Vampires and the Environment- Emma Schlosser

 I recently had the pleasure of reading the book, "Bury our Bones in the Midnight Soil," by V. E. Schwab. This novel is centered around three different women during three different time periods, the 1500s, 1800s, and 2000s. They all have very different stories, but end up interlacing at the end into an ending I was certainly not expecting. The plot is mostly centered around a woman named, Sabine, and her journey towards a freedom unencumbered by society's rules. She strives for this freedom in her recent change into a vampire, thinking eternal life will grant her what she seeks. She meets another woman centuries into her life named Charlotte, falling in love with her, and eventually turning her into a vampire, hoping to free her newfound love from the pressures of England's high society. Charlotte hates the life Sabine has bestowed upon her and cannot move on knowing she has to take lives in order to survive as a vampire. She has a big heart, something that follows her for decades, unlike Sabine who tends to be more heartless in her actions. In Charlotte's perspective of the book she notes how she cannot live apart from the horror she sees in daily life. From countless wars across centuries, to the destruction of relationships she once held while mortal, Charlotte feels deeply and remains depressed for much of her life because of it.

In reference to this class, much like Charlotte, our environment and the constituents of said places are sideline to much of the destruction human kind carries out. Even when not a part of the horror, the trees still hear their neighbors cut down for human gain, the birds see the drilling in the ocean, and the deer feel the loss of their species by the hands of those who hunt for sport. While not eternal in their lifespan like Charlotte or Sabine, these constituents lay witness to many of the atrocities we live in like war, poverty, and death. 

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