I Am Legend Essay

Analysis Of ' I Am Legend '
"For me, it is far better to grasp the Universe as it really is than to persist in delusion, however
satisfying and reassuring." (Carl Sagan) In "I Am Legend" the main character Robert Neville often
tries to escape his reality by having delusions. These delusions are caused by Neville's inability to
fully accept his isolation and inevitable loneliness, causing his mind try and cope with the situation.
The coping his mind uses is to have grandiose delusions which often can be linked to existential
distress, such as isolation. I will display how Neville's inability to accept his isolation causes him
to develop these grandiose delusions as a way to cope or solve his isolation. Also, it will be shown
how these delusions, which normally the want for him to save something, lead Neville to develop a
savior complex.
Before the analysis of this novel begins I would like to clarify what a grandiose delusion is as well as
what a savior complex is. A grandiose delusion is a type of delusion someone experiences who has
delusional disorder WebMD describes grandiose delusions as "Grandiose delusions (GDs) are
defined as the false beliefs of having inflated worth, power, knowledge, or a special identity, which
are firmly sustained despite undeniable evidence to the contrary." (Lai) As for a savior complex,
which is also referred to as messiah complex, it is not recognized in the DSM but can be described
as "a state of mind in which an individual holds a belief that he or she is, or is
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Analysis Of I Am Legend
I am Legend
Almost all stories with the genre dystopian can relate back to the theme loss of humanity in some
way. The dystopian movie I am Legend does not break the stereotype, with this dystopian story
being told with loss of humanity as the plot. The movie was directed by Francis Lawrence, he is
most well known for his work with dystopian movies, especially in his work on the Hunger Games
series, Britney Spears Movie, and I am Legend. This movie takes place in New York City, with the
city abandoned all but the main character Robert and the monsters that only come out in the dark.
Robert is immune to the disease that turns people into these monsters, staying in the city so he can
find a cure. The movie I am Legend used heroism, multiple symbols, and narrative transport to
represent the theme loss of humanity.
The butterfly is one symbol from the movie that connects to the theme loss of humanity. The
butterfly was used multiple times in the movie, to show that regardless of this scenario that the
main character Robert is in, there is always hope and from the ugly world there can be something
beautiful. The butterfly is first shown in the movie when Roberts daughter was playing with a
butterfly, this scene was a flashback to show that there was life at one time that had hope in it.
Near the end of the movie, Robert is trapped in his lab with only a sheet of glass between himself
and a mob of monsters. When the monsters keep hitting the glass, the breaks in the glass made

I Am Legend: A Virus
I Am Legend, is a film about a virus that occurs from scientist's creating a treatment to cure people
with cancer, but their treatment then results into a catastrophe where people transform into vicious
monsters called the "dark seekers." Robert Neville, is the only survivor left in New York City, and
is resistant to this

Allusion In I Am Legend
Plot Summary
In the novella I Am Legend by Richard Matheson, Robert is the last human on Earth that has been
plagued by a disease that turns humans into vampires. This infection has ended with Neville alone
in a house to fend and survive, in an undisclosed area of Los Angeles. It is mentioned several times
through the novella that bombs could have caused the mutation of a disease and constant
sandstorms attribute to the spreading of the infection throughout the areas of Los Angeles. In order
to fend off the blood sucking vampires, Neville sets up perimeters of garlic, and mirrors to repel the
vampires getting closer to his house. Additionally, Neville installs lights and boards his windows so
the vamps can't get in without a fight. All of his...show more content...
This creates an image of a trapped Robin on an island being given answers by Santa by sleigh.
What it really means, is that Neville, once on a hopeless island of despair, now has answers to his
problems that he is facing. The author refers to Santa Claus because he is known to come to town
and bring gifts, but instead, he brings answers to Neville. In addition, it refers to Robin Crusoe a
character that was once trapped on a deserted island for a long period of time before being saved
and getting trapped again. As is Neville, alone and trapped in a world where vampires surround him
every day, waiting for the chance to jump him for his

I Am Legend Research Paper
I Am Legend is such a great movie, in my opinion. Will Smith did such a wonderful job in it, but
as you stated it does fall in this week's topic. I Am Legend does have similarities to Jesus' story,
with him being the only man on Earth that the disease does not affect and his blood being the only
thing that can stop the disease that is spreading. When you describe I Am Legend in this manner, I
think it would definitely be a good way to start a conversation about the good and the evil in the
world.

I Am Legend: Book vs Movie Essay
When one hears the title I Am Legend being mentioned, they usually associate it with Will Smith
and the terrific job he did in portraying the protagonist of the story Robert Neville. However, what
they typically leave out is the equally terrific job done by author Richard Matheson coming up with
the storyline and writing the original book version. While Richard Matheson's post–apocalyptic
science fiction book, I Am Legend, and Francis Lawrence's post–apocalyptic science fiction movie, I
Am Legend, both have similarities and differences, in the end, the original book version prevails
mainly because the movie version alters the original storyline too much. In the movie, Robert
Neville is a scientist who was unable to stop the spread of the...show more content...
It is definitely one of the movie's strongest points. The look of the movie gives an eerie while also
beautiful quality to it, enhancing viewers look on the movie as a whole. The music used in this
movie was mainly used to help establish the mood for each scene. The music that was chosen for
specific parts of the movie was really geared towards enhancing the feeling for viewers. The
lighting was also used to establish the mood but it was also important to the plot of the movie.
The lighting played a key part in the movie because day and night, light and dark, were two
completely different scenarios. During the daytime, Neville and his dog got to travel and move
around freely while at night they had to stay locked up in his house. The reason for this being that
the infected humans couldn't be out in the light so during the day they stayed hidden in dark
areas while at night they could roam freely. The camera work was very crafty in this movie.
There was a lot of free space in many of the outdoors shots, which could've possibly symbolized
the emptiness the world now had. The indoor shots were more typical and were tighter, switching
up the feel a little (Miller). Richard Matheson's book I Am Legend falls under the genre of science
fiction. Critics performing analysis of I Am Legend often say it is a metaphor for the spread of
communism, especially since it was written during the height of the cold

Imagery In I Am Legend
Throughout time, many cultures around the world formed different monstrous images to illustrate
the fears and horrors in the society, such as Godzilla represents the horror of radiation that caused by
atomic bombs. The zombie, the werewolf, and the vampire are the three typical monstrous figures
that represent many kinds of deadly disease that people suffered in the past. They stand for the
downfall of humanity, and even today we use them as the image for an apocalypse. They embodied
the fear of contagion throughout centuries because of the infection that they give upon biting their
victims. In other words, the zombie, the werewolf, and the vampire are monstrous figures that
represent the fear of disease because they are being used to illustrate the horror of a plague
scenario. The image the vampire is being used in horror movies and novels to portray the fear of
disease and infection. For example, in the novel I Am Legend, Richard Matheson states: "The worry
had started a few hours before, while Ruth was sleeping. Now, he couldn't rid himself of the fear. No
matter how he reasoned, it didn't help" (126). This quote demonstrates the fear that Robert Neville,
the main character, was experiencing. He was afraid that Ruth, the girl he brought home, is infected.
The quote shows the fear of losing a companion from Neville while illustrating the general theme
which is the horror of contagion. Furthermore, Matheson also states: "He was surrounded now by
people, hundreds of them,

Analysis of I Am Legend Essay
The way the world is seen varies with each passing person. What is observed as good from one
may be the damning pathway to hell for another. Many times these beliefs are instilled upon us at
a very early age which can result with a twisted outlook on life that we had little to no control
over. As we grow older we are than further influenced through our religion (or lack of), culture, and
passed experiences. With that in mind, it is easy to see that reality can be just as interchangeable
and further raises the difficult question of what is real? Robert Neville, a man who on a daily basis
struggles with the reality of being the last man on earth often only manages to keep going by holding
on to the intangibles of hope, denial, and...show more content...
All Neville has is himself. If he wants to keep living he has to work hard to keep his home up. He
struggles with the motivation but yet he still perseveres. His will to live is often almost non–existent
but nonetheless he gets up early and does his daily maintenance routine. He knows that it would
be so easy to just give up but he doesn't and the question is why? Despite the hardships, Neville
was still able to hold on to a thread of hope. He was by no means optimistic since it was apparent
at times that he was not aware he held on to anything at all. Nonetheless, somewhere deep within
Neville he had his hopes. He hoped that there might be someone else like him who survived. He
hoped that he can find out what caused this. He even created new "hopes" for himself that were as
trivial hoping to one day find where Ben Cortman slept so that he finally kill him. Whether the hope
was insignificant or not, it did not matter. Just having the feeling of hope could have been a huge
driving force for Neville making it easier to want to live. It was the times that Neville questioned or
gave up on his hopes that were his lowest points. Although this happened often he still managed to
pull through, but it was the extreme highs and lows that he experienced that really brought him down.
Neville lives in a world turned upside down which makes it all the more easier to live in denial.
Denial is a

I Am Legend: Human Nature
I Am Legend "There is a great deal of human nature in people," stated Mark Twain. Human nature is
found among every person on the planet. In the novel, I Am Legend, Matheson taps into an intuitive
understanding of human nature. The word instinct according to Cosmides and Tooby, "was used to
refer (roughly) to specialized neural circuit that are common to every member of a species and are
the product of that species' evolutionary history." This statement sums up whathuman nature is in
technical terms. Mathias stated, "Matheson's protagonist is caught simultaneously in the desert of
isolation and the jungle of predation, and the plot and situation in I Am Legend give compelling
symbolic form to universal human fears" (Mathias, 314).
According

Analysis Of I Am Legend
I Am Legend Dystopian movies always have a big change in the society. Whether is it has
something to do with aliens or the world ending.The movie I Am Legend directed by Francis
Lawrence is dystopian movie.In the movie all of society is nearly gone. The main character
Robert Neville had made a promise to stay there and find a cure for the KV virus.All by himself
other than his dog and the dark seekers in New York. He begins to lose his mind and talking to
mannequins he's placed over the city. In the movie the overall theme of loss of humanity plays a
big role in the universal story elements and literary devices used. The ones I used are symbolism,
moral lessons, social cohesion, and narrative transport. The butterfly is a symbol from the movie that
relates to the theme of redemption. The butterfly was brought up constantly throughout the story.
Any flashbacks that involved his daughter Marley. Everytime she was with her dad she would
make a butterfly with her hands and show them to her dad and say " Look daddy, a butterfly" (
Lawrence ). This quote relates to the theme of redemption because a butterfly is something that can
be small and ugly. But then becomes something very vibrant and beautiful. When the alfa dark
seeker creates a butterfly shaped of cracks in the glass, Robert remembers his daughter Marley and
the hand butterfly. He then looks over to Anna and her son Ethan to see that she has a butterfly
tattoo on her neck. He realized in that moment that moment what

I Am Legend Character Analysis
For most people, human interaction is something that serves a large role in everyday life.
Everyone expects to come in contact with at least five people at some point in the day and usually
if someone were to stay inside all day, they would feel strange about not talking to anyone. In both
the book and the movie I Am Legend we get to see what what happens when someone's ability to
interact with other humans gets cut off. In Richard Matheson's I Am Legend (novella) and Francis
Lawrences' I Am Legend (movie), a person's need for companionship is covered in similar as well
as in different ways. In both the book and the movie, the main character, Robert Neville, has a
relationship with a dog for a portion of the story. In the movie, Robert and his dog are together for
most of the story and he talks to the dog frequently; even though the dog obviously cannot
respond, it helps Robert feel as if he has someone to at least listen to him. When, in the movie,
Roberts dog dies, he becomes so heartbroken and lonely that Robert attempts to kill himself. The
fact that Robert survives in a world without any people for so long with his dog and then tries to
throw it all away once his dog dies shows us how big of a role companionship can be in our lives.
In the book, when Robert first comes in contact with the the dog, he searches non stop all day to find
...show more content...
Both the book and the movie show a need for companionship through the main character's dog and
what happens when that companion is lost. We can also see that because Robert has his companion
for longer in the movie, he is more patent and can control his emotions better than he can in the
book without a companion for most of the time. Everyone needs a companion in their life because
without one, you have no one to lean on and make life easier for

Analysis Of ' I Am Legend ' Essay
We've studied three fictional novels throughout this course, all of them having to do with plague or
epidemic. These books all fits into the genre of dystopian. One of the themes that seemed prominent
throughout all three books were the roles of the female protagonist or antagonist or the male
counterpart of it. In Matheson's book, I am Legend. The protagonist is a masculine man named
Robert Neville, he is the last surviving human on the planet, living with only vampires around him
until he meets what presumably is another human that is a feminine character. We find out later she
is the reason he meets his demise. In contrast, James' novel The Children of Men, the female
character of Julian plays a huge role in saving humanity from the health crises they are facing in
their world. The role of gender plays a huge part in these two works of literature, the health of both
genders in both books determine the outcome, Julian being healthy, and Neville being able to survive
by himself, they both represent an exceptional idea of masculinity and femininity. But the meaning
of gender changes because of the epidemic of crises they are facing, for Neville's case seeing a
woman for the first time in three years, or Julian being pregnant, these changes the importance of
gender.
Robert Neville is able to survive by himself for 3 years, creating a livable environment inside his
house. He shows a great deal of masculinity throughout the whole story. He is still able to stay
healthy despite

Literary Symbolism In 'I Am Legend'
I Am Legend Essay
What would a person do if their children, spouse, friends, and everything they love or ever wanted
were taken away? I Am Legend by Richard Matheson features the main character Robert Neville, the
last survivor of the human race, who wants to have companionship, but the growing population of
vampires makes his dream impossible. Meanwhile, Neville defends himself from the growing
vampire plague by killing the infected vampires. He receives his wish of companionship when a
woman named Ruth came into his life, but he soon will find out that she is vampire. The literary
elements symbolism, irony, similes, allusions, and conflict all portray the themes of the novel. The
main topics of the novel are normalcy,...show more content...
For example, Oliver Hardy is compared to Ben Cortman to express his physical appearance and
personality. Oliver Hardy is a large man who is famous for his comedy. "Those old two–reelers he'd
looked at with his projector. Cortman was almost a dead ringer for the roly–poly comedian. A little
less plump, that was all. Even the mustache was there now."(p.35) Cortman is being compared to
Oliver because the author gives Ben a sense of humor in the novel along with similar appearances
like Cortman's mustache. Another allusion Richard Matheson uses is referring a woman named Ruth
from the bible to the character Ruth in the novel. Ruth is displayed in the bible as a woman who
demonstrates loyalty to her husband, works in the field, and is from a different society than the
people around her. In comparison, Ruth from I Am Legend does her work in the field when she
spies on Neville, demonstrates loyalty to Neville by warning him that his life is being threatened,
and is vampire instead of a

I Am Legend: Cultural Anxieties
I Am Legend addresses cultural anxieties that were occurring during the 1950s when Matheson
wrote the novel. Neville is the last man on Earth and sees everybody around him as Others, causing
him to become misogynistic and indirectly racist. He descends into a mental state in which
everybody around him is better off dead because they are different.
The publication of I Am Legend coincided with the ruling of the Brown vs. Board Education case in
1954 when blacks became citizens with equal rights (Patterson). One of the most prominent cultural
anxieties the novel explores is racism. Neville sees the vampires as Others in a particularly negative
light. Although there are no references to their race in the text, Neville considers them as "black
...show more content...
He kills the vampires that surround his house because they are dangerous, even though his house
protects him. He kills off the sub–vampires in their homes because they are better off dead and he is
sparing them of their fate. Neville even kills his wife when she comes back as a vampire from
her grave. He murders her by stabbing a cross into her heart as an act of mercy, out of necessity.
Interestingly, when he finds the infected dog, he does everything in his power to keep him alive.
At this point, he is so desperate for companionship that he becomes obsessed with the dog. He
also keeps Ben Cortman alive, even though Cortman constantly yells at him and aggravates him.
This is likely because he is the only person he has left from the past world. Neville commits
assisted suicide when he realizes there are no normal humans left on Earth, as he has become the
Other. He looks at "the new people of the earth... [and] he knew he did not belong to them." They
are afraid of him; he has become a "terrible scourge even worse than the disease they had come to
live with" (95) and "an anathema and black terror to be destroyed"

I Am Legend Film Analysis Essay
Jessica Wang
English 106
10 April 2008
Robert Neville is the last normal living man in the world. The all of New York City is in ruins. How
long can Robert Neville survive alone with his dog in a world of vampires and how long do you
think you can live in this case?
The film, I Am Legend is a post–apocalyptic science fiction film directed by Francis Lawrence and
starring Will Smith. It was released on December 14th, 2007. This film is actually the third
adaptation of Richard Matheson's novel of the same name from 1954. Smith plays virologist Robert
Neville, who lives in New York City in 2012, which is inhabited by animalistic victims of the virus.
He is immune to a vicious man–made virus originally created to cure cancer and works to...show
more content...
It tells us that technology sometimes is dangerous and vital if we cannot gain power over it.
Later in the movie, Dr. Neville takes Anna to the lab, Anna is amazed to see the zombies lying on
the bed, and simply sighed" Oh my god", Dr. Neville just said calmly "God didn't do this; we did".
Again, Dr. Neville uncovered the truth that all the faults actually are made by ourselves though new
technology does help us in some cases. However, human begins should be responsible for what they
have done to the whole world in the near future, meanwhile, it also teaches us a lesson that never
rush to create new technology at the cost of the whole world and all the living things in the world.
There is an alternate ending which is totally different from the original one we have seen in the
movie, which amazed me a lot. In the original one, it is a pity that Dr. Neville died in the end with
the self–explored; according to many reviews, the majority of the audiences do not like this ending.
The alternate ending is that Robert finally brushes up against a zombie next to him and comes in
contact with him; he never gets that close to any of them in the movie and seeing that gives me a
chill. In this ending, it leaves me the normal human feelings, which makes Dr. Neville more like a
legend. However, the original one is

I Am Legend Analysis
Richard Matheson, the most prominent American author in the horror genre, who published the
preeminent horror novel, I Am Legend in 1954, renders Robert Neville as the hero of the novel as
he struggles to overcome a constant battle against the vampires and his subconscious mind. At the
end of the novel, Robert Neville can be interpreted to finally have the ability to see the world through
the perspective of the vampires which, ultimately, leads him to be able to understand them.
Matheson reveals the true monster to be not the vampires nor Robert Neville, but prejudice.
However, Matheson first establishes a connection between Robert Neville and the audience. This
connection allows the message, that prejudice is capable of being the darkest...show more content...
The audience expects the protagonist, Robert Neville, to continue his battle with the vampires up to
the point where he is finally able to overcome them. These set of expectations forces the audience to
read the novel through a specific lens, a lens symbolizing purity. Robert Neville can "[hear the
vampires] outside, their murmuring ... their snarling and fighting among themselves" (Matheson 6).
By using specific diction to describe the vampires, Matheson sets up the overall image of the
vampires. For example, he uses the term snarling which is a term used to describe animals; therefore,
Matheson establishes that the vampires are animal–like, inferior creatures in a sense. Also, the
vampires are fighting amongst themselves. This demonstrates that the vampires lack intelligence and
morality since they are fighting and killing their own. This description allows the audience to
automatically refer to the vampires as monsters. NoГ«l Carroll, a preeminent philosopher and
aesthetician of modern art–horror, explains in his essay, The Nature of Horror, how an audience's
normal reaction to a monsters impurity is a major aspect that classifies novels as a part of the
art–horror genre. In regards to I Am Legend, Matheson establishes this claim

I Am Legend, By Richard Matheson
Science fiction has always been the genre that asks the "how" questions, rather than "who" or
"what". How will society react to new technologies or to new species? How will humanity adapt
to wars that devastate the planet? In science fiction, the focus is almost never on what a new
technology does, or how it works, or the aliens we stole it from. Those are details that only
considered in passing, while the true focus remains on how we, as a species, react, change, and
grow in the face of those new challenges. These studies into human response are not pure
speculation, either. They are based on how societies have adapted in the past and can be used to
reflect how humanity will continue to react in the future. The novels and films we have studied
throughout...show more content...
The speculations of fiction that resonate most clearly with our own history are those depicting
devastating events of war and disease that force humanity to fundamentally change. In Richard
Matheson's I Am Legend, the modern world is ravaged by a disease that kills the majority, turns the
rest into vampires, and is even able to bring back the dead as mindless ravagers as a host for the
bacterium, leaving behind what seems to be the sole immune survivor, Robert Neville. However,
humanity continues to exist and adapt outside of Neville's point of view. The disease has changed
humanity physically, but not spiritually, as the desire for structure and control remains even within
the infected vampires. After Neville encounters Ruth, a vampire masquerading as another survivor,
she leaves behind a note for him, explaining how society has evolved without him. The letter states
"We are infected. But you already know that. What you don't understand yet is that we're going

I Am Legend Synopsis
In the movie I Am Legend, starring Will Smith, depicts an post apocalyptic world after a cure for
cancer backfires and makes the recipients of the antidote blood thirsty monsters. The man focus in
the movie is based on our main character, Neville, and his best friend a dog named Sam. Neville
spends three years in isolation, location in a destroyed New York City trying to find an antidote
using his own blood since he is illume to this infection. The movie gives a good idea of what may
happen in the near future with new cures for terminal illnesses and how they can backfire on society.
The film bring forth the reality that we do not want to deal with human consciences like death and
sickness. The movie uses lighting, framing, and lighting

Chapter Summary: I Am Legend
In the story "I Am Legend", written by Richard Matheson, revealed a flashback in chapter six,
which talked about Robert Neville's family before the plague started. The flashback was very
effective in chapter six because it reveals how plague started and showed us the severity of it. The
flashback also made points clear about Neville's family and how they felt about the virus before
it killed everyone. This helped me as a reader understand what happened to his family because it
was never said in the story. "Maybe it's some type of virus", he said. She shook her head. "I don't
know." "Between the storms and the mosquitoes and everyone being sick, life is rapidly becoming
a pain." This gives us some insight on how the virus may have been spread.

I Am Legend Dystopia
The genre of Richard Matheson's novel, I Am Legend, is quite distinct.The genre is dystopian
and many other novels of this genre are similar to the plot of this novel. The main character,
Robert Neville, is living in a post apocalyptic world taking place many years in the future. A
pandemic resulting in vampirism has turned seemingly everyone on the planet into blood thirsty
vampires and Neville has to survive. These points happen in almost every dystopian novel. So,
what makes a dystopian novel? The plot almost always takes place in the future, the world is in
some stage of an apocalypse, and one or more characters have to survive many exciting and
dangerous obstacles. I Am Legend was written in 1954 so not many people

I Am Legend Essay

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I Am Legend Essay