Interview with the Vampire

One of the major themes I found that kept reoccurring in this book was the concept of power and manipulation. A majority of the book focuses heavily on the relationship between Louis and Lestat, one that is clearly not healthy. Lestat finds Louis when he is at a very low point emotionally, after the death of his younger brother, whom he feels responsible for. Lestat takes advantage of Louis' vulnerable emotional state, and turns him into a vampire, using Louis' compromised mental state to give the illusion of choice, and thus trapping Louis with his new dependance on Lestat. Louis is forced to stay with and listen to Lestat, his only insight on the world of being a vampire. Louis soon finds himself hating Lestat, realizing what he has resigned himself to by becoming a vampire, and detesting how much pleasure Lestat takes in killing. Lestat clearly tries to alienate Louis, attempting to murder a young woman he grows fond of, trying to keep him as isolated as possible. Its only when Louis begins to act out self destructively that Lestat takes another step to keep him dependent. When Louis' bloodthirst leads him to nearly drain the life from an orphaned girl, Claudia,  Lestat takes the opportunity to turn her into a vampire as well, effectively giving Louis a responsibility to help raise her, and trapping him once again, preventing him from leaving. It eventually takes Claudia killing Lestat out of rage decades later when she realizes what he did to her and Louis for them to be free of him. The whole focus of this book seems to be the concept of both human dependance and morality, something that's very interestingly explored alongside the romanticized idea of the vampire.