Count laughs about it, seemingly proves that they aren't here, they can't stop him. No one is going to help this poor, ignorant soul; and Dracula finds the idea of him trying to still do his duty hilarious.

(For now at least. If the Captain's theory on "what he may not touch" is correct then I'm sure that will annoy Dracula plenty when it stops him getting to the helm/his last victim.)

SEA SHANTY!!!!!!!! I knew it would come but!!!! So exciting. And the lyrics are so morbid. Here's a trick to catch a ___. Adding in the soft waves in the background, the way the "oo-ooh" gets more uneasy as it goes along, how they get less unified, how they start to fade away, individual voices become more distinct. And that ending is so good.

But I am captain, and I must not leave my ship. But I shall baffle this fiend or monster, for I shall tie my hands to the wheel when my strength begins to fail, and along with them I shall tie that which He—It!—dare not touch; and then, come good wind or foul, I shall save my soul, and my honour as a captain.

This part is so heartbreaking, yet so important in the theme of what defines faith in this book. Our captain has believed that the deaths of his crew were man made, and even believed yesterday that it was all the first mate's doing after seeing jump aboard. doesn't have any knowledge about vampires, maybe about some of his local folklore, but by working in the sea those tales have no use for a captain like him when the water itself is a far more dangerous beast.

However, even if the captain doesn't have the methods that the Transylvanian locals had, nor any knowledge whatsoever, he fully understands that Dracula is akin to a demon. So, what can a man made of flesh and blood do in front of a supernatural being made of pure evil? Put his trust, and his faith into the power of god, and all of the saints. He ties the rosary with the cross along with the rope on the wheel as a way to not protect all of himself, but his hands, so Dracula cannot touch them.

If we are wrecked, mayhap this bottle may be found, and those who find it may understand; if not, ... well, then all men shall know that I have been true to my trust. God and the Blessed Virgin and the saints help a poor ignorant soul trying to do his duty...

The captain trusts all heaven to guide him either to a wreck, or to guide into what is beyond his understanding. Drifting in the vast waters of the world to keep this demon from doing what it did to his crew.

Yes the captain may die at the hands of Dracula, but he is still the captain of the Demeter, and he cannot leave his ship to the sea even if he wanted to die like a sailor. The moment he saw Dracula was probably the moment he immediately understood the first mate's reaction. He now is the last person to share the ship with a century old monster who he looked straight in the eye. And what does the captain do? He ties his hands to helm, along with a think is a little crucifix because he reasures that Dracula will not touch his hands. Then he stays true to his promise and honour as a captain by keeping the course to England. He will finish his duty as a sailor and reach his destination.

To answer the captain's question, his sacrifice was not in vain because now thousands of people in the future, connected by a web of mass communication, have read about what happened to the Demeter. The captain's bottle was found, and we salute him for writing everything in the middle of the horrors that him and his crew suffered.

So, the question here is - how does the captain know this? Presumably, he's got a crucifix, but until today he believed that all the death was the mate's doing. And we saw everything the mate told him, which wasn't much. Certainly nothing so specific as "He won't be able to touch a crucifix."

So now I'm wondering... did the Captain have some level of prior knowledge about vampires, or just monsters in general who can be repelled this way? Maybe something he'd heard long ago, or even earlier on from some of the crew, but never believed in enough to mention in his log before now.

What can a human do in the face of the unmistakenly supernatural? Someone who is akin to a demon beyond what we believed, the terrifying legends and tales made in flesh?

Well, the captain says to do the best we can while your head holds high, put your faith into the forces beyond heaven, and to keep the wheel steady because you have a duty to fulfill.

As heartbreaking as it is to see the captain alone, without his crew, and defenseless against Dracula, he refuses to become a silent victim of the Count by denying him the control of the Demeter.

God and the Blessed Virgin and the saints help a poor ignorant soul trying to do his duty…

Once again the book repeats, if Dracula as a supernatural evil exists then the powers of heaven that completely oppose him exist too, and that any character can call them for protection, or maybe penance.

So, as much as it pains to see the captain without the protective folklore of Transylvania, he still calls to the holy power which he understands to be all defeating against the evil of the world. By pleading to god and heaven, tying the rosary around the wheel, and binding his hands with a rope, he made sure that Dracula cannot control the Demeter in any way that matters.

First off, I already wrote a post about a couple earlier similarities in how they both write to keep a clear record when strange things are happening, and how they both indulge the superstition of others (only to later realize the truth of it). So there's that. But then there's a bunch more recent stuff as well.

I am beginning to feel this nocturnal existence tell on me. It is destroying my nerve. Jonathan, 12 May Still fog, which the sunrise cannot pierce. I know there is sunrise because I am a sailor, why else I know not. Captain, 4 August

One of the first things Dracula does with Jonathan is keep him up all night to get him on a nocturnal schedule. While Jonathan eventually spends more time awake during the day when he knows Dracula is weakest, it seems like Dracula kept up their late-night talks until almost the end, meaning that every time he did so it came at the cost of losing some sleep. Even when he does get to sleep, there are some hints that he often has nightmares. (I'm not adding any sleeping quotes here because the points go together, and there would be so many to collect.)

With the Captain, one of Dracula's earliest/most persistent methods of torment is to deprive the crew of their sleep. The storms, if you believe he summoned them, start pretty early. Even if you don't buy that though, their fear leading to double watch even as more and more of them disappear leads to less rest. And then when the Captain is able to rest well he's awakened to find even more death. Eventually, Dracula deprives him of sunlight too, by surrounding the ship in a fog so thick that it's hard to even tell when it is day or night.

I am alone in the castle with those awful women. Jonathan, 30 June

While the Captain doesn't have any such clear quote, it is very much a major detail that he is entirely alone with Dracula at the end. In a sense, this is a contrast, because Dracula being gone is what makes Jonathan talk about being alone with such fear, but the essentials of the situation are the same: they're trapped in a place they cannot leave, with only vampire(s) for company who want to kill them - there's even an extra parallel if you add in the person they both feared/relied on has recently left (not that the first mate and Dracula fill the same role, but in this specific way it's kind of an echo).

I have placed the crucifix over the head of my bed—I imagine that my rest is thus freer from dreams; and there it shall remain. Jonathan, 12 May I shall tie my hands to the wheel when my strength begins to fail, and along with them I shall tie that which He—It!—dare not touch; and then, come good wind or foul, I shall save my soul, and my honour as a captain. Captain, 4 August

They both rely on a crucifix to protect them from Dracula... at least in a limited capacity. Jonathan has seen its efficacy proven, while the Captain more just has faith in it driving off demonic beings like Dracula must be. There's kind of a neat contrast in their opinion of the crucifix itself in that way, with Jonathan initially dismissing it as idolatrous but somewhat reevaluating his own faith once seeing that it affects Dracula, while the Captain at one point fears that he's been abandoned by God but later finds refuge in holding on to his own faith, with the crucifix itself serving as a physical manifestation of that.

And then away for home! away to the quickest and nearest train! away from this cursed spot, from this cursed land, where the devil and his children still walk with earthly feet! Jonathan, 30 June

Jonathan finally decides to risk it all to flee for home, finishing his original round trip. The Captain lashes himself to the helm so that nothing can stop him from completing his journey to the best of his ability. Both their final acts of defiance are in an effort to try and reach other people, to defy being trapped alone with these monsters.

If this book should ever reach Mina before I do, let it bring my good-bye. Jonathan, 4 May At least God's mercy is better than that of these monsters, and the precipice is steep and high. At its foot a man may sleep—as a man. Good-bye, all! Mina! Jonathan, 30 June If we are wrecked, mayhap this bottle may be found, and those who find it may understand; Captain, 4 August

Both Jonathan and the Captain realize that there is every chance they will not survive their journey/live beyond their final entry. Jonathan verbalizes the possibility of his death much earlier and more often, but in the end both of them write their final lines with the hope of an outside audience who can learn from their experience and understand why they did what they did. They also both choose to face a likely death. (Jonathan's choice to flee at all costs is maybe closer to the mate's choice to escape into the sea than the captain's decision to stay, but in both cases they hope to preserve their words even after their own death.)

This was the being I was helping to transfer to London, where, perhaps, for centuries to come he might, amongst its teeming millions, satiate his lust for blood, and create a new and ever-widening circle of semi-demons to batten on the helpless. The very thought drove me mad. A terrible desire came upon me to rid the world of such a monster. Jonathan, 30 June But I am captain, and I must not leave my ship. [...] ... well, then all men shall know that I have been true to my trust. God and the Blessed Virgin and the saints help a poor ignorant soul trying to do his duty.... Captain, 4 August

Both Jonathan and the Captain act at least partially out of a sense of duty. Jonathan early on is determined to do his duty by Mr. Hawkins; on his final day in the castle, he feels a responsibility to try and stop Dracula from going to London. Sure, it's mixed in with his own hatred and (wild) desire for revenge, but at least part of the reason he attacks Dracula with a shovel is because he doesn't want to be a part of getting him what he wants. He doesn't want to help transfer him to London.

It's pure human resilience, and the ability to look at an inhuman horror in the face while tying your hands to the wheel of your ship, along with a rosary. The captain may have felt yesterday that god had deserted him, but today he stands his ground against the Monster who decimated his crew with his head tall, and his hat intact.

That horrible monster that still doesn't understand that in the pits of despair humans find strenght to fight back.

And the knowledge, the comprehension of the importante of knowledge at the last second, the captain's realization that this horrible Creature will attack other people. Other people who would be as clueless as he was, looking for answers in a fog that will eat away their sanity while running.

"If we are wrecked, mayhap this bottle may be found, and those who find it may understand."

The importance of just understanding what is around you. Knowledge is power, and the captain that knows the truth holds all of the power.

From his perspective Dracula won, the Demeter is set in her course to England, and he has a stomach full of blood, and new fresh kills on his belt. However, that horrid bastard will never forget how two simple people, a young solicitor on his first job, and a humble captain running his ship, escaped from his fingers with their humanity shining on the sky.