49 pages • 1 hour read
Jenna LevineMy Roommate Is a Vampire
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2023A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Themes
The Challenges of Adapting to Different Lifestyles
Cassie and Frederick live extremely different lives which come crashing into each other once Cassie moves into Frederick’s apartment. Frederick has the added difficulty of having to adjust to a much-different time period after his century-long coma, especially since there are now radically different social norms. As Frederick seeks to blend in, the novel explores the challenges of adapting to different lifestyles.
Even before Cassie moves into the apartment, she notices the visual differences in their lifestyles, which are evident even in Frederick’s choice of furniture. When Frederick emails Cassie photos of the apartment, she immediately sees the strangeness of the decor: “This kitchen wasn’t just different from every other kitchen in every other place I’d ever lived. It looked like it belonged to an entirely different era. Nothing in it looked like it had been made within the last fifty years” (13, emphasis added). Frederick’s apartment is completely “different” from anywhere else because it reflects the aesthetics of a century prior. The furniture and appliances are old enough that they are anachronistic in the modern era, which reflects Frederick’s anachronistic existence in the world.
Cassie begins to realize how difficult Frederick’s transition into 21st-century life is when she teaches him about social media. He fails to understand Instagram, which at first irritates Cassie, but her annoyance fades as she thinks critically about what his coma truly meant for him: “When Frederick fell into his century-long sleep, he’d left behind a world of handwritten letters and horseback riding. Waking up to social media and the Kardashians had to be an incredible shock. He was like an octogenarian learning how to use a computer—only worse” (151). He also grew up with very different social norms, with Cassie initially feeling taken aback by his formality and his old-fashioned sense of propriety. For example, it takes him a while to understand that there is nothing scandalous about kissing Cassie or openly desiring her.
Frederick also tries to live ethically in the modern era, stealing blood from blood banks instead of indiscriminately murdering humans for food, but his past self was a more traditional vampire. He acknowledges that he’s changed, telling Cassie, “I am not the person I was in the early nineteenth century, Cassie. I haven’t been that person in a very long time” (284). Although he finds adapting to modern life difficult, Frederick accepts that adjusting to his new lifestyle is exactly what he needs to feel at home in his new era.
Long-Term Compatibility Despite Surface-Level Differences
The novel suggests that differences do not always mean a relationship is doomed to fail. Sometimes, differences in a couple can inspire curiosity, encouraging each partner to step beyond their comfort zone. In My Roommate is a Vampire, Cassie and Frederick are deeply different individuals, but they manage to achieve long-term compatibility despite surface-level differences.
Cassie is a 32-year-old human artist with an affinity for contemporary art and sculpture; Frederick is a 200+-year-old vampire with no understanding of the machinations of the modern world. On paper, they could not be more different or have more different life experiences and perspectives. However, these differences actually help draw them together, inspiring them to kiss for the first time. As Cassie points out, “‘I’ve never kissed a vampire before […] So I’m curious about what it’s like […] Purely from an intellectual standpoint’” (213). Their physical differences offer Cassie an excuse to kiss Frederick, when in reality she wants to kiss him because she has romantic feelings for him. In framing the kiss as an “intellectual” exercise, Cassie finds a safe place to explore her physical desire for Frederick without making herself too emotionally vulnerable.
Frederick is acutely aware of the differences between himself and Cassie, which initially makes him hesitant about pursuing a relationship with her since she is human. Cassie, however, does not see this difference as an obstacle, as she reflects upon the genuine care and concern he shows for her: “He bought out an entire cookware section when I said I needed a saucepan, and said insightful, kind things about my art even though he didn’t understand it. He knew me, with an intuitive kind of sensitivity that took my breath away” (257). For Cassie, what matters most is how Frederick treats her, not the fact that he’s a vampire. Frederick supports her artistic pursuits and cooks for her. Similarly, Frederick grows to love Cassie despite his hesitations because she is kind and supportive of his attempts to adjust to modern life. Instead of mocking him for his anachronistic behaviors and tastes, she teaches him whatever he wishes to know and even introduces him to her friends.
Thus, both Cassie and Frederick ultimately realize that they have more to tie them together than they do to drive them apart. Their relationship succeeds because of who Cassie and Frederick are on the inside, not in spite of their external differences.
The Importance of Art and Pursuing One’s Passion
Art plays an important role in My Roommate is a Vampire, especially for Cassie. Her role as an artist is essential to understanding her outlook on life and her sense of self. Cassie’s characterization and arc reflect the importance of art and pursuing one’s passion.
Cassie pushes back against the restrictive, traditional notions of what art can mean, even when those around her do not understand. When she starts to hang her beach scenes in her room, she remembers, “Sam had teased me for spending so much of our beach vacation combing the beach for trash—but then, he’d never understand how it made me feel to take what other people threw away and turn it into art that would outlast us all” (78). Cassie’s art is inherently linked to her emotions; she specifically utilizes the word “feel” to describe her motivation for using trash and other detritus in her pieces. It’s a reaction to the stringent limitations of traditional art, but more deeply it’s a desire to create art that reflects her own feelings. She’s passionate about her approach to her work, and this passion drives her to continue creating and to listen to her heart.
When Cassie begins to develop feelings for Frederick, these feelings seep into her art. When she begins her Manor House project, she realizes that she “inadvertently incorporated some of the details [Frederick] shared about his old home” (199). Without consciously trying, Cassie put her desire for Frederick into her art piece. She notices the specific attributes of Frederick’s home in her work: “[T]he home it showed was smaller than what I’d originally planned, the plain wooden floors he’d described could be seen through the windows, and the roof had taken on a more thatched appearance than had been my original idea” (199). This further illustrates the connection between her emotions and her art, rendering art an essential part of her self-expression.
Cassie also learns to recognize the importance of continuing to pursue her passion despite setbacks. When she hears that Manor House did not win the art competition, she is initially crushed, locking herself away in Sam’s bathroom to cry with disappointment. Likewise, she at first hesitates to apply for the art teacher position at Harmony because she has failed to receive offers for similar positions many times before. Ultimately, however, Cassie decides that she must keep trying and creating. Her efforts pay off, as she is hired at Harmony and can now pursue her true passion full-time.
