Family typically can be defined as a social unit of persons closely related by blood. In this respect, Gomez’s idea of a vampire family is the same. Being that Bird and the first Gilda were the ones to change her, they, along with the rest of the Sorel family, became the blood family of Gilda.
However, it is the family relationships in The Gilda Stories that make the idea of family much different. There are multiple moments where Gomez describes Bird and Gilda’s relationship as a mother to child one. However, when one would not normally think this nourishing relationship would go to the extent that it does. In chapter four, we see that Gilda and Bird share a much more sensual bond. Gomez writes, “To an outsider, the sight may have been one of horror” (140), because to us humans, this relationship goes beyond our common understanding of family. I feel that Gomez intentionally does this to force the viewer to think outside the norm, and to demonstrate how much more connected a vampire family is compared to a human one.
"Family typically can be defined as a social unit of persons closely related by blood."
ReplyDeleteThis is a very thought provoking definition of family. I assume this is how the dictionary defines this term. I had never thought of it this way before, but based on this definition there is, as you point out, technically no difference between human and vampire families in Gomez's novel. Good observations.