Richard Matheson who was born on February 20， 1926 ，is a famous American author and a He primarily works in the fantasy， horror， and science fiction Richard Matheson has a great influence on many other undead fiction Anne Rice stated that when she was a child Matheson's short story "A Dress Of White Silk" was a prime early influence on her interest in vampires and fantasy fiction（Williamson）During the summer term， we have learned a short story which was created by him on 1951， “Drink my blood” Although this was my first time experiencing his writing style， I am deeply I was shocked by the plot of the Despite his diction is very spare and simple， it made the portrait of tragic hero powerful and Following the reverent to the original story “Drink my blood” on the text book， I found that Richard Matheson had created another famous short story， “I am legend” which have been created as film version four “But among his fans， Matheson is most revered for “I Am Legend”， his 1954 apocalyptic novel about one man surviving in a world of blood-sucking ” (Collis) It is considered the most influential vampire novel in 20 th Comparing those two short stories， they have many common Setting: I am Legend was written in 1954 and set in the futuristic Los Angeles of the 1970’ The story describes the only man left living in a world full of Much of the book revolves around his struggle to secure his home against the nightly visits of the His earlier work“ Drink My Blood” was not set in a specific year。Plot:As same as Drink My Blood， the plot of I am Legend is connected to the horror Robert Neville is the last living man on the But he is not Every other man， woman and child on the planet has become a vampire， and they are all hungry for Neville's By day he is the hunter， stalking the sleeping undead through the abandoned ruins of By night， he barricades himself in his Home and prays for the Style:Horror genre， “Documentary style”(A review)Characterization: Robert Neville lives in As an archetype， in my view， he is created as both self and As human， he is a However， he has a tragic Just like Jules， the archetype in “Drink My Blood” They are both tragic To vampires， Robert is the only human who lives and fights with those zombies， he is the hero who commits himself to find the way to save the However， in the contrast， he could also be the shadow in the For the reasons， in the world where almost everyone has become a vampire， the inescapable result would be a new civilization of vampires as their characteristics and behavior would become the norm while the only surviving humans would be recast as He is the shadow in vampire’s He lives with sunlight， garlic， silvered He killed vampires in the day time even thought they were women or He had to do it in despite of he was struggling and At the end of story， the author illustrates that “To them he was some terrible scourge they had never seen， a scourge even worse than the disease they had come to live He was an invisible specter who had left for evidence of his existence the bloodless bodies of their loved ”(Matheson， “I am Legend”p76)Symbol: As in vampire fictions in general， symbol is extremely important in “I am legend" To enhance the characterization of archetype， Richard builds up a plenty symbolizations through the whole -Robert Neville’s house， the enclosing castleTo protect himself from the attacking of vampires every night， Robert placed a mass of garlic around his Again， as human being， that is his only way to In another view， in vampire’s world， Robert can be recast as “monster” that lives in the “remote Gothic castle” Much similar as Count Dracula that appears in the story “Drink My Blood” -The mirror he hangs up in the When “He looked at the distorted reflection of himself in the cracked mirror he'd fastened to the door a month ”(Matheson I am legend，p2)， he just looked at his “cracked” soul as It illustrates that Neville teeters on the edge of sanity，
