It is Neville who is the monster, for he is the only one who does not carry the infection, it is Neville who is the Legend. In the end Neville is captured and the true genius of the book is revealed, for it is not the vampires who are the monsters, for they are now the norm. She is there only to spy on him, the man who murdered her husband, yet she develops feelings for him and, as he discovers that she is infected, tries to warn him of the danger. He meets Ruth, who manages to convince him that she escaped infection also. Yet many of these none-dead have been killed by Neville as he has hunted the dead, not knowing that they are living survivors. Yet Neville is not alone, there are infected people who have not died, that have learned to control the condition and who are rebuilding society. The fact that Matheson uses science causes the horror of the book to blossom, there is a reasoning beyond the supernatural and that makes the story all too real. The deterrents against the vampires all have a base in science. This is a bacterium infection, there is nothing supernatural about it. He researches, searching for answers and here, as in many other ways, the book shines. He is an ordinary man forced to face extraordinary circumstances. He does not understand why he is the only one who has survived, he misses his wife and child – both victims of the plague, he is lonely. During the day he hunts them down, searching for their hiding spots, despatching them.Īs the novel progresses we are given a fascinating look into Neville’s mind. At night he is holed up in his boarded up house, taunted by the dead, especially by Ben Cortman his former neighbour. Neville survives though his sanity is sorely tested. They are little more than killing machines, some memory but not much in the way of faculty.
As more and more succumbed to the plague the horrific truth is discovered, those who die do not remain dead, they return hungry for blood. It is centred around the character Robert Neville, the lone survivor of a deadly plague which has spread through the world. Written by Richard Matheson and published in 1954 the book has proven very influential, though perhaps not in the way one might imagine.
A grim vision of the end of humanity, this is possibly the best way to describe "I am Legend".
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