LET THE RIGHT ONE IN

Please read parts one and two of LET THE RIGHT ONE IN for this week. Below are a few questions we'll be exploring this week. Feel free to draw from them, or to develop your own questions. You should also feel free to respond to another student's post.

Your blogs will be due on Wednesday at 11:59 pm.

Your comments on other student blogs will be due by FRIDAY at 11:59.

For this week and next, students will NOT have to post in the discussion forums. Because we are nearing the end of the semester, I think it would be best to focus on our blogs and your upcoming final projects.


1) The title of this novel is based on a song by Morrissey entitled “Let the Right One Slip In.”

The lyrics are as follows:

Let the right one in
Let the old dreams die
Let the wrong ones go
They cannot
They cannot
They cannot do what you want them to do
Oh ...

Let the right one in
Let the old dreams die
Let the wrong ones go
They do not
They do not
They do not see what you want them to
Oh ...

Let the right one in
Let the old things fade
Put the tricks and schemes (for good) away

Ah ... I will advise
Ah ... Until my mouth dries
Ah ... I will advise you to ...

Ah ... let the right one slip in
Slip in
Slip in

And when at last it does
I'd say you were within your rights to bite
The right one and say, "what kept you so long ?"
"What kept you so long ?"
Oh ...

What connections do you see between these Morrissey lyrics and the novel? Quote passages from the text to support your answer.
2) Among many things, this novel makes a direct commentary on public housing and the manufactured nature of the suburbs and explores its secrets and its inherent violence. On the second page of the novel, Lindqvist writes that only one thing was missing from these modern high rises—“a past.” He writes, “That tells you something about the modernity of the place, its rationality. It tells you something of how free they were from the ghosts of history and of terror.” What is the symbolism of the vampire in this context? What do you think Lindqvist is trying to say about modern life and its manufactured and mass produced spaces?

3) This novel takes place during the Cold War. How does this novel explore themes of “war” and “violence”? How can we read the bullying on the playground as a metaphor? For what, exactly?

4) How would you characterize the relationship between Håkan and Eli? What might their relationship be symbolic of? Adversely, how would you characterize the relationship between Oskar and Eli?