Macaulay 1

John Macaulay

Greg McClure

Writing 39B: Critical Reading and Rhetoric

30th January 2017

Rhetorical Analysis of I Am Legend: Understanding the Opposition During the Cold War

In the novel I Am Legend, author Richard Matheson portrays the complete isolation of

protagonist Robert Neville in the monster-infested world he lives in. Matheson first portrays

Neville as the lone hero of the human race, but transitions him away from his fundamental

humanity resulting in Neville being revealed as the true monster. Matheson pushes the reader to

follow Nevilles character through the many months of alienation in the desolate world to

witness the mental and emotional break down he endures. This results in Neville fulfilling the

definition of an impure and threatening monster according to the distinguished professor of

philosophy Nol Carroll. Since the book was published in 1954, Matheson is able to embed

historically relevant features from the Cold War era into his context. According to Danish scholar

Mathias Clasen, "I Am Legend obviously extrapolates from the kind of anxieties that grow

particularly well in the shadow of a mushroom cloud (Clasen 317). This metaphor is used to

describe the fear of nuclear warfare that carried on throughout the Cold War. The transition of

Neville from hero to art horror monster helps demonstrate Mathesons theme of perspective and

understanding. Mathesons use of Ruth as an alternate positive protagonist reinforces the theme

of understanding others in order to have nonviolent conflict. Throughout this analysis, I will use

direct passages from the text and various academic sources written by Mathias Clasen, Nol

Carroll, Tony Magistrale, and Michael Morrison to show how Matheson uses rhetorical devices

and characteristics of the horror genre to show the mental destruction of man and the natural fear
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of others through the lack of understanding. These themes show parallel to the relationships

between the Americans and Russians throughout the Cold War.

Throughout the novel, Matheson shows how Neville struggles to find his purpose in the

world. This results in a dilemma for Neville because he does not know if there is any reason for

him to keep pushing on throughout his life. This is shown in the quote, Despite everything he

had or might have, life gave no promise of improvement or even of change... The thought of

forty more years of living as he was made him shudder. Yet, he hadnt killed himself(Matheson

85). Matheson uses rhetorical elements to demonstrate the internal struggle that Neville is going

through. Neville feels a sense of worthlessness and questions whether there is any purpose for

him to continue living. After losing his loved ones and all other human interaction, Neville has

been immersed in extreme isolation for a long period of time. This intense loneliness pushes

Neville into a deteriorated mental state. This scene shows the start of Neville losing his hope for

any possible change in his miserable life. This results in the ultimate self destruction of Neville

as he constantly wonders what his purpose is left on the Earth.

Matheson portrays how Neville, through his isolation and deteriorating self state, is

driven to extreme sexual frustration and erotic fantasies which signifies his loss of fundamental

humanity. Neville is deprived of any form of interaction with other people and thus becomes

sexually frustrated. After losing everything and being in complete isolation for three years,

Neville portrays many mental and emotional struggles. This causes Neville to dehumanize all of

the vampires and to objectify the women that he is experimenting on. This is seen when Neville

has an internal conflict with himself and goes over the situation, He took the woman from her

bed, pretending not to notice the question posed in his mind: Why do you always experiment on

women? He didn't care to admit that the inference had any validity. She just happened to be the
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first one he's come across, that was all. What about the man in the living room, though? For

God's sake! he flared back. I'm not going to rape the woman!(Matheson 50). Matheson uses this

internal argument to characterize how Neville is transitioning away from his morality. The

constant arguing with himself is used to give the reader insight on how mentally exhausting the

isolation from humanity is. One of the main points in this quote is when Neville brings up rape,

giving the reader insight that he has thought about it to an extent. Another instance is when

Neville is thinking about the women outside his house at night. He hears them calling for him

and even fantasizes about giving himself up to them. This struggle shows Nevilles loss of

mental stability and pushes him further from his fundamental self.

Matheson reveals Nevilles deteriorating mental state through Nevilles lack of

compassion and understanding. Clasen describes this mental break down as one of the main parts

of the novel in his essay, Vampire Apocalypse, by saying, Sociality is and has been crucial to

human ontogenetic and phylogenetic development. We depend on other people not just for

reproduction and survival, but for psychological and emotional growth and fulfillment. This is

the common-sense observation that is conveyed by I Am Legend; imaginatively and more

powerfully than any psychology textbook could ever hope to accomplish(Clasen 320). As seen

with Ruth, Neville is shown struggling to show compassion because he has been separated from

civilization for so long. This is ironic because Ruth, who is infected and supposed to be seen as

the monster, shows more compassion and understanding than Neville. This plays into Mathesons

message of understanding the opposite population on a personal level because this is one scene

where Ruth shows compassion and understanding for Nevilles situation. Matheson shows

Nevilles struggle when Neville thinks to himself saying, He was afraid of giving out his heart,

of removing the chains he had forged around it to keep emotion prisoner. He was afraid of loving
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again (Matheson 128). The language used plays into the overall tone of the story when he

discusses chains and imprisonment. This shows how Neville feels about his situation; where he is

trapped prisoner in a hopeless world.

Through his upsetting experience with the dog, Neville loses his last hope and has a final

destruction of mental and emotional health resulting in his transition to the true monster. The

characterization of Neville allows for him to be placed as an impure monster in the horror genre,

according to the definition of a monster by Nol Carroll. In his scholarly essay The Nature of

Horror, Carroll defines a horror monster as impure, threatening, categorically contradictory, and

extraordinary in an ordinary world. Throughout the novel, Neville is portrayed having a

fundamental loss for himself and all his moral qualities. In the scene with the dog, Matheson

writes, To his complete astonishment, he later found himself offering up a stumbling prayer that

the dog would be protected. It was a moment in which he felt a desperate need to believe in a

God that shepherded his own creations, (Matheson 86). In this scene, Matheson shows the

audience how much the dog truly means to Neville. The dog not only symbolizes a possible

companion, but Nevilles last hope. Neville even starts to turn to a higher power which he does

not do throughout the novel. After dog passes away, Nevilles final hope dies along with it. Then,

from that day on, he[Neville] learned to accept the dungeon he existed in, neither seeking to

escape with derring-do nor beating his pate bloody on its walls, (Matheson 101). Soon after the

dogs death, Matheson shows Nevilles final destruction. With all hope lost, Neville limits his

binge drinking and shows less care for the world around him. This lack of care drives his

moraless use of scientific research.

The science that Neville uses comes along with the problematic nature of science itself.

One of the main issues with science itself is the moral implications that are often ignored by
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researchers. This is not to say that the scientists themselves lack morals. The nature of science is

driven by curiosity, but can often be clouded by wrongful intuition. Yuval Levin, director of the

Bioethics and American Democracy program in the Ethics and Public Policy Center, claims in

his essay The Moral Challenge of Modern Science, Moral imperatives, including especially

those profound moral imperatives at the root of the scientific enterprise, are becoming clouded

over just as the scientific enterprise begins to focus its attention most directly on the human

animal itself(Levin 40). This description explains how science is problematic because of the

resulting loss of morality. This is connected to I Am Legend as Neville disembarks on his

scientific research. Matheson shows Neville continuously objectifying the test subjects, who are

mostly women, and using them for the benefit of his own. In the eyes of the reader, this will be

seen as necessary for Neville to understand the genomic mutation that has taken over. However,

in the perspective of the vampires, Neville is a gruesome monster of the night who slays their

people and runs tests on them as if they are nonliving objects. This problematic view of science

later enforces Ruths role in the novel.

The categorically contradictory monster that Neville has become is enforced with Ruths

role as the positive protagonist. Presented very late in the novel, Ruth is seen as Nevilles second

hope. However, since Neville has already lost all hope after the death of the dog, he is unable to

feel any compassion or care for Ruth. In contrast, Ruth shows sympathy and understanding for

Neville and the situation that is forced upon him. Although Ruth is infected and supposed to be

the monster in the scene, Neville is the one who shows the characteristics of a threatening and

impure monster. This is reinforced when Neville first encounters Ruth and chases her down.

Although Ruth is give the task of spying on Neville, she is still extremely terrified of him. This

scene shows how Neville is both physically threatening and cognitively threatening. Matheson
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portrays the characters roles switch as Neville transforms from hero to art horror monster and

Ruth becomes the positive protagonist. Ruths role as the positive protagonist is Mathesons way

to show how it is important to have a personal connection with the opposite side in order to have

peaceful resolution. This explains why Ruth is so understanding of Neville instead of hostile

because she understands how much he has lost and realizes that he is not doing this to be a

monster, but to live. This concept also contradicts the usual horror genre hero. As stated by Carol

J. Clover, Professor of Rhetorical Language at University of California Berkeley, in her essay

Men, Women, and Chainsaws, The function of monster and hero are far more frequently

represented by males and the function of victim far more garishly by female (Clover 12). This

explanation shows how Matheson puts a twist on his art horror normality. Matheson transitions

Neville from hero to art horror monster, and portrays Ruth as the compassionate hero figure for

the struggling Neville. Matheson shows how important the theme of perspective plays a role in

the novel.

Mathesons theme of perspective and understanding is shown with the implications of

Cold War anxieties and prejudice. Throughout the Cold War era, anxiety and mistrust filled the

lives of Americans. The novel I Am Legend acts as a parallel for these same fears and anxieties

during the 1950s. This is seen through Nevilles flashbacks when his wife Virginia brings up

germ warfare and with the description of the setting being in close relation to post war cities. The

characters act as symbolic representations of different groups during these times. The social

hostility between the humans and vampires, and later the dead and alive vampires, shows the

social divide that was present between nations during the Cold War era. This shows the parallel

between the common us-vs-them concept. According to professional psychologist Michelle Roya

Rad, A sense of group attachment gives them a collective identity that is stronger than an
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individual self(Rad). Rad later goes on to discuss the collective distrust of individuals with

people who are outside of their group. This is comparable to the relationship between Neville

and the vampires, as well as the alive vampires and the dead one because they fear and show

hatred of each other without truly understanding the other side. This plays a huge role in the

theme as Matheson pushes to show that only through understanding can you have peaceful

resolution.

The final scenes of the book show the use of the horror genre to describe the terrors we

face in reality. As Tony Magistrale and Michael Morrison explain in their essay A Dark Nights

Dreaming: Contemporary American Horror Fiction, Much of what occurs in horror is

symbolic; that is, its deepest meaning exist on a subtextual level. Beneath its veneers of

tormented maidens, madmens, monsters, and the other archetypes of the genre, horror

consistently reminds us of human vulnerability (Magistrale and Morrison 2). Magistrale and

Morrison discuss the use of the horror genre to portray the fears that most people internalize and

often push aside. This human vulnerability is what the horror genre plays into because it is

what can psychologically disturb individuals. Matheson uses this concept when portraying

Neville as the lone survivor in the monster infested world. The symbolic use of the vampires to

symbolize the Russians during the Cold War era plays into the fears that were present during that

time. However, the twist that Matheson uses helps enforce the theme of the entire book.
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Work Cited

Carroll, Nol. "The Nature of Horror." The Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism.

Philadelphia, PA: American Society for Aesthetics, 1982. 51-59. Print

Clasen, Mathias. Vampire Apocalypse: A Biocultural Critique of Richard Matheson's I Am

Legend. N.p.: John Hopkins UP, 2010. Print.

Levin, Yuval. "The Moral Challenge of Modern Science." The New Atlantis. The New Atlantis,

Fall 2006. Web. 19 Feb. 2017.

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Matheson, Richard. I Am Legend. Forestville, CA: Eclipse, 1991. Print.

Morrison, Michael A., and Tony Magistrale. "Introduction to Dark Night's Dreaming."

Introduction. A Dark Night's Dreaming: Contemporary American Horror Fiction.

Columbia, S.C: U of South Carolina, 1999. 1-7. Print.

Rad, Michelle Roya. "The Psychology of 'Us' vs. 'Them'." The Huffington Post.

TheHuffingtonPost.com, 13 Sept. 2010. Web. 18 Feb. 2017.