What does ‘Dracula’ have to do with Harper Lee's ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’?

Bella Lugosi as Count Dracula. 

I’ve always gotten a kick out of defending the position that Harper Lee’s famous novel, “To Kill a Mockingbird,” is really a thinly-veiled horror novel. A close reading of the book backs up this idea if you pay close attention. Throughout the book, which climaxes on Halloween night 1935, you’ll find references to haints, hot steams, changelings and all sorts of other supernatural subjects.

One example of what I’m talking about comes near the beginning of the book, just a few pages into Chapter One. It’s early on a summer morning in 1933 when young Jem and Scout Finch hear something stirring around next door in Miss Rachel Haverford’s collard patch. Their first thought is that Miss Rachel’s rat terrier has had puppies, so they run to the wire fence for a closer look.

Instead of finding a puppy, what unfolds is one of the pivotal scenes in the book. It’s here that Jem and Scout meet Charles Baker Harris, aka “Dill.” Dill, who is seven years old, tells Jem and Scout that he went to the movies 20 times on the five dollars in prize money he won in a beautiful child contest.

Jem responds by saying that they don’t have any “picture shows” in Maycomb except for religious films sometimes shown in the courthouse. “Ever see anything good?” Jem asks Dill.

It’s here that Dill tells Jem and Scout that he had seen “Dracula.” Scout says that this revelation moved Jem to begin eyeing Dill with the beginning of respect. “Tell it to us,” Jem said.

Dill proceeds to recount the events of the movie, and Scout notes that “as he told us the old tale his blue eyes would lighten and darken.” When Dill finished the story, reducing Dracula to dust, Jem said the movie sounded better than the book. Again, a close reading of all this is very revealing.

 As indicated by his remarks, while Jem hadn’t seen the movie, “Dracula,” he had read the book. The novel, “Dracula” was written by Irish author Bram Stoker and was published in 1897. It tells the story of the famous vampire Count Dracula and how he moves from his castle in Transylvania to England.

Stoker’s iconic novel shocked Victorian readers when it was first published, and I suspect that Jem’s father, famous fictional attorney Atticus Finch, would have frowned on the idea of his only son consuming such lurid literature. This makes me wonder if Jem may have read an abridged version of “Dracula” or perhaps a version toned down for younger audiences.

The “Dracula” novel has been adapted to film at least 30 times, but my feeling is that the version Dill saw was the famous 1931 adaptation, which starred Bela Lugosi as Count Dracula. Produced by Universal Pictures, it was released in theatres throughout the United States on Feb. 14, 1931. This would have been about two years before Dill met Jem and Scout.

In the end, I thought it was interesting that Jem, Scout and Dill bonded over “Dracula” in what was their very first meeting. I think it’s important to remember that Harper Lee consciously made the writing decision to portray this scene in exactly this fashion. Whether it was something she recalled from her childhood or not, it’s again more evidence that “To Kill a Mockingbird” is a thinly-disguised horror novel.