Vampire visit is a characteristic of the Gothic theme. This kind of visit is often viewed as a dream, rather than reality. This is rational because it is irrational to believe otherwise, to believe in the supernatural. This has been shown in both Carmella and Buffy. When Laura "dreams" about Carmella and getting bitten, she decided not to tell her father because she know her father doesn't believe in the supernatural. From Laura's descriptions of her dreams, they were so vivid as if it happened in reality. However, Laura refuses to believe her eyes because she cannot see how such dream about her companion can be true. Laura's physical weakening reflects that her dream about the visits from Carmella, the vampire, are real.
The demon appeared in Buffy is similar to a vampire in that it sucks the soul of its victim, instead of its blood. When Buffy first encounters with the demon, she also attributed it as her dream. Despite of her experience as a slayer, like Laura, Buffy chooses to believe she saw the demon in her dream. In her "dream", we see Buffy's soul getting sucked away by the demon. In reality, we see Buffy's friends, people who know Buffy the best, sense her lately strangeness. This is an indication of her dreams are real. In addition, parallel to Carmella, both the culprit and the victim shares the "dream". That was possible because those weren't dream, but actually happened, and that's why the culprits would know exactly what happened in their victims' "dreams".
Reading your comment, I can't help but be reminded of the similarities in Buffy's soul loss and the loss of Lucy in Dracula. The dream world seems to be such an important part of the gothic culture, especially in the works we have been reading in class. I can't help but wonder if the point of seeing all these dreams in gothic literature is to make us wonder at the validity of our own reality? Maybe the uncertainty and uncontrolled nature of sleep provides the perfect environment to force people to suspend their own disbelief. By harnessing this middle ground between life and death, the authors force us to recognize our own humanity and fragile existence, and in turn, use that to make us think (or just scare the bejeesus out of us).
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