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Joseph Nguyen
Professor Greg McClure
Writing 39B
24 October 2016
I Am Legend
In the novel I Am Legend, Richard Matheson uses the horror convention of isolation to
play with the audiences fear of being alone in a dangerous environment, in turn creating
multiple moments of suspense throughout the novel. Throughout this essay I will prove that
Matheson is able to use this convention of isolation to create fear that is even greater than the
fear caused by the flesh seeking vampires in the novel. Matheson is able to use a state of being to
instill more fear in the audience as opposed to physical monsters that are hungry to kill. One
instance where the presence of isolation largely creates suspense is the scene where Neville is
chasing down Ruth after spotting her in the city. Neville is a lone survivor in a city full of
monsters. There are no other living beings that are able to keep him company. The audience sees
the how the effects of Nevilles isolation drives him further into insanity, eventually leading to
his downfall. The longing for companionship drives Neville's thoughts and actions as he pursues
what he believes to be a human, ignoring any thoughts of concern for safety.
The setting of this pursuit, the vampire-filled city of Los Angeles that Neville lives in,
creates the primary element of suspense. The city is infested with vampires that can not move
around during the day and Neville is the only living human. There should not be any creatures
moving around during the day but for some strange reason there is one, right in front of Neville.
Right from the start this creates something out of the ordinary. There is a large raise for concern
as the audience tries to put together the pieces of why Neville sees something moving around in

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the middle of the day. The audience immediately starts worrying about what Neville sees,
wondering if the woman is another surviving human or a possible threat to Neville.
The word choice that Matheson uses for the pursuit creates a sense of desperation, in turn
putting the audience on edge. As the pursuit progresses, Neville says the words "I won't hurt
you" (Matheson 123) multiple times, crying the words at first but then yelling them as he begins
to chase this woman with more vigor. This shows how delicate the situation is for Neville, and in
turn for the audience. Neville wants the woman to stop. He becomes more and more determined
to stop her the more she runs. He wants to believe that he has found another surviving human.
Neville is scared but at the same time hopeful. Matheson sets up this scene and uses these
particular words this way to make the audience feel the same fear and hope that Neville is feeling
in the novel. Nol Carroll, an established philosopher who has written multiple texts on the
exploration of the horror genre and a professor at CUNY Graduate Center, has said, "That the
audience's emotional response is modeled on that of the characters provides us with a useful
methodological advantage in analyzing the emotion of art-horror" in his essay, The Nature of
Horror. Matheson is able to put the audience on edge quite easily by setting up this chase scene.
The audience cannot help but relate to Neville and mimic his emotions. When you read it you
want Neville to find another human being. You want Neville to finally be happy and escape his
life of isolation. These feelings that we share with Neville along with the images we see in our
head seal the deal and create a huge amount of suspense.
The images that Matheson creates in this scene generates a feeling of horror for the
audience. In this passage the idea of two people running in a field accompanied by dead silence
is set up. There are no noises due to the fact that the city is basically a ghost town. It is common
for media to create settings of emptied cities or towns, places that once held a large number of

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inhabitants but now are empty due to some disaster occurring. The use of this image of a ghost
town does two things. It creates an eerie feeling for the audience and it allows the audience to
focus on the chase scene because the only things that are in motion are Neville and the woman
that he is chasing, Ruth. Rush is described as having a look of terror on her face. Due to this, the
scene is very similar to the typical horror scene where a killer chases a lone feminine character
through the woods. The feminine character is often alone in the killers natural habitat with no
way of getting outside help. This scenario uses the convention of isolation to make the whole
situation more suspenseful. The only two characters in this scene are Neville and Ruth. There is
no one to help Neville if Ruth had turned out to be a threat. All of these images that Matheson
presents makes the audience antsy. It would be too easy for Neville to catch her without her
putting up a fight. The woman has to put up a fight. She has no option but to run. This way the
audience is engaged, never losing interest in the chase and also the novel.
The physical threat of the vampires and the fear created by them is minimal compared to
the fear created by Nevilles isolation. Very rarely in the novel is the audience concerned with the
physical threat caused by the vampires. The more emotional parts of the novel have to do with
Nevilles response to isolation rather than his encounters with the vampires directly. One scene in
particular that supports this is the scene where Neville contemplates surrendering himself to the
vampires and simply walking outside of his home. The audience gets a close look of the
emotional trauma that Neville has to experience due to his isolation and lack of companionship.

Works Cited

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Carroll, Nol. "The Nature of Horror." The Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism 46.1 (1987):
51-59. Web.
"Ghost City - TV Tropes." N.p., n.d. Web. 24 Oct. 2016.
Matheson, Richard. I Am Legend. New York: ORB, 1995. Print.