Hilly is seen as a literary vampire because of her mean bitter nature towards others and how she uses her power in the community to take from others, put people down and use everything for her own glory. She wants to do everything in her power to take from the help and try to get them to have separate bathrooms. She does not even care for the people who help her, which is her colored help, nor does she care for her mother. She seems to pick up her own self esteem by feeding off the agony of others. The help are in agony because they cannot change the color of their skin, therefore they are put down by the racist community and Hilly will do anything in her power to still make them seem unequal.
She also is a bully towards Celia Foote. She makes Celia feel bad about herself because Celia is married to Hilly's
ex-boyfriend. Hilly does a good job in making sure people don't like Celia and making sure Celia is shunned by the people of the town. She could care less about how lonely Celia is and is in desperate need of a friend. All Hilly cares about is how people see her and how she can be in control of every situation.
She also is a bully towards Celia Foote. She makes Celia feel bad about herself because Celia is married to Hilly's
ex-boyfriend. Hilly does a good job in making sure people don't like Celia and making sure Celia is shunned by the people of the town. She could care less about how lonely Celia is and is in desperate need of a friend. All Hilly cares about is how people see her and how she can be in control of every situation.
In the book How to Read Literature like a professor, the author Thomas C. Foster focuses on how characters act like vampires in novels. He says vampirism can be different than the literal meaning but people who act as vampires in novels act in "selfishness, exploitation and a refusal to respect the autonomy of other people" (Foster 16).
Even though she is a literary vampire, as always, the villain gets what he or she deserves.