What's in a name?

[metoo]

Just a brief return to the original topic:

The conclusion to make seems to be that most of you believe that the Eli is similar to most people, in that his name is an integral part of his person. Also like most people, he wouldn't particularly like being called something else. He might object to it, or he might not, depending on the circumstances. Just like most people do.

OK, back to where this thread has gone: Eli's manner of dressing.

When Eli appears in the basement to buy blood from Tommy, he is still wearing the yellow dress. Now, given how reluctant he was to take it, I wonder why he didn't change clothes when he passed by his apartment to pick up his bloodletting kit. After all, he did have a third cardboard box, containing clothes.

The real reason, I suppose, is that JAL wanted Eli to be wearing the dress when he visited Tommy, but what might an in-story explanation be?

(I bet at least someone will say that he liked to dress like a girl.)

[pantsonparade]

Maybe Eli knew Tommy would freak out when he found out Eli was a vampire. So he decided to wear the dress to appear more innocent and vulnerable. Giving Tommy the impression that he was in charge of the situation, when in reality Eli always was

[EEA]

An in story explanation might be to show that Eli can be vulnerable even though she is a vampire. And with Eli wearing a dress it shows that she is fragile when she encounters zombie Hakan.

[gkmoberg1]

The real reason, I suppose, is that JAL wanted Eli to be wearing the dress when he visited Tommy, but what might an in-story explanation be?

I'm sure he was nervous about attempting to do a blood purchase with Tommy. He would have to be. After all, if it were to go badly, he might have to ... yeh. And because Elias knows Tommy is something of a friend to Oskar, it would be a problem when/if Oskar finds out. A huge problem. In short, it threatens to destroy his (Elias') relationship with Oskar if the blood purchase goes badly. This would undoubtedly be in on his mind.

Give that, I can see how Elias could completely forget to change clothes. 11 or 12 year old boys, for the most part, aren't fashion conscious. They pretty much have to be reminded to take bath... Clothing and hygiene aren't what they're geared to worry about. Ergo, he stops by his apartment, nervously collects the blood kit, forgets to take a look in the mirror and notice how completely odd he looks, and heads off to the basement to see if he can find Tommy.

[lombano]

Both Eli not seeing a reason to change into clean clothes, nor later a reason to change out of the dress, to me show how clueless and indifferent he is regarding clothing.

[sauvin]

Just a brief return to the original topic:

The conclusion to make seems to be that most of you believe that the Eli is similar to most people, in that his name is an integral part of his person. Also like most people, he wouldn't particularly like being called something else. He might object to it, or he might not, depending on the circumstances. Just like most people do.

Call me a dissenting voice, then. I honestly get the impression Eli's name means as much to her as her style of clothing does, and for a similar reason. Just as a vampire really needs no clothes, apart from protective coloration from a distance, a vampire really needs no name unless in the company of other vampires or when engaged in unavoidable interaction with normal people. I still think she's been known by a number of names over the years, citing the evidence that Oskar had been tired of Eli's "lies" about the particulars of her personal daily life, what I'd call a "legend".

She remembers that her name had been Elias at one time, and probably does consider her current "real" name as Eli. If it's true she's not been involved in a real relationship in more than two hundred years, I suspect it'll be in Oskar's hands to teach her what a name can mean, just as I suspect it'll in his hands to teach her what it is to be a person.

[EEA]

I think Eli's name is important to her. Or else she could have told Oskar some other name. Tell him my name is "...."

[Ash]

I think I'll have to side with sauvin in that I don't think the name had much significance to Eli herself.
Nor do I think that she put too much thought into what she wore, or didn't wear for that matter - she didn't mind parading completely naked in front of Hakan, (someone she should know she shouldn't have displayed herself to), so modesty, clothes, names (social conventions) could be seen as holding little importance to her.
I'd bet she chose Eli over Elias simply because you don't have to close your mouth to say Eli, which is better if you sometimes have fangs or you'll have a lisp, very practical.

[metoo]

Call me a dissenting voice, then. I honestly get the impression Eli's name means as much to her as her style of clothing does, and for a similar reason. Just as a vampire really needs no clothes, apart from protective coloration from a distance, a vampire really needs no name unless in the company of other vampires or when engaged in unavoidable interaction with normal people. I still think she's been known by a number of names over the years, citing the evidence that Oskar had been tired of Eli's "lies" about the particulars of her personal daily life, what I'd call a "legend".

What I feel is a little problematic with the idea of Eli's name being unimportant to him is that to most people one's name is rather important, and that Eli is a human - albeit one who lives on blood. Furthermore, Eli seems to have a rather strong integrity - he does not lend himself to whatever people may suggest, and this contradicts that he would easily change the name he perceives as the proper one for himself.

This, however, does not necessarily say that he hasn't been known by other names from time to time. Correcting people might have been too much hassle sometimes, or, like you suggest, sauvin, he might deliberately have used different names as a means of camouflage from time to time. But if Eli lied about his name to Oskar (and Håkan as well), then he made a strange choice. Eli, as we have seen, is a very uncommon name in Sweden.

She remembers that her name had been Elias at one time, and probably does consider her current "real" name as Eli. If it's true she's not been involved in a real relationship in more than two hundred years, I suspect it'll be in Oskar's hands to teach her what a name can mean, just as I suspect it'll in his hands to teach her what it is to be a person.

Well, I think Eli knew very well what it meant to be a person. He had fond memories of his childhood, he probably lived a good albeit poor life with his parents and siblings. He was loved.
But all of that was taken from him, and it seems he believed that he never would have it again. Oskar's task would thus not be to teach Eli what it is to be a person, but to convince him that he still is one.

[Ash]

AFAIK, I'm in Tokyo right now so I don't have access to the novel, Eli was told, and considered himself to be "not good for much".
And as to the question of being loved, that idea would have been severely challenged by his mum abandoning him at the lord's castle. I'd be rounding up the peasants with pitch-forks and flaming torches if they kidnapped my child.
While Eli childishly felt that his family still loved him, he was in fact abandoned and left for dead by them. Which explains his zero self esteem and nihilism up to meeting Oskar.
Oskar needed the family he never had and Eli needed a replacement for the loved ones that had abandoned him. Like baby monkeys will cling to a soft toy as a replacement for their mother, Eli and Oskar seek solace in each other for the love and comfort that the adult world didn't/couldn't provide them. That is why they both resoundingly rejected an adult solution to their problems and gave the finger to Blackeberg and left together. The world of adults offered nothing to them, not in LTROI or LTODD. If Oskar had truly felt loved he would have never left with Eli, and if Eli felt that adults could provide the love Oskar longed for, he would have never taken and turned him.