This horror and science fiction answers the question: “What happens in a world controlled by vampires?” The realistic description of events and in-depth depiction of Neville’s emotions makes a sci-fi terror masterpiece.
“I Am Legend” begins on a cloudy January in 1976, six months since a plague swept through the world, turning the victims into zombie-like vampires who feed on blood. During this period, the dead return at night to roam and attack the living. In the hours of daylight, Robert Neville, the only human alive, checks his house for damages done to it by the vampires. He repairs destroyed things and nails loose boards, ensuring his house is ready for the attacks that would come again when the sun sets. He also harvests garlic cloves from his hothouse to use as a weapon against the vampires: garlic repels them. He hangs the garlic cloves around his house, then sharpens stakes that he uses to kill vampires when they are in a comatose state.
The central conflict in the book is Neville’s fight for survival in this world. However, as the plot progresses, the conflict is revealed to be Neville’s mental battles with loneliness and decency. When Neville is not preparing for vampire attacks, he retreats to the safety of his house. The vampires gather outside but cannot get in. Robert plays Beethoven and Brahms loud enough to drown the sound of the massive crowd of vampires outside his walls. The mob, headed by his former friend, Ben Cortman, tries to get him to come out. Ben taunts him with shouts of “Come out, Neville!” Sometimes, Robert Neville drinks to deaden the pain and loneliness of being the only human in the world. He toys with the idea of surrendering to them or killing himself.
After a while, Robert wonders why things like garlic, crosses, and sunlight work the way they do. He wonders why some vampires do not hate the sight of crosses, yet others do. Soon, Robert researches the plague. He reviews works like Bram Stoker’s “Dracula” and makes a list that separates vampiric characteristics that are true from superstitions. He quickly gets frustrated and abandons the list, falling deeper into despair and heavy drinking.
In my opinion, Neville’s decision to understand the plague becomes an activity to look forward to because it keeps him occupied and educated. He discovers why the vampires behave the way they do.
Later, he recovers from his exasperation and decides to continue his experiments. He tests his theories on unconscious vampires he finds, dragging them into the sun to see how they react. One afternoon, while experimenting, he realizes his watch has stopped working. Knowing he is hours away from home and the sun is setting, he makes a mad dash for home. He arrives on his street to find the vampires already gathered in front of his house. Although he struggles greatly, he enters the house unharmed.
Following his close shave with death, Robert Neville throws himself into fixing the damages done to his house and replacing the appliances ruined by the vampires in anger. Robert often has memories of his wife, Virginia, and their daughter, Kathy. They get sick from the contagion sweeping the world and lose their appetite. Kathy dies first and has to be burned in the city’s massive fire pit to prevent her from returning as a vampire. When Virginia dies, he wraps her up in a blanket and secretly buries her. He is alarmed when Virginia returns for his blood two days later. He kills her and buries her again in a crypt.
He begins to read books on blood, physiology, and bacteriology that he gets from the library. He quickly learns how to use a microscope. When Robert examines a drop of vampire blood under a microscope, he discovers the bacillus bacteria responsible for vampirism. The human body serves as a host for this bacteria. The rising action occurs when Neville discovers some vampires retain their reasoning capabilities, pushing him to consider a cure for the infection.
His research hits a barrier when everything he applies to cure the germ does not affect it. Falling into a nearly fatal state of despair, Robert sees a stray, injured dog on his front porch one morning. He spends the next few weeks gaining its trust with food. Robert is happy, believing his lonely days are over. He even offers a prayer for its protection. He spends several days feeding the dog and trying to calm it. Eventually, Neville grabs the dog and takes it inside. The dog is infected, and although Robert tries to nurse it back to health, it dies.
The discovery of the dog removes Neville from his depressed state, in my opinion. He becomes hopeful about companionship and also the existence of other non-infected persons.
Two years later, Robert is more comfortable with his solitary life. He develops the hobby of hunting Ben Cortman. One day, Robert sees a woman in the daylight walking toward him. He calls out to her, and when she runs away, he goes after her. Finally, he catches up with her and takes her to his house after learning her name is Ruth.
Robert is highly suspicious of the woman, presuming she is infected. Still, he rekindles his hopes of restarting the human race and not being alone. He tests with the smell of garlic and tries to believe when she says her reaction is because of a weak stomach. Ruth tells Robert about her husband and children killed by the vampires. Robert also shares details of his experiments with her. He admits that he is uninfected by the virus because he got bitten by a vampire bat years ago.
In the morning, he draws her blood, and at the last minute, she begs him not to view it under the microscope. However, it is too late, and Robert realizes Ruth is infected. Before he can react, she knocks him to the floor with the blows of a mallet. When he regains consciousness, he finds the house empty. Ruth leaves him a note explaining that she is part of a new race slowly forming a society. This race has found ways to limit the effects of vampire infection with daily medication. The medications are so effective they can stay in the sun for a while, unlike the other vampires that burn when exposed to sunlight.
The book reaches a turning point when Robert learns that the vampires have mutated and formed a new society. The knowledge switches Neville’s perspective, and he realizes his presence threatens them. Ruth warns him about their intention to destroy the real vampires and the rest of humanity. She urges him to leave his house and hide in the mountains.
When Ruth and Robert meet, he is too tired to care about others. To me, this signifies the change that occurs when optimism dies. His emotional intelligence dims, and he blatantly accuses her of lies.
Robert Neville, however, remains in his house. When the new hybrid race comes to capture Neville, the climax occurs. He fights back, gets shot, and is taken away from his home against his will. The falling action happens almost immediately as Robert is imprisoned and awaits extermination. There, he has one final conversation with Ruth, and she slips him poison pills that will kill him before his execution. The resolution of “I Am Legend” reflects on Robert’s life, the loss of his friends and family, and human evolution. In the end, Robert realizes he is part of an era that has passed and has no place in the new world or the society that fills it. He also discovers he has become a legend.
