(From the Merriam-Webster Online Dictonary)
Etymology:
Latin sympathia, from Greek sympatheia, from sympathēs having common feelings, sympathetic, from syn- + pathos feelings, emotion, experience — more at PATHOS
Date:
1579
1 a: an affinity, association, or relationship between persons or things wherein whatever affects one similarly affects the other b: mutual or parallel susceptibility or a condition brought about by it c: unity or harmony in action or effect <every part is in complete sympathy with the scheme as a whole — Edwin Benson>2 a: inclination to think or feel alike : emotional or intellectual accord <in sympathy with their goals> b: feeling of loyalty : tendency to favor or support <republican sympathies>3 a: the act or capacity of entering into or sharing the feelings or interests of another b: the feeling or mental state brought about by such sensitivity <have sympathy for the poor>4: the correlation existing between bodies capable of communicating their vibrational energy to one another through some medium
synonyms see ATTRACTION, PITY
Those damnable vampires. It is bad enough that we mortals have to cope with predators that can fly through our windows, over power us with their superhuman strength and bite us with their pointy, hurty teeth, but it seems that some also have telepathic powers.
Telepathy was part of the wide assortment of supernatural powers given to Dracula by Bram Stoker. Dracula was able to influence Renfeld from some distance away, and to influence his thinking to a considerable degree, “the blood is the life.” Dracula also was linked psychically to Mina, significantly after Mina also participated in a parody of the mass by drinking the blood of Dracula. She is only freed from her unholy union with the count when Dracula is finally destroyed at the end of the novel.
More recently Stephanie Meyer assigned psychic powers more or less arbitrarily to her vampires in Twilight. Edward Cullen can read minds, although mysteriously he can’t read the mind of his main scope, Bella. (Doh!) Edward resorts to reading the minds of Bella’s friends and sometimes enemies to snoop on his mortal girlfriend. In addition to Edward, Alice Cullen can forsee future events. Jasper Cullen can subtly influence other people’s emotions in a talent more closely akin to the glamour discussed in an earlier thread.
In Let the Right One In, Eli has the gift of telepathy, shown very clearly in three separate scenes where Eli kisses Oskar, and suggested perhaps by some earlier clues in the novel as well. When Eli kisses Oskar he can communicate his memories and experiences directly to Oskar in a mind bending experience where Oskar actually becomes Eli and experiences Eli’s tragic and disturbing memories. It is just as well Eli has this special talent, because Eli has great difficultly expressing himself to Oskar otherwise. Eli needs to resort to this total form of communication because Oskar seriously doubts that Eli is really Eli.
These are the clear cut examples of telepathy in the novel, but I feel that there are earlier hints that there is a telepathic link between Eli and Oskar. In a scene from the first chapter Oskar senses an evil presence in his room.
We are told in this scene that it is “starting to get dark.” Eli’s apartment is right on the other side of the wall. Does Oskar sense the presence of Eli? Eli we know is hungry. Does Eli influence Oskar’s game with the kitchen knife that he begins to play almost immediately after this scene?The apartment was quiet. Nothing happened. The concrete walls sealed themselves around him. He sat on his bed with his hands on his knees, his stomach heavy with sweets.
As if something was about to happen. Now.
He held his breath, listening. A sticky fear crept over him. Something was approaching. A colorless gas seeping out of the walls, threatening to take form, to swallow him up. He sat stiffly, holding his breath, and listened. Waited.
Yes, Oskar’s fantasies are fueled by loneliness, fear and rage, but are they also being steered in a particular direction by the presence of Eli?The knife would have the last word and the earth would drink his blood.
Oskar has read those words in a book and liked them.
The Earth Shall Drink His Blood.
Another possible case of telepathy occurs at the end of the very first meeting between Eli and Oskar. Oskar asks Eli why she does not feel the cold.
After Eli leaves we get a description of Oskar’s state of mind.The girl frowned, wrinkling up her face, and for a moment she looked much much older than she was. Like an old woman about to cry.
It is possible to say that Oskar’s sad thoughts are prompted by the putrid odor given off by Eli, but that odor leads Oskar to ask, not one but two questions that provoke an emotional response in Eli. Are Eli and Oskar at this first meeting already emotionally in sync with each other? Oskar mourns his lost dog Bobby. Eli also, I think, is mourning something she lost long ago.He put his hands in his pockets and felt sad. Thought about Bobby and how he had looked in the makeshift coffin Dad had made for him. Thought about the cross he had made in wood shop that had snapped in two as they hammered it into the ground.
There is another suggestion of this same emotional connection between Eli and Oskar in the scene on the tire swings. At the end Oskar’s happiness with his new friend is practically transcendant, “he was light as a feather and could almost fly.” Oskar beams in the darkness as Eli applauds him. This is Oskar’s happiness, but isn’t this also a happiness he shares in with Eli? As Håkan observes of Eli, “It was attractive naturally. This joy, this . . . life.”
Even better is Oskar’ dream he has just before Eli appears at his window. To be fair, it should be added that Oskar had gone to sleep after praying that the missing Eli would return to him. “Please, dear God, Let her come back.”
Then Oskar is described drifting off to sleep. “He lay there for a long time conjuring up the images he wanted to see, then they started to take on a life of their own as he slid into sleep.” Then Oskar has this dream:Oskar’s dreams have miraculously become a reality. Eli is really at his window asking to be let in. Eli we should remember has just been flying naked through the night, trailing gasoline fumes from her most recent misadventure. Eli is also going to be with Oskar. Oskar’s dream seems to suggest this, steered perhaps by the telepathic influence of Eli.Eli and he were sitting in a swing that was going higher and higher until it loosened from its chains and flew up into the sky. They were holding on tight to the edge of the swing, their knees pressed against each other, and Eli whispered,
“Oskar, Oskar. . .”
I think I will stop here with these suggestions. You could go on and think about the other scenes with Oskar and Eli and whether some hint of telepathy is present in those as well. Admittedly this is very ambiguous, but that is really the nature of Eli isn’t it? We are given all kinds of clues about the mysterious Eli, could these passages I mentioned be clues pointing towards the eventual telepathic communication that comes with Eli’s kiss?
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