Anthropomorphism In Kendare Blake's Anna Dressed In Blood

Undead of all forms of imagination have been portrayed through productions of literature, cinema, and in the beginning with history’s tall tales. The creatures that go bump in the night are seen as demons in the dark, beings that have gone beyond human understanding and have become something otherworldly all together. As humans, we see an undead creature with emotions and thoughts but not too much in depth of those feelings, for example we might only see anger when there can possibly be more to it. Humanity is used to simplifying things to make sense in their minds, paranormal is never a thought in the police report. The truth is the undead are more alive than their name or the beliefs let on. Anthropomorphism means the attribution of human

In the literary works of Kendare Blake’s Anna Dressed in Blood, a malevolent ghost who was murdered in 1958 falls in love with a young, ghost killing, boy named Cas Lowood. This fictional novel portrays ghosts as decayed and very much like walking corpses, only more transparent. “An earthbound spirit is a human spirit that has not properly passed over” and the reasons for not passing over can go from fear to suicide and on (Juliano 1). Anna’s death has given her the power to brutally murder any unlucky soul who wanders into her home, but there is one thing: Anna does not like to kill. She is conflicted and scared of her own black power. “What power did she find, what anger that allowed her to be more than just a specter?” (100), Cas ponders while confronting Anna for the first time, observing how she makes herself known to him. Multiple times in the book it’s shown “…Anna doesn’t want to kill” (144) as Cas puts it but has no choice with the beast inside of her, the part of her wants to protect herself and be isolated even in death. She is described by Cas in another way, “Anna is a murderer yet Anna is not evil”