flustered. “We want to connect your heroes to our heroes from The Vampire Diaries.
Mr. Darcy to Stefan or Heathcliff to Damon. But we can’t decide which one fits better.”
Miss Brontë frowned. “Heathcliff isn’t a vampire.”
“Neither is Mr. Darcy,” Miss Jane added.
Lizzie looked apologetic. “There have been a lot of books written about Mr. Darcy since Pride and Prejudice,” she said.
“Some of them with vampires.”
“And even Nelly in Wuthering Heights wondered if Heathcliff was a vampire.” Cat smirked at Lizzie. “Ha, see, I did 6882 Visitor's Guide to Mystic Falls[FIN].indd 72
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read the class books.” She turned back to Emily Brontë and Jane Austen perched on the couch next to each other. Cat suddenly felt as if she were trapped in the scariest literary pop quiz ever. “So can you help us decide if Stefan is more like Mr. Darcy or Damon is more like Heathcliff? You know, hero versus hero. Like literary wrestling, but without the spandex.”
“Heathcliff is also certainly not a hero,” Miss Brontë said.
“He’s selfish and violent.”
“Just like Damon.” Cat smiled as if the adjectives had been complimentary. “See? Totally Gothic hero material. Or Byronic hero. Oooh. Do you think I can get extra credit for bringing Byron into it?” Lizzie just shrugged. “Okay, look, the Gothic hero or Byronic hero, or antihero, whatever you want to call him, is the rebel. He’s the one who won’t just go along with the status quo if he doesn’t think the status quo is worth it. That’s why Heathcliff is the quintessential Gothic hero. He runs away to make a name for himself and he refuses to bow and scrape to the wealthy neighbors, or even to Catherine’s brother. Damon’s got that totally hot rebel thing going, too.”
“Damon’s just rebelling because he’s bored. The Romantic hero is a rebel with a cause,” Lizzie said. “They want to make things better, like Stefan. So not the same thing.”
“Damon abandoned the Confederacy in the flashbacks, remember?” Cat said, knowing the flashbacks were Lizzie’s favorite parts. “That was a conscience thing.” Lizzie wrin-kled her nose because she didn’t have an argument. Cat looked smug.
“But that was in the 1860s,” Lizzie finally said. “What about now? When he’s just a big baby?”
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“I’m going to pretend you didn’t just say that. Anyway, Damon clearly fits into Gothic literature—the whole series does.” She flipped through one of Lizzie’s books, looking for the highlighted parts. “See, right here. It says Gothic literature was a rebellion against the strict codes of society.”
“It’s also about decay and mystery. And the sublime,”
Lizzie said. “So you have to prove it all if you want to win this thing.”
“The sublime?”
“The experience of the world through personal or physical sensation,” Miss Brontë explained.
Cat looked interested. Very interested. “That sounds like fun.”
Lizzie nudged her. “Focus or we’re going to fail English.”
“No, we won’t. I can totally link Vampire Diaries to Gothic Lit. Is there a checklist? You know, typical Gothic stuff. Not corsets and black eyeliner, though. I mean the really old stuff.”
She winced at Miss Brontë’s dry look. “Not that you’re old or anything. I mean, for someone who’s been dead for like two hundred years, you look really good. Um, I’ll shut up now. The Gothic traits?” she prodded while Lizzie snickered beside her.
“Ruined buildings and castles,” Lizzie said, glancing at Miss Brontë for confirmation. “And graveyards and mists and crows.”
“Damon has the mist thing down and crows that follow him. Plus he hangs around the cemetery when Elena is there.”
“And the idea of finding yourself and your place in the world through harrowing, fearful adventures,” Lizzie continued.
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“Damon finds his place. It’s with Katherine, then with Elena.”
“And vampires, of course,” Lizzie added grudgingly.
“Done and