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COMMENT AND REPLY
Writing an autobiography is not like testifying in court under oath. You can fudge things a bit, leave out embarrassing details, embellish stories or even make them up.
My very personal hunch (this is not something I can prove by textual analysis) is that the climactic episode in the mountains when Pascal ran into the Vampire and gave her his lunch never happened. Maybe he did see her from afar and maybe he even thought of helping her out. Maybe he even left his lunch on a rock for her.
But the entire story seems a little too convenient: it seems he needed to make it up as a way to expiate for his guilt: the guilt of "moral complicity" with the rest of the people who believed she was *evil* (see scene in the tavern) and probably agreeing that she should be killed for the crime she allegedly committed.
Did he invent it to deceive himself, to make peace with himself, to look less bad to our eyes? I don't know. But something doesn't fit.
COMMENTS (I encourage disagreement with my opinions. Feel free to say that my arguments are not persuasive because_____________.)
I prefer that disagreements come with some kind of rationale, not just as quick dismissals.
REPLY: choose a comment that was posted after yours and reply, possibly arguing a contrary point.
I also found the part when D'Angelo meets the vampire atop the mountains a little unrealistic. While I do not argue that the vampire was not present on the mountain, I do not believe that D'Angelo would have actively approached the vampire when previously, he has always been shown to keep his distance unless attempting to pull a prank. Furthermore, if he had truly approached the vampire and given her his lunch, he would have surely returned to provide her lunch everyday. Is it possible to ignore a hungry person when you provide food to all other beggars that come your way?
ReplyDeleteHello, Rabia. I see the point you make on Pascal possibly fabricating a bit because he may feel bad for how he has mistreated her. But the point you bring up about him not coming back to bring her more food I do not totally agree with. Pascal and his family were living in poverty, if he were to continuously bring her his lunch then what would he have to eat? He would go hungry. When he found her he wasn't looking for her and he definitely was not expecting her to look as defeated as she did. In that moment his eyes met hers he saw the pain and the fear behind the "scary vampire" facade" maybe he even related a little. Surely, Pascal felt sorry for her but he was still a frightened child which would explain him not returning to bring her more food that and because his family simply did not have the means to feed an extra person. I don't think any child who thought someone was a vampire would return no matter how bad they felt for them. And the type of child Pascal described himself to be was very timid and afraid. Maybe if it were a different child who was braver they would have returned to help, but it wasn't so in this case so does that automatically make it embellished?
DeleteNayisha, you bring up an excellent point. You could be right. D'Angelo could have just been scared to go back. You have me rethinking my perspective a tad bit. I just looked back at the text and D'Angelo did not approach the vampire knowingly. He initially compared the dark figure he saw to a black boulder (40), which I do not understand why he would approach a boulder. Was he truly that curious? He stayed despite his initial instinct to run because of the pity he felt towards her.
DeleteFor this information to all be fabricated, D'Angelo would have had to carefully think through the chronological events, checking over for accuracy countless times.
Thank you for this insight.
Based on the previous discussion, I, too, feel that the story with the Vampire may have been adjusted to fit the similarities in their stories. If Pascal left lunch on a rock, or didn't see the Vampire at all, the end of his story would not come full circle in anyway, which would be disappointing for the audience. I believe Pascal was aware that the audience would crave that full circle to be satisfied. However, I don't shame Pascal for the fudging if that is what he's done. For example, I wrote my thesis screenplay about my relationship with my father. The events, mainly, were accurate. However, the beginnings and endings were adjusted to flow into another scene, to make logical sense, or to make some sort of point. I understand and appreciate his need to do this. I did feel that him feeding the Vampire was out of character in that very moment. I feel that Pascal discovered that bravery, strength, confidence, and the ability to be less fearful much later in the story. I feel the change happened when he began to laugh at his situation after being fired from his NJ state road job and then not getting paid from the job that followed. I felt that Pascal as a child would have never put himself in that situation, although I felt that the scene was crafted nicely in that it was set up with heightened fear, so that the confrontation seemed even scarier and more worth noting.
ReplyDeleteWhile reading the chapter on Pascal's encounter with the "Vampire", I honestly didn't get a sense of embellishment. To me the scene was very simcere. He said when he approached her he could see how pale and under-underished she looked. He also said she looked helpless, maybe he saw her in a different light because her defenses were down. She was no longer trying to keep up this facade of being a feared "vampire", but instead she was being who she truly was, which is scared and alone. And since these two share feelings of isolation and fear maybe he saw some of her in himself and that is why he showed that act of kindness and had that change of heart. You can feel sorry for someone and still fear them, which would explain why he jumped away when she tried to embrace him.
ReplyDeleteIt is quite interesting that you believe the supposed vampire was keeping up a facade of being feared. Why do you think so? Is it because she used to scare kids off? If so, that was only to prevent them from pulling additional tricks on her. She has always been found begging door-to-door which an individual attempting to be feared would not do, in my personal opinion.
DeleteIf you believe D'Angelo felt sorry for her, don't you believe he would have returned to provide her further nourishment?
I never thought of this way Nayisha! Wow. Maybe that could have been it. Maybe the vampire was throwing in the towel because she was so desperate. I never saw her as being scared and alone, just feared by others. You're right you can fear someone but still feel sorry for them. Shucks. Now I feel bad for believing that his story could have been fabricated. Maybe he was just seeing himself in her like you said. You have me thinking hard!
DeleteWhen I read about that encounter, I didn't get that same sense of embellishment. Although I understand why it might look like he was just trying to make himself feel better about how she was treated, I don't think Pascal would have done that, because he hasn't embellished other stories that also don't make him look so good. For example, the story with him and Antonio trying to stab an old lady with a pin is I think much worse than not giving someone his lunch, and he doesn't embellish that. Also, he admits to not hugging her and being repulsed by her when she reaches out - he would have fixed that up a little bit also in order to make himself look better.
ReplyDeleteYocheved, I do not believe the point of embellishment is to always make D'Angelo look good. Rather, the point is to allow the story to flow and allow the readers to come a full circle, as Kara explains. This sometimes requires D'Angelo himself to be the bad guy. Had D'Angelo hugged the vampire at the time, she would not have been abandoned further. She would have found a bit of victory instead. But D'Angelo's life towards the end of the book is constant struggle. The only light he finds is the acceptance of his writing, which although mentioned to us is not fully described as if it were not really a part of the book.
DeleteTo be honest, I didn't give Pascal's encounter with the vampire much thought. However, now that I think about it, his account of the vampire was meant to humanize her. I can understand the doubts readers may have about the events, but Pascal saw an opportunity to share the details of her plight. Maybe he wanted to express his guilt towards the way she has been treated. One thing I'm certain about is that, Pascal pitied her. The way she was treated was inhumane. To make matters worse, she wasn't an actually vampire--just a poor, manipulative old woman.
ReplyDeleteHonestly, i don't think pascal's encounter with the vampire was made up. originally, when I began reading the book, i thought the mention of the vampire was a lie. i thought she was a character that Pascal made up. However, when he went into such extensive details about the vampire, I came to the conclusion that she was real. Therefore, when I read about Pascal's encounter with the vampire on the mountain, I thought it truly happened. Of course I felt this "fiction/fantasy-like "vibe as i was reading it. I have come to trust pascal as the author, though. I don't think he would make that up. The only way i would believe the encounter on the mountain did not happen is only if the vampire was never real to begin with. Pascal mentioned that she existed and was a part of the experiences he had as a child. Therefore, I have no choice but to believe that he is telling the truth about his encounter with the vampire.
ReplyDeleteWhile reading the part with the meeting with the vampire at first I thought it was very surprising but I didn't think it was unrealistic. For me, throughout the book you can sense that Pascal pitied and felt bad for the vampire. Throughout the book Pascal was being completely honest to the reader about the events that happened in his life. Maybe this encounter was fabricated a little bit because we know he is trying to recall all the tiny little details in the major events that happened to him. When trying to remember what exactly happened he could have forgotten and then fabricated something to make the story flow.
ReplyDeletePascal may be telling the truth. Why would Pascal have to return everyday to feed this woman for it to be true? Maybe he fed her once and that was that. Then again, he was fairly young and easily frightened. The truth could be that he bolted down the hill once he saw her. This is how Pascal wants to remember it so I'll go with it.
ReplyDeletewe learn about pascal character in this part of the story where he goes in feed the vampire. When you do good for someone no matter what you will never for get. your response helped me better understand my own writing.
DeleteAs I read the interaction between Pascal and the Vampire and how he gave her his lunch I thought it was strange only because Pascal was so young during this interaction and how scare he was of her prior to this interaction. I understand that he empathized for her because while reading you see Pascal is a good person with a good heart but as a child I do not think you can rationalize that and want to help someone that scares you so much. I would have to agree that I think Pascal might have made up the story in his head to make himself feel better but I also think that Pascal truly believes that happened. He created this scenario in his head and thats how he remembers it. Being that he was so young, that completely makes sense to me.
ReplyDeleteI believed Pascal when I read the story. It's an autobiography, why would he lie to himself and his audience? After I read your suspicions, I look back at the story differently. It seems too "written" - the perfect storm. The brain has a funny way of distorting old memories. We want to see ourselves in the best light possible. I think after he reflected on his life, he was horrified by the way Americans treated him, he couldn't compare himself to them. Yes he was a part of discriminating against the "Vampire" - but he was different, he helped. Everyone denied her, but he was the only one who fed the woman. He was special, he had empathy.
ReplyDeleteExcellent point. Pascal's motive to embellish his recount would be to separate himself from those that victimized him. To admit that he didn't help her would establish that he is no better than the people that he despises for their prejudice towards him simply because of his appearance.
DeleteReading that part of the book I was taken a back, a vampire ? How unrealistic. From the previous discussion I can see how this plays well into his autobiography, whether the story is made up or true, Pascal made himself look a lot better than the Americans. Just as Frieda stated, we always want to see ourselves in the best light possible, and this puts Pascal in that light. I believe this part of the book was embellished, he might have left her the lunch, he might have seen her from a far, but at the end of the day he made himself feel when he wrote that out. He did not want to be seen as the Americans, discriminating and being quick to judge.
ReplyDeleteFirst of all I hated how he referred to this old lady as a vampire because all I can picture in my head when hearing the word vampire is Dracula. I don't know why, but I just do. So when I constantly saw the word vampire throughout the text I had to adjust my mental picture from Dracula to a little old lady. I thought the mountain moment was totally fabricated. Why would he help her out after pitying her for so long? He was so scared of her so to feed her? I don't really know if this true or just how Pascal wants to remember it out of guilt. Writing autobiographies are based off of memories and we all remember differently or sometimes we remember things how WE want to remember them. Sometimes that involves twisting the truth a little, but so be it. At the end of the day every writer wants to cater to an audience and in order to do so sometimes a little fabrication is needed.
ReplyDeleteI have to disagree with you on this . Yes it could be fake , but then what would be the point? why mention that ? I believe it would make more sense for it to be true. The encounter could probably symbolize something deeper between pascal and the vampire . some way the vampire story is connected to vampire .so what if instead of seeing pascal helping the witch has what the professor ,but instead from a different point of view.
ReplyDeleteOkay I could see that Pascal running into the vampire could be a made up story. Sometimes we join in biases against others and later feel bad that we did not take the time to see for ourselves what things and people are really about. Even sometimes we go and try to make amends with people (get up and give your seat to a black person on the train and suddenly you like, "see I'm not a racists). Trying to make amends for Pascal to learn and many others is less about other people and more about changing your own qualms. Its more about how you can be a better person for the world and hope that other people are trying to be better people to.
ReplyDeleteThat was one of the parts that I actually questioned myself. Considering the fact that he was very much afraid in general during that time, it is a bit hard to believe he approached her on his own. He did believe that she was a witch and a vampire, so what made him approach her alone in the mountains. He believe that she was responsible for the death of the baby and that she was capable of anything. It is a good point that was made by the professor. When he went through the hard times, dealing with what the vampire must have dealt with, he felt some type guilt and understanding. He felt bad that he did not help her out when he could. I feel he must have made that part up to make himself feel better and also to show how he should have acted. At the end he is begging for someone to recognize him and give him a chance, maybe he wishes he had given the old hag a chance at life.
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