Vocabulary
This term refers to a lack of interest or concern, particularly in situations where a response might be expected or required.
What is apathy?
What critical event marks the beginning of Robert Neville’s isolation in I Am Legend?
What is the death of his wife and daughter and the subsequent collapse of society due to the vampire plague?
What is the nature of the disease that transforms humans into vampires, and how does it spread?
What is a mutated bacterium that causes a vampiric-like infection, spreading through human contact and infecting the bloodstream?
What small, everyday actions help Robert Neville maintain his sanity during his long isolation?
What is Neville maintains a strict daily routine, such as counting the days, organizing his supplies, and engaging in small acts of normalcy like fixing his house or reading books?
What role does the theme of isolation play in shaping Robert Neville's character throughout the novella?
What is isolation drives Neville to both despair and obsession, leading him to seek meaning in his survival, challenge his sanity, and ultimately come to terms with the loss of human connection and his place in a changed world?
This word describes the process of something echoing or having a lasting effect, often in a physical or emotional sense.
What is reverberate?
How does Robert Neville initially respond to the plague, and what method does he use to try to understand its effects?
What is Neville initially conducts experiments on infected animals and humans in an effort to understand the disease and find a cure?
Unlike traditional vampires, how are the infected individuals in I Am Legend both human and monstrous?
What is the infected retain some human qualities, but their transformation is biological, not supernatural, and they are driven by the primal instinct to feed and propagate?
How does Neville's struggle to find meaning in his survival reflect the existential themes in I Am Legend?
What is Neville grapples with the notion that his survival might be meaningless in a world devoid of humanity, facing a loss of purpose and identity as he questions his role in a new, vampire-dominated world?
How does the motif of light and darkness contribute to the novel’s exploration of survival and fear?
What is light represents safety, rationality, and hope, whereas darkness symbolizes danger, the unknown, and the breakdown of reason, with Neville’s survival dependent on his control of these shifting forces throughout the story?
This term refers to a large gathering or assembly of people, often for a formal purpose or meeting.
What is convocation?
In the context of the novel, how does Robert Neville's daily routine reflect his psychological state as the last human survivor?
What is Neville’s obsessive routine of hunting vampires, securing his house, and avoiding madness by holding onto a sense of purpose in an otherwise empty world?
In the novella, how do the vampires adapt to the changing world and their own condition?
What is the vampires' society develops its own rules, with the infected forming a type of hive mind that evolves to see Robert Neville as a dangerous anomaly and a threat to their new world order?
What psychological breakdown does Neville experience when faced with the overwhelming loneliness of being the last human alive?
What is Neville begins to question his own sanity, engaging in delusional thinking, and even begins to talk to inanimate objects like his house and his dog, showing how isolation erodes his mental state?
How does the motif of science versus superstition manifest in the story, particularly in Neville’s attempts to understand the vampire plague?
What is Neville’s scientific approach to understanding the plague contrasts with the supernatural or mythic elements of the vampire lore, with his failure to fully comprehend the vampires representing the limitations of human knowledge in an apocalyptic world?
This adjective is used to describe something related to the human condition, often concerning themes of meaning and the nature of existence.
What is existential?
When Neville meets the female vampire he is able to capture, what realization does he come to about the vampires' behavior?
What is Neville begins to see that the vampires are not mindless creatures, but a new species with a form of society and behavior driven by their own instincts and needs?
How do Neville’s interactions with the infected women highlight the novel's theme of dehumanization?
What is Neville sees the female vampire as both an object of horror and a source of empathy, reflecting the struggle between his need for connection and his view of the infected as less than human?
How does Robert Neville’s relationship with his dog symbolize the broader theme of human dependence on connection?
What is Neville’s relationship with the dog highlights the emotional need for companionship, even if it is with a non-human animal, and represents a vestige of his lost humanity and pre-apocalypse life?
In what way does the nature of monstrosity in I Am Legend blur the lines between hero and villain, and what does this suggest about human perception of evil?
What is the story complicates the idea of monstrosity by showing that Neville, who is initially framed as the human hero fighting vampires, becomes the “monster” in the eyes of the new vampire society, questioning whether monstrous behavior is inherent or shaped by perception and circumstance?
This term refers to an irrational fear or dislike of people from other countries or cultures.
What is xenophobia?
In his final moments, Robert Neville reflects on the concept of "legend." How does this idea encapsulate his transformation over the course of the novella?
What is Neville’s understanding of "legend" shifts from being the last human survivor to recognizing that in the eyes of the new vampire society, he is the monster—his existence is mythologized and feared, turning him into a "legend" in the negative sense?
How does Neville's scientific approach to the plague reveal the limitations of human knowledge in the face of an apocalyptic scenario?
What is Neville’s reliance on science and experimentation ultimately leads him to realize that his understanding of the plague is incomplete, as the vampires' biological changes are beyond his comprehension and represent a new form of life beyond the old human world?
What existential realization does Robert Neville come to at the end of the novella about the nature of survival and human identity?
What is Neville comes to understand that his efforts to preserve humanity are futile, and he is a relic of a bygone world, becoming the "legend" or monster in the eyes of the new vampire society, showing that survival is not always synonymous with redemption?
How does the theme of adaptation and evolution challenge Neville’s understanding of humanity, and what does it reveal about the nature of societal progress?
What is the theme of evolution is reflected in the transformation of humans into vampires, who develop their own society and norms, suggesting that humanity’s concept of civilization is fluid, and that survival and progress are not always linked to human-centric ideals, as Neville must accept that his former world is being replaced by something entirely new?