The undead are becoming, or some might say have become, a huge topic. Many people are interested in the undead and creating stories with interactions between them and the living. The interactions of the undead with the living will always be a huge topic. In these 4 stories, "The Wrong Grave" by Kelly Link, "The House and the Locket" by Chris Wooding, "Dracula" by Bram Stoker, "Sunbleached" by Nathan Ballingrud, we are able to see different points of view and interactions between the 2. There are multiple themes in these stories, but they all connect in a certain way. Both the living and the undead are involved and a major theme would be change in all of these stories What they have in common is change. Whether it's going from human to ghost or even from human to vampire, they can all be compared to an anther in a way, but they can also really differ. They all have unique ways of representing these characteristics/themes throughout the stories. This is something that makes stories of the living and the undead so interesting to readers. Each author offers the reader a different understanding of the undead, making each story different in its own way. Everyone goes through a change in their life, from the living to the undead to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original EssayIn the story "The Wrong Grave" by Kelly Link there is a great change or transformation in Bethany. Bethany, Miles' ex-girlfriend, has died and is now transformed into a ghost that he comes to see but doesn't recognize. Miles digs up Bethany's grave to get back some of her poems that he gave to her. Once unearthed he doesn't seem to recognize the girl and although she is truly the same person Miles doesn't seem to see Bethany, now he sees "Gloria". Having said that it says a lot about their relationship and makes you wonder if Miles really loved her, do you think if he did he would recognize the girl he loved no matter if she was dead or alive. Bethany's mother recognizes her without problems: “We don't often get the chance to see our dead. Even less often do we recognize them when we see them. Mrs. Baldwin's eyes opened. He looked up, saw the dead girl, and smiled. He said, “Bethany.” So it really makes you think a little bit about the relationship between Miles and her. Throughout the story we understand the theme of change and relationships after death. The interactions between Miles and Bethany or “Gloria” allow us to understand that death changes people and from that change they can become unrecognizable even to the people they loved/love. “The wrong dead girl was lying there, smiling at him and her eyes were open. He was several years older than Bethany. She was taller and had a significantly more developed bearing. He even had a tattoo. The living and the undead in this novel are not very different from each other. Even though there are some parts with "Gloria's" hair that wouldn't happen in life, you wouldn't necessarily know the difference between the two. In “The House and the Locket” by Chris Wooding we are able to see the theme of possibilities and another big one is time. This story foreshadows a lot by giving us a lot of details in the future rather than the past like many ghost stories do. The ending is an important part of this story, it's where everything you read in the story makes the most sense and makes you think. The narrator and his best friend Henry enter this house because they are being chased by a "wolf". night, that's when everything starts to go wrong for them. The narrator begins to see his wife haunting his thoughts but it is not actually his wife he sees/hears: “Reader, what was in the bed next to me that night. I dare not consider it fully. All I can say is what they havemy fingers touched then it was not the face of my dear beloved. What lay beneath my hand had no skin; I felt wet flesh, teeth, and the wet ball of an eye. From there on ghost sightings are seen several times. Not only by the narrator but also by Henry, he sees a man hanging by his neck and believes he has the narrator's face. Another example would be when they are in the attic and find a diary from a boy named Henry, dated 12 years ago. This is where the theme of time comes into play because everything foreshadows the end of the story. When we wake up and go home we understand what exactly was happening in that house: “Above all, I must make sure that what I was warned about that night never happens. Not for me, not for Lizabeth and not for my son Henry. By the end of the story you realize how much foreshadowing was actually happening in the story. The interactions between the narrator and the “ghosts” allow us to understand that this was a glimpse into the future rather than something that was happening right now. “Sunbleached” by Nathan Ballingrud has a rather prominent theme of desire. The Vampire, for example, shows the theme of human desire, what vampires are known to have. As Joshua and Michael show another side of desire as Joshua wants to become a vampire and is making deals with the vampire to do so, “Invite me,” he says. “Later,” Joshua said. “Not yet. After you finish changing me.” Joshua has a desire to become a vampire and understand them more, which is why he is making deals with the vampire to do so. The interaction between the two helps to understand the relationships between everyone in the story. Joshua offers the vampire Tyler, his mother's boyfriend and someone he is not entirely a fan of, as long as he transforms him. The vampire's desire to change Joshua is very strong as he needs to feed himself what the vampire wanted was to feed on the family while Joshua wakes up one day and finds that his family no longer lives because of the vampire, "Thank you for your family," he says he sank his teeth into Joshua's neck and pulled away from him once again. A wonderful warmth crept into his body and he found himself being lowered gently to the top of the stairs. Another theme would be change. There are several changes throughout the story not only regarding Joshua's transformation into a vampire. It seems that the family is going through some problems related to not having the father at home and the hurricane that ruined the city. Micheal, the younger brother, was also interacting with the vampire and believed he was actually talking to his father. Also from this we can see the desire this vampire really had to feed on this family, "Michael?" His brother's body jerked in alarm, and he sat up quickly, staring guiltily at him. Joshua turned on the light. "What are you doing?" Something cold was growing inside him. Michael shrugged. "Tell me!" “Talking to dad” “No.” «He lives under the house. He wants us to let him back in. I was scared because mom might get angry with me. "Oh, Mikey." His voice trembled. “That's not dad. That's not daddy." Since vampires tend to have a desire to feed on humans, we see this characteristic throughout the story. Bram Stoker's "Dracula" is told in a different way than the rest of these stories, told by many voices of different diaries and letters from various people. All the characters in the story help to understand the theme of life and death. As Dracula continues to turn people into vampires, we see how they change and what is different from being alive to being undead. For example, Lucy is bitten by Dracula, eventually transforming into a vampire and therefore has the desire to do the same with others, which.