Dracula 6

Study Guide Questions for Ch. 6 "Mina Murray's Journal"

If you are looking for the beginning of the study of Bram Stoker’s Dracula then you can go HERE for a brief introduction. At the bottom of the introduction you will find the links to each section of the study guide as it becomes available. If you would like to see the growing list of available book studies available for free on this site you can go HERE. Enjoy!

Virtues/Vices/Great Ideas: (Find them in the Text)

Beauty, Truth, Death, Light vs. Darkness

Grammar Questions: (The Information of the Text)

1. What are some of the prominent features of the town of Whitby according to Mina’s first journal entry?

2. What did Mina note that many people really enjoy doing at Whitby?

3. What two “legends” did Mina mention which were popular among the people of Whitby?

4. What did Mr. Swales say the dead would try to do with their tombstone when they rise for the day of judgment?

5. What information did Mr. Swales share with Mina in evidence of his claim that “in nigh half of [the graves] there bean’t no bodies at all?”

6. What harsh truth did Mr. Swales tell Mina about George Canon (despite what his gravestone might claim)?

7. What strange habits and practices is Dr. Seward’s patient, Renfield, participating in?

8. What odd behavior has taken hold of Lucy recently?

9. Mina said, “This suspense is getting dreadful.” To what was she referring?

10. According to Mr. Swales, why was he making light of death in his previous conversations with Mina?

11. What are the atmospheric conditions (weather) like at the end of the chapter?

Logic Questions: (Interpreting, Comparing/Contrasting, Reasoning)

1. Do you think the legends Mina mentioned will play a greater significance in this story? If so, how? If not, why not?

2. What do you think Mina meant by calling the older man “the Sir Oracle” of his friends?

3. Why did Mr. Swales not take any of the legends seriously?

4. Why Did Mr. Swales think (even if jokingly) that the tombstones of the deceased would be something they could try to use as evidence before judgment?

5. In the 5 June entry of Dr. Seward's diary he notes that renfield has a “selfish” quality. Compare this statement to Dr. Sewards comments on selfless versus selfishness in his diary entry on 25 May in the previous chapter. What should we conclude about Renfield (if Dr. Seward’s earlier judgment was correct) in light of this?

6. Why is Renfield doing what he is doing? What does he think he will gain from it? How might this connect to the wider events of the story so far?

7. What do you think of Dr. Seward’s character in this story so far? Why?

8. What should we make of the changes in the weather and the strange appearance of the Russian vessel off the coast?

9. Compare the dates and events in Jonathan’s Journal from Chapter 4 with the dates and events in our present reading (both in Mina’s journal and Dr. Seward’s diary). What, if any, connection might there be between these things?

Rhetoric Questions: (The Analysis of Ideas in the Text)

1. In the story, Whitby is a coastal town with a long history of its people taking to the seas in various capacities (naval service, fishermen, merchants, etc.) and, as a result, loss of life at sea was not uncommon. Why do you think people throughout history who lived by the sea (or ocean) continued to go out upon it when it offered so much obvious danger? What kinds of motivations might cause them to take such risks? What do you personally think about such risk taking? Is it worth it? Why or why not?

2. In the story, many of the graves at Whitby are reportedly empty due to loss of life out at sea (with no recovery of the body being possible). Why might people in this situation, or similar ones, still feel compelled to put up a headstone in a cemetery for the ones who have died? Do you think this is a good and rational thing to do? Why or why not?

3. George Canon’s tombstone doesn’t tell the truth, according to Mr. Swales. Why are people often tempted to not tell things like they really are/were at funerals? Is the practice of “not speaking ill of the dead” a good practice or a misguided one? Explain why you think as you do about this.

4. Dr. Seward gives a brief word of support for the practice of vivisection based upon the valuable discoveries, both scientific and medical in nature, that have come from the practice. To what degree should an action be judged based upon its results? When judging the permissibility or moral quality of a deed, what factors should be included? Are there any factors that have (or should have) greater weight to them when making moral decisions? Explain your answer thoroughly.

Theological Analysis: (Sola Scriptura)

1. Read 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18. How should the doctrine of the resurrection provide comfort and assurance to Christians about those who have died in faith? Why is Christian burial (as opposed to cremation) such a powerful picture of the gospel?