Some of the themes I saw present throughout my commonplace book reading were the themes of reverse imperialism, anachronism, and fears immigration. The first idea I really saw stick out was that of reverse imperialism. Jennifer mentioned this in her entry and it really grabbed my attention because the definition for it matched up perfectly with the fears depicted in this novel. Reverse imperialism is the fear that the primary inhabitants, or natives, of an area would take that area back from settlers who had made a home there. This is a fear that was very apparent during this time since Britain had many colonies in Africa and other less-developed areas. Many viewed this as a threat to their everyday way of life. Dracula is an ancient entity, so he would be considered a native of the land. These ideas connect very closely with anachronism, or the idea that Dracula was an embodiment of the feudal past rather than an innately evil person. This idea is seen in Harker’s quote, which reads “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”. This piqued my curiosity because this shows that Harker doesn’t view Dracula as innately evil, but rather it is his ancient and dark past that makes him dangerous. This is seen since Harker doesn’t become truly afraid until he realizes the mistake he made by bringing him to London. This really shows the fears of people at the time: they weren’t; necessarily afraid of the monsters that were far away, they were more concerned with the potential of the monster penetrating their perfect society.
