Interview With the Vampire

Louis is complicit in Claudia’s death and rebirth as a vampire, and he tells her as much. Why does Claudia blame Lestat more than Louis? She says that she hates Louis as much as she loves him, but why is she able to stay with Louis while Lestat drives her to attempt to kill him?

Louis has a disdain for Lestat that is almost instantaneous from their first meeting. Why does he stay with him for so long, given how distasteful he finds him?

Throughout the interludes with the interview, Rice refers to the interviewer as “the boy.” What implications are there in this characterization? Why refer to the interviewer in terms of his innocence and youth, rather than by his function as a transcriber? Why not give him a name?

Louis spends much of the story searching for knowledge and then despairing when he finds none. One of his great fears is that “we must live with the knowledge that there is no knowledge” (120). What does he mean by this? Is he implying something impossible about epistemology or empiricism? Does knowledge mean something different to a vampire than to a human?

Louis gradually realizes that Lestat kills as an act of revenge. Who does Lestat wish to take revenge on? What factors in his upbringing drive him to kill and hunt with such rage? Illustrate the connections of Lestat’s past to his behavior using examples from the text.

Would the story be as effective without the device of the interview? Give your reasons.

When the interview concludes, Louis is exasperated and despondent. Why does he believe that he failed in the interview? What did he hope to accomplish, and why does the boy find the conclusion of Louis’s story so unsatisfying?

At the end of the story, Louis has fully embraced his vampire nature. This has cost Armand and Lestat his companionship. Louis appears to have no more qualms about killing humans and no longer torments himself with an irrational respect for all life. Yet, he does not kill the interviewer. Discuss the possible reasons for this.