I Am Legend: Chapter 10 Summary & Analysis

It’s April 7, 1976, and Neville is exploring the Los Angeles Public Library, intent on finding some books about blood. As he walks through the library, he imagines a sad librarian, shutting down the building for the last time, probably “never knowing the fierce joy and attendant comfort of a loved one’s embrace, a tragedy” even worse than becoming a vampire. Neville finds some books on blood in the “Medicine” section of the library, and takes them back home with him.

Neville reads that there are two ways to activate the lymphatic system: breathing and physical movements (such as compressions of the chest). But vampires do not breathe, he knows—at least not the dead vampires. This means that at least half of the dead vampires’ lymphatic flow is cut off, which would explain their pale skin and rotting odor. He also reads about how bright sunlight can kill off many bacteria. As he reads, Neville finds it hard to concentrate, and wonders why he can’t force himself to focus. He wonders, “Was it just reactionary stubbornness, or was it that the task would loom as too tremendous for him if it were germs?”

Neville begins to develop some theories about the vampires. The vampire plague is certainly bacterial in nature; it’s possible that it spread so quickly because the vampires themselves wander all over town at night, spreading their bacteria. Neville also knows that mosquitos and other insects played a role in spreading the plague. Finally, Neville begins to realize that the vampire microbe forces its host to enter a coma during the daylight, so that sunlight won’t kill the bacteria. As he thinks, he feels a strong temptation to give up and get drunk; however, he forces himself to concentrate.

Neville goes to sleep, still thinking of explanations for how the vampire plague spread so quickly. At three in the morning, he wakes up to the sound of a dust storm blowing outside. In a fraction of a second, “he made the connection.”