Eradication of a Moral Dilemma

A detailed Summary of Eradication of a Moral Dilemma

Anyone who has seen a movie or has read a story about vampires is also aware of the horror associated with them. When the word vampire is mentioned, it conjures up the stereotypical, repulsive image of Bella Lugosi, killing and sucking the blood of his prey. Vampires have been viewed as cruel monsters that go on senseless killing rampages. They have been consistently portrayed as the evil villain, but what makes a vampire evil? Kristine Kathryn Rusch's "Children of the Night" uses the many vampire myths and traditions to depict the vampire's violence, while vividly illustrating the consequences of violence as a moral dilemma in society.

Killing a vampire cannot completely be justified. There are moral implications that should not be over looked. In Rusch's story, at one phase in their existence many male vampires have children, so when one of these is killed a child is deprived of its father. Rusch opens the story with the main character Cammie pounding a stake into a vampire's heart, "the vampire roared once-arms flailing, long nails scratching the side of the coffin" (Rusch 327). This typifies the traditional resolution of a vampire narrative. In this case it is just the beg

Cammie confronts Janie to attain understanding and forgiveness. Sitting down across from Janie, Cammie tried to talk to her, but "Janie screamed. She grabbed all of her animals against her and screamed as loud as she could" (Rusch 337). Janie's distress was a normal reaction to the murderer of her father. Janie is taught to fear women, "She hates women. Her father taught her that women are dangerous" and Cammie proved it by killing Janie's father (Rusch 338). Everyone who was part of the eradication is dramatically affected. The harrowing events bring up memories of Cammie's childhood when she had once killed her own vampire father!

This image of a vampires as a good father causes Cammie's guilty conscience to affect over her mood, stability, and elicits sympathy from the other characters. Rusch presents an inner conflict tormenting Cammie. She knows she has to rid the world of vampires, but at what consequence? After having killed Janie's vampire father, Cammie is plagued by disturbing flashbacks. Cammie comments "the night had grown longer. And each night, phantom and dreams about vampire's children" (Rusch 336). These were forgotten memories of Cammie's early encounters with vampires. Cammie's traumatic flashbacks are a typical reaction, not unlike the many cases of war veterans who experience flashbacks of disturbing events and actions that they have encountered in battle.

Cammie had always looked at her job systematically, "She had always gone in, found the sleeping vampire and murdered it" (Rusch 330). She had never considered that she was killing a father of some child. The little girl forces Cammie to see the consequences of the murd

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Approximate Word count = 1132
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: Politics