I Am Legend by Richard Matheson
"I Am Legend" is a post-apocalyptic novel by Richard Matheson, set in January 1976, where Earth has been devastated by nuclear war and a plague that turns humans into vampires. The story follows Robert Neville, the last human survivor, as he barricades himself in his home, fending off nightly attacks from vampires, including his former friend Ben Corman. Initially focused on survival through violence and alcohol, Neville's character evolves as he begins to scientifically investigate the vampire phenomenon and the plague's origins.
As he conducts experiments and reflects on his past, including the loss of his wife and daughter, Neville's journey reveals deeper themes of grief and compassion. The narrative takes a significant turn when he encounters Ruth, a woman who is part of a new society of living vampires, which challenges his perceptions of good and evil. Ultimately, Neville faces the moral complexities of his existence and the consequences of humanity's actions, leading to a profound conclusion about survival and identity. The novel explores significant philosophical questions about humanity, morality, and what it means to be a "monster," establishing Neville as a tragic figure and a legend in his own right.
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I Am Legend
First published: 1954
Type of work: Novel
Type of plot: Science fiction—apocalypse
Time of work: January, 1976-January, 1979
Locale: Los Angeles, California
The Plot
As I Am Legend begins, in January, 1976, Earth has been ravaged, first by nuclear war, then by a mysterious plague that transforms its victims into vampires. One normal human being, Robert Neville, remains. Through him, Richard Matheson dramatizes humanitys desperate struggle to overcome a catastrophe that it perhaps brought upon itself.
In the first of the novel’s four parts, Neville has barricaded himself in his home against the nightly onslaughts of the vampires, among them his former friend and neighbor, Ben Corman. While Corman shouts for him to come out, Neville attempts to block the horror with classical music and alcohol. By day, while the vampires sleep, he repairs the damage to his house and hunts his tormentors. This has been his life for five months. He avoids the past, particularly memories of his wife, Virginia, and daughter, Kathy, both victims of the plague. Instead, he exists alone in the terrifying present, eating, drinking, listening to Beethoven, and killing scores of vampires.
When part 2 opens in March, 1976, Neville has refortified and soundproofed his house. More secure, he begins to diverge from his obsession with destroying vampires and seeks to understand them and the disease that engendered them. Thus begins a clever scientific inquiry that transforms into science fiction what has been so far a rather ordinary horror story. With microscope and science book in hand more frequently than mallet and stake, Neville discovers a bacterial cause for the vampirism. He also carefully observes vampire behavior and conducts experiments to solve mysteries surrounding the vampires. This scientific inquiry transforms Neville as well as the novel. Compelled to search his memories of the past for clues about the plague, he cannot help but recall his own losses. His resulting pain and grief display a compassion and vulnerability previously missing, as does his touching attempt to befriend a terrified stray dog.
By June, 1978, when part 3 opens, Neville seems to have adjusted to his solitary life and resigned himself to living only in the present. On a leisurely daytime hunt for Ben Corman, he sees, pursues, and captures a woman who may be normal. During their day and night together, Neville makes several startling discoveries that challenge his existence. Not only do his few hours with Ruth reveal the emptiness of his solitary life, but her true identity and purpose also radically transform his understanding of the vampires and of himself. A member of a new society of living vampires who have developed a treatment for the plague, Ruth was sent to spy on Neville, the monster who has been indiscriminately slaughtering and experimenting on both the reanimated dead and her kind. Although puzzled by the two different types of vampires, Neville had decided that both were monsters he must kill for the sake of his own survival. Now he must confront the awful truth.
Part 4 finds Neville resignedly awaiting his fate. When the new humans come for him, they display the same hatred and brutality that led to nuclear war. They ruthlessly slaughter the reanimated dead, including a pitiful Ben Corman, and then capture an appalled Neville. Humankind has mutated, but it has not changed. It remains painfully “normal.” Whether Neville chooses suicide with Ruth’s assistance or public execution, he will be a new terror, a new superstition, a new legend for humankind.