Which One?

[gattoparde59]

A post by Sauvin about Eli's "dual nature" reminds me of a different way to think of the title Let the Right One In. The problem with Eli is the impossibility of letting the right one in. Eli is both human, and a vampire. The "right" Eli is the human Eli, and not the vampire, but to let the human Eli in, you must also let the vampire Eli in. This is shown in several scenes in the film. This gives a completely different caste to what the title could mean.

Please correct me if this has been brought up earlier.

[gary13136]

A post by Sauvin about Eli's "dual nature" reminds me of a different way to think of the title Let the Right One In. The problem with Eli is the impossibility of letting the right one in. Eli is both human, and a vampire. The "right" Eli is the human Eli, and not the vampire, but to let the human Eli in, you must also let the vampire Eli in. This is shown in several scenes in the film. This gives a completely different caste to what the title could mean.

Please correct me if this has been brought up earlier.

I think Oskar would view both the human and the vampire Eli as the right one. The human Eli because he needs a friend, and the vampire Eli because he needs protection. Eli's primary need would be loyal companionship. Ideally Eli would be able to find loyal adult companionship. But apparently she's had quite a few adults who just couldn't qualify. It's sort of like marriage; for better or for worse. In the case of Oskar and Eli, they both let the one who was right for them into their lives. Neither of these characters would probably be acceptable to anyone else. It would probably be impossible for either of them to find a totally perfect "right one". But then, that's true for normal humans as well.

[sauvin]

A post by Sauvin about Eli's "dual nature" reminds me of a different way to think of the title Let the Right One In. The problem with Eli is the impossibility of letting the right one in. Eli is both human, and a vampire. The "right" Eli is the human Eli, and not the vampire, but to let the human Eli in, you must also let the vampire Eli in. This is shown in several scenes in the film. This gives a completely different caste to what the title could mean.

Please correct me if this has been brought up earlier.

I think Oskar would view both the human and the vampire Eli as the right one. The human Eli because he needs a friend, and the vampire Eli because he needs protection. Eli's primary need would be loyal companionship. Ideally Eli would be able to find loyal adult companionship. But apparently she's had quite a few adults who just couldn't qualify. It's sort of like marriage; for better or for worse. In the case of Oskar and Eli, they both let the one who was right for them into their lives. Neither of these characters would probably be acceptable to anyone else. It would probably be impossible for either of them to find a totally perfect "right one". But then, that's true for normal humans as well.

For Eli, yes, perhaps intelligent but uncritical Oskar would be an ideal match. For Oskar, however, this statement is far less certain to me. All kinds of unlikely boys grow up to be all kinds of unlikely adults, and many of them do find satisfying long term relationships. As weird as Oskar might be, there's plenty of weird "normal" girls around.

For the sake of clarity: my view of Eli's beast is precisely that: some anonymous thing that cohabits her body. I've not yet decided for myself how much of that thing may colour her thinking, directly or indirectly, but the beast by itself has no personality, no past, no future, no thought - what it has is what it is: hunger. Implacable, continual, eternal hunger. Similar could be said of many living things, but this [deleted]'s sole food source makes it completely unacceptable to us. Since it's impossible to divorce the beast from the girl, it makes Eli herself unacceptable.

The novel drives this point home to such an extent that I think many people miss the warning for all its outward silliness: the beast without a countervailing living human will to (try to) supervise it is a pure terror. Hakan became a two hundred pound mindless killing machine that could have depopulated Blackeberg in a tiny handful of days and devastated the entire Stockholm area within a couple of weeks, if I remember the calculations properly.

I'd said it before, somewhere, and it may even have been in this forum, but I'll say it again, because Eli's fundamental dualism, now that I have a label to put to it, has begun making it easier for me to start coagulating this runny mess that's been sloshing around in my head for at least a couple of months.

Eli is at war with herself.

Edit: 29 Octobre 2011, replaced a "bad word" with [deleted] to comply with renewed restrictions on language.

[gary13136]

Interesting comments thus far. My own basic opinion of this story is that it is a fantasy. And because it is a fantasy, the rules that apply to a factual story no longer apply. Which convinces me that there is no right or wrong way to interpret the story, nor any of the characters in it. And because of the way I view the story, I am quite willing to accept the fact that others would view the story differently from the way I view it. So I don't really believe that it is possible to arrive at definite conclusions when one is offering an opinion on his or her interpretation of the story. In other words, my view is as valid, or invalid, as anyone elses.

[gattoparde59]

For the sake of clarity: my view of Eli's beast is precisely that: some anonymous thing that cohabits her body.

Lindqvist may have gone too far describing this for us with Virginia's infection. The allegorical and the clinical get mixed up in a way that does not quite work: too much information. Best to leave some of this a mystery, like vampires in general.

I think Oskar would view both the human and the vampire Eli as the right one. The human Eli because he needs a friend, and the vampire Eli because he needs protection.

You are on to something here. Oskar is ambivalent towards Eli the vampire and this is because the author has a certain ambivalence. Lindqvist was attracted to the magical qualities of Eli. Eli never ages, Eli can fly, Eli has super human strength. On the whole though, Lindqvist has created a unique tragedy. Eli is both a vampire and a child. Many comments in this forum have focused on Eli's mixture of horror and innocence. This creates a real conflict for Oskar. Letting the "right one" in is an impossiblity and a test of his devotion to Eli. If Eli was simply an inhuman demon, there would not be much of story. If Eli was simply an angel, not much drama there either.

Yes, this is a fantasy, but a fantasy that touches on real problems that we all have to deal with as human beings.

[genie47]

For the sake of clarity: my view of Eli's beast is precisely that: some anonymous thing that cohabits her body.

Lindqvist may have gone too far describing this for us with Virginia's infection. The allegorical and the clinical get mixed up in a way that does not quite work: too much information. Best to leave some of this a mystery, like vampires in general.

Might seem too clinical but so as the "clinical" analysis of vampires as humans inhabited by some demon. Both can be fascinating in fiction and mystical. Most of what happens in the field of biology today will be is still viewed as some kind of mystical magic that many don't want to understand.

[gattoparde59]

Most of what happens in the field of biology today will be is still viewed as some kind of mystical magic that many don't want to understand.

And then there are the magical creatures that communicate with me through my computer. No doubt they live off in the fairy realms with the brownies, pixies, unicorns etc.

[Jessy7217]

In the case of Oskar and Eli, they both let the one who was right for them into their lives. Neither of these characters would probably be acceptable to anyone else. It would probably be impossible for either of them to find a totally perfect "right one". But then, that's true for normal humans as well.

I think the same way, that they both let the right one in. It's interesting, that Eli really shouldn't be right for anyone, considering. And, he really is so wrong, for many.