I'm working on the essay, analyzing the characters, about the relationships, love, and so on. I've started out on Hakan, so i'm going to present it to you, also put it up for fanfiction. a_contemplative_life, i hope you don't mind if i used little bit of your essay to explain Hakan. I've even started on Eli.
By Tigereyes
Special thanks.
I thank John Ajvide Lindqvist for making this book. I enjoy reading about Oskar and Eli. I can relate to their feeling of loneliness and being bullied. I thank Wolfchild for creating the site called “We, the infected.” If Wolfchild not created this site, I would have sat there, pondering about the book and the author who wrote it. I thank the members of the infected for their insights of the characters, speculations, and their own thoughts about the book and the film. If it weren’t for them, I wouldn’t have understood the reasons for why the book has such disturbing stuff. If it weren’t for them, I would have chucked the book and criticized John badly. Because of them all, I love the book and the film.
First and foremost, I will be talking about my own thoughts about how I see the characters of the novel and some of the things that are written in there. First up is Hakan.
Hakan Bengtsson
Who is he?
He is a 45 year old former teacher, a caretaker of Eli, and a pedophile. His story begins as this; he was a Swedish teacher at a school, until he got fired because someone found out that he likes children too much. Hakan has thought, “I hadn’t done anything at the school. I’m not stupid.” I’m not convinced that this was true. Given how he thinks in the novel, he doesn’t understand love from lust. His feelings are simply lust, not love. He had given the thought when Eli visits him from the hospital that he ‘wasn’t going to rot in some jail cell surrounded by meaningless letters. Harassed by other prisoners for having committed the- in their eyes-worst of all crimes.’ Although Hakan wants to avoid labeling himself a pedophile by imagining Eli as an adult trapped in a child’s body, his action towards children can have a negative effects.
He willingly leaves the school. His house was burned down, he receives threatening letters, and he tried to kill himself by drinking, which at times, led him to fondle young boys, and then gets tossed in jail for few days. Then he meets Eli on a bench when he tries to kill himself again by drinking. I personally think, “Why doesn’t he just shoot himself in the head?” But of course, John needed him in the story for Eli. But why does Eli choose Hakan? Eli needed someone to procure blood for him.
One of the members of the infected has stated that Eli is using him because of his weakness; his unhealthy love for little boys in order to get him blood (Which I concur, because it makes sense). It is much like dangling a piece of candy in front of a child, saying that they’ll get this if they do this or that. So Hakan enters into Eli’s service. It may be exactly John’s intention, but I can be wrong.
What is his relationship with Eli?
What does Hakan think of Eli? He sees Eli as an ancient person in a body of a 12 year old. He has already known that Eli’s a vampire. I’m willing to bet that he was afraid of Eli when he learned this, seeing that he was afraid that if he tried anything with Eli, then he will suffer Eli’s wrath. He also already knew that Eli has no genitals. There’s a segment in the book where Eli walks out naked after a shower. He didn’t turn out to be surprised, so he has had seen his body before. But does he understand what happened to Eli? Has Eli shared the memory to him? Probably not since it’s a very delicate, touchy matter to Eli, and he/she may not feel any closeness to those she picks as a blood provider. All that Hakan truly cares about was his own desire, his own unhealthy fascination.
Anyway, there was a fanfic, not exactly a fanfic really but an essay, and it’s titled “An Essay Regarding Love in Let the Right One in.” by a_contemplative_life, one of the moderators of the We, the infected forum. “Håkan’s position is grounded in selfishness. The happiness—or, more accurately, the self-gratification masquerading as happiness—that he experiences with Eli is not based on her status as a child who has been denied a childhood; instead, he is committed to thinking of Eli as an adult:”
“He had thought his beloved was like him. He had looked into Eli's eyes and seen an ancient person's knowledge and indifference. At first it had frightened him: Samuel Beckett's eyes in Audrey Hepburn's face. Then it had reassured him. It was the best of all possible worlds. The young, lithe body that gave beauty to his life, while at the same time responsibility was lifted from him. He was not the one in charge. And he did not have to feel guilt for his desire; his beloved was older than he. No longer a child.”
“If Håkan perceived Eli as a child, he would be forced to view himself as what he is: a pedophile. And because is unwilling to admit to himself that he is a pedophile, he finds this image of himself unbearable. He must, therefore, see Eli as an adult in a child’s body. This is not, however, a true picture of who Eli is.”
“It must be said, in fairness to Håkan, that Eli behaved much like an adult when she initiated their relationship.” I very well agree with him.
Does he at some level care about Eli?
He claimed that he did, but just how much does he really care? We can already tell he did care enough to keep Eli from being discovered by authorities, but not enough to behave more like a father-figure for Eli, instead He much rather think of Eli as his own “beloved.” He’s a jealous man, he’s immature, he’s pathetic, and he’s not quite smart.
He’s jealous because he sees Eli behaving more her own age because of Oskar. Hakan sees this as frightening and makes him hornier. I feel the urge to vomit. Sorry. He really doesn’t understand that Eli isn’t a “grown up” trapped in a body of a child. Eli IS a child, who was trapped at that age for two centuries. I’ll explain more on Eli when I talk about Eli later. This is about Hakan. He also feels threatened by Oskar because he was replaceable. When he saw the Morse code that was taped to the wall, he felt like tapping his message to Oskar, to tell him what Eli is. But instead, he copies the Morse code so he can listen in on their conversation. That is extremely childish and pathetic. I don’t know anyone who has an unhealthy fascination with children. Even if I did, which is likely that I may have, I wouldn’t know anything about them personally. Of course, I feel the urge to throw them in a cell, bind them to the wall tightly to keep them away from kids, if I ever knew they like children that way.
What happens with Hakan in the story?
At the beginning of the novel, after he procures a blood from his victim, he goes to the library. In this segment, I should tell you, I never, ever want to read that part again, even though he pushes away the kid and just hands him the money instead because the boy’s teeth were knocked out. Yes, that kid is a child prostitute and I wanted to grab the youth pimp and rip off his head and free the young prostitutes. Why was this done? To explain what Hakan is, but not just say it, but to show it. Actions speak louder than words. It’s not very convincing if John just says, “Oh by the way, he happens to be a pedophile, but enough about that.”
In the middle of the book, Hakan gets caught when he tries to procure blood from another victim, after he was promised a ‘night’ with Eli. But of course, he never gets to have that ‘night’ with Eli. He pours acid on his face when he got caught. Later when he was in the hospital, being constantly questioned by the police, Eli visits him, drains his blood, but before Eli could ensure that the infection doesn’t spread, they got interrupted by the guard. Hakan was still, sort of, alive after the fall. He would have to be flat as pancake. Everything would have been destroyed, as one of the infected member stated in one of the threads. But of course, John still needs him to make a comeback as the Zombie Hakan.
Zombie Hakan
I should have to explain, that the whole Zombie Hakan in the Basement with Eli situation is just flat-out repulsive. But I’m glad to know that when the author of the book stated in the thread titled “Zombie Hakan” that he shuddered, sweated and had to rush this to get this out of the way. Why did he do this? He said, “So I can balance out Elias’ character in the novel. It was done for sympathy and that Elias is going to kill two youths in the pool for trying to drown Oskar.” So what did Hakan tried to do? He tried to rape him. Oh yeah, I told you it was repulsive. But of course, it was really unsuccessful and Elias had managed to use the broken broomstick to jab it into Hakan to make him loosen his grip on him. John said that he had to tone it down because originally, it was worse. I really, really don’t want to know.
Thankfully, after that shuddering, sweating, horrid ordeal, John had Tommy club Hakan over and over in the head. So what did we hear about Hakan after all this? He was wheeled away by the authorities into a morgue or hospital or whatever and stated that his condition was ‘critical.’ They can’t tell them that he was a zombie, could they?
Is there any sympathy for Hakan?
Do I feel any sympathy for hakan? There is a thread about it, my first response was, “NO!” but of course, that was mostly true, like 99%, I feel no sympathy for him except that he had to be forced to procure blood for Eli, and even if he tried to escape, Eli might try to kill him.
Here’s another one I agree with about Hakan from a_contemplative_life:
“Yet, one cannot feel too much sympathy for Håkan. Unlike Eli, whose physiological development was unnaturally halted at 12, he is an adult, 45 years old at the time of the story. As such, Håkan is responsible for his own conduct and decisions. At no point, however, does he stop to ponder the implications of his behavior, to consider whether remaining with Eli is good or bad, for him or for her. We are told, rather, that “[h]e had done everything without wondering whether Eli was ‘evil’ or ‘good’ or anything else. Eli was beautiful and Eli had given him back his dignity. And in rare moments . . . tenderness.”
“Håkan could have left Eli if he had wanted. Instead, he chose to morally blind himself, and remain in a relationship that enabled him to stop being a man, abnegate the responsibilities of being a man, and feed his forbidden, pedophilic desires. He chose to be with Eli.”
“What might have happened if Håkan had thought about Eli’s happiness? If he had cared about preserving whatever remaining part of Eli that was innocent and good? If he had been willing to recognize that Eli was happier being a child with Oskar than being an “adult” in a child’s body with him? If he had attempted, through whatever means were available to him, to foster her happiness over his own?”
“Let us assume, further, that Håkan had possessed the will to reform his own behavior, and give up his unnatural sexual desire for Eli. Admittedly, this probably would have been extremely difficult, given how deeply entrenched his patterns of behavior had become. Unlike Oskar, who looks in a mirror and is not sure who he is, Håkan has been around for quite awhile, has defined himself, and is unlikely to change. But would Eli, sensing a turn of heart, have reciprocated with genuine love for him? Perhaps. Maybe Eli would then have recognized that like her, Håkan, too, was struggling to retain some semblance of humanity, and was genuinely concerned for hers.”
“If this had happened, could Håkan have assumed a role that heretofore had been only an illusion: a father to Eli? As Eli’s adoptive father, he would have been happy to see that Eli and Oskar were in love with each other. There would be no jealousy, because he would still be free to love Eli as a father would love his own child. But, because Håkan could only view Eli as something to fulfill his own selfish desires, there was never an opportunity for a genuine love to develop between them; Eli, who correctly perceived Håkan’s motivations, never really loved him, either. In fact, quite the contrary was true.”
Eli/Elias
Who is Eli?
I’m going to just refer to Eli as he, instead of she because biologically speaking, Eli is still a boy.
Eli is a vampire child who lived for 220 years, he looks very much like a girl to many people who sees Eli, dresses in girl’s clothes or gender-neutral ones, and is also very beautiful. Originally, Eli is a boy named ‘Elias’ who lived on a farm whose father worked for the Lord. That Lord turns out to be a vampire who turned Elias. There had been a ‘competition’ for boys at age of 8 to 12. There are 7 young boys, including Elias, at the castle. The Lord rolled a dice, came up six, Elias was the seventh. However, The Lord pointed his finger at Elias, and we see that the dice was actually now seven. He had been taken into some room, had his genitals removed, his blood was drunk by the Lord and then he bit Elias afterwards. When did he release Elias? Did he release him? What happened to his family? How did the name Elias change to Eli? What did the Lord do to him after castrating him? No idea, so it’s up to the readers to speculate.
From what I can speculate, Eli had had no happiness until he meets Oskar. Eli is most likely spending years hating what he is and for having to feed on people in order to survive. He cannot kill himself because he wanted to live. He believes that his conscience is weaker than his will to live. Eli also spends many months hibernating, which causing him to become weak, defenseless, and needing someone to help procure blood for him. He doesn’t have an identity for himself, because he has no idea what he is. He’s not a boy, not a girl, he’s not young, and he’s not old. He thinks he’s nothing. He doesn’t see himself as a boy because he doesn’t have male genitalia. He doesn’t see himself as a girl, even though people mistake him for one, because he doesn’t have girl’s genitalia either. He does wear girls’ clothes, but not because he thinks he is a girl. It’s likely used in order to fool her victims as he had fooled Jocke and drank his blood. He doesn’t see himself as young because he cannot age. He’s not old because he never aged. He had told Oskar, “It’s one thing I still think is strange. Why I’m never older than twelve.”
For all those years, he likely built a shell around him, feeling disconnected from the world, always lonely, always in the hands of helpers who wanted to help him but for very different reasons (Which I suspect weren’t kind or caring). He chose Hakan because he wanted to use someone who can be baited to get blood in order to give what they wanted. There has been a thread that explains why Eli couldn’t use anyone who isn’t a sexual predator. They would be a lot more difficult to control. Eli doesn’t have hypnotic powers to control anyone, otherwise everything would have been too easy and the story wouldn’t have been interesting.
We know that he did not like being a vampire, he did not enjoy inflicting death on people, he did not want to infect people. He simply wanted to live, to be happy, to enjoy life and no longer have to kill to live. As sympathetic we should feel for Eli, we should also keep in mind that John, the author, doesn’t think we should let our guard down and that we should steer clear from Eli. Eli is a predator who will kill to survive.
So who is Eli? Well, Eli is Eli.
What is Eli’s relationship with other people?
We know that Eli lived with Hakan next door to Oskar. We know that Hakan isn’t her father, and we know that Eli doesn’t really love Hakan. On the contrary, Eli understands very little about love. Hakan views love as this: Real love is to offer your life at the feet of another.
Hakan has told Eli: You only love me to the extent I help you stay alive.
Eli’s reply is: Yes. Isn’t that what love is?
Hakan’s response to that is: If only I thought you would love me even if I didn’t do it…
I must say, I think neither of them understands love. On the contrary, I think most people don’t really understand love. It’s just something we think what love is. Eli does however later learn what love is. It’s not desire as Hakan thinks it is, it’s not demand as Eli thinks it is. It’s understanding, acceptance, and care. She learns this with Oskar.
What did Eli first think of Oskar? It’s likely that she doesn’t think of him as anything but a possible meal as all other people. When Oskar engages a conversation, offers him a Rubik’s Cube, hugged him after offering to share his candy, and wanting to be together with him, changes all that. Eli, who is perceived as a girl to Oskar, accepts him and understands a lot, underwent a lot of changes. Even Hakan has seen that. Eli had first became closed, secretive, demanding, and bold, then she becomes fun, energetic with Oskar, even jokes and plays games with him. But alas, Eli cannot escape what he is; a vampire. It even bothers Eli a lot, which is why Eli doesn’t wish to tell him. He, Oskar, does find out when trying to make a pact in the basement by cutting his own hand and trying to mix his blood with Eli’s.
In the end, Eli truly loved Oskar. They both understood each other, cared about each other, and even accepted each other. Oskar later knew that Eli is a vampire and a boy, yet he still accepts Eli.
What does he feel about Hakan? Hakan is someone to take care of Eli and to get him blood, he doesn’t see him as a father or anything else. After having met Oskar, he does try to play with Hakan by “Hide the key” and tickles him when Hakan doesn’t show an enthusiasm for the game. It seems to me that Eli wanted to enjoy life, be a kid again (Because it was taken away from him by the vampire and suffered) and hoped that this kind of thing can be shared with Hakan. Hakan however rather perceives Eli as an adult in a child’s body, not actually a child.
It’s not a surprise to me that Eli doesn’t love Hakan the way Hakan ‘loves’ Eli. Eli doesn’t understand the romantic feelings of an adult, even though he had seen it a lot, maybe had people like Hakan who tried to get romantic with him, but Eli never felt romantic to them. This is because Eli is a child who lived for two hundred years. Like a still painting than never changes, never really age through the years.
Is Eli a good person?
I would have to say, Eli is a good person as a lion is a good predator. It’s not a bad thing to eat another living creature, it’s really part of survival. We eat meat too, which is part of our survival. (With due respect to vegans and PETA (None given) we have to consume life in order to live and plant is also life). The reason I believe that Eli is good is that Eli doesn’t relish in killing. I’ll bet that the lions and wolves feel the same; it’s just all about survival and needing to eat meat, nothing personal. While no human likes the idea of being eaten (Same goes for any other animals), Eli can’t be blamed for his actions. It’s just something that was forced on him.