lliira

Content: Gaslighting, angels, car accident, speech tags, creepy dad, ableism, drug overdose

Bella is trying to get Edward to admit he has superpowers.

"You think I lifted a van off you?" His tone questioned my sanity, but it only made me more suspicious. It was like a perfectly delivered line by a skilled actor.
I merely nodded once, jaw tight. (65)

While I applaud Bella's refusal to buy into Edward's gaslighting, he did not lift a van off her. He stopped a van from plowing into her. No motor vehicle was ever on top of any part of Bella's body. I would think the way the hero saved the heroine's life would be a somewhat important point, something an author would want to remember. Apparently not.

Also, the description after Edward's question hurts me. A tone cannot have intent or action. A tone can be questioning, but it cannot actually question, let alone do something so complicated as question someone's sanity. More importantly, a "tone" cannot be like a "line." The line is what Edward says, not his tone, but that's not what Meyer wrote. No wonder I get a headache reading this stuff -- my brain has to work overtime to untangle and translate this junk! It's one thing to have to think about the intricacies of character and theme, or about who the murderer is, but needing to think about what a word must refer to because what the author wrote is objectively wrong is ridiculous.

In this conversation, Meyer hardly ever lets the dialog stand on its own. She doesn't trust it or the reader. Sometimes I feel like telling characters to shut up. I can't ever remember wanting to tell a writer to shut up and simply let her characters speak, until I met Twilight. You've already convinced me that Edward is a condescending, gaslighting, arrogant jackass, Stephenie. His words show those facts as well. Stop telling your readers things they already know.

Edward asks Bella if she's going to stop questioning him. She says she's not. Then he says, "In that case... I hope you enjoy disappointment" (65).

Meyer ripped a line from The Princess Bride and then mangled it. How does anyone have the gall to do this? It is one of the most-quoted movies of all time, and hugely beloved by those of us who virtually memorized it. And when your hero is more unlikable than Prince Humperdinck, you do not want to remind us of one of Westley's best lines.

We scowled at each other in silence. I was the first to speak, trying to keep myself focused. I was in danger of being distracted by his livid, glorious face. It was like trying to stare down a destroying angel.

Pfft. Okay, first, people who are "livid" are not pretty. A cold or righteous anger can preserve prettitude, but "livid" cannot. Further, Edward's supposed to be super pale, and "livid" brings color to mind. If the difference between the right word and the not-quite-right one is the difference between lightning and a lightning bug, the difference between the right word and the words Meyer often chooses is the difference between lightning and lint.

Second, Bella keeps comparing Edward to an angel in appearance, without thinking the connotations through. Edward's being petulant, condescending, rude, and pissy here. That's not a destroying angel, that's a customer who's angry at you because he had to wait in line.

Third. Angels:

There are a lot of different types of "angels" in the world. I wouldn't bring this up if Edward were described as looking like an angel once or twice, but it happens often enough to stand out, and I think Meyer meant it to stand out. She didn't realize that the image in her mind when she thinks "angel" is not the same image in everyone else's mind when they think "angel."

The funny thing is, Meyer claimed she created Bella as something of a blank slate so girls could put themselves in her shoes. If that was her intention, she failed miserably, even discounting Bella's personality. (Yes, she has one. A crappy one.) Bella is petite with very pale skin, dark hair, and brown eyes. At one point in the saga, she mentions that she weights 110 pounds. Though I am pale with dark hair, the last time I weighed 110 pounds was pre-puberty, and I was on the thin side until I was about 20. Edward? Well, he's pale and tall. I'm not sure what his hair color is, it's either auburn or golden-brownish. His eyes are some kind of yellow except when they're black. He has slender hands. And he looks like an angel. I don't have a clue what that means. He probably doesn't have a mess of eyes or run around in a sexy submissive costume, but he might have chubby baby cheeks.

Back to Bella grilling Edward. (Not literally, sadly.)

"Why did you even bother?" I asked frigidly.
He paused, and for a brief moment his stunning face was unexpectedly vulnerable.
"I don't know," he whispered.

Stephenie Meyer thinks Edward is over 9000 kinds of awesome. And he doesn't know why he rescued someone from being smooshed by a car. Can you imagine Lois Lane asking Superman this? Can you imagine him saying, "I don't know"?

Edward, when I say you are a coward, that is because you are the slimiest weakling ever to crawl the Earth. Well, one of two.

Everyone is in the hospital waiting room. Bella thinks they're there for her. She doesn't consider Tyler. When Charlie asks Bella if she's okay, she "assures" him "sullenly" (66). Then Charlie says one line. In the next paragraph, Bella sighs. Then she urges.

Charlie put one arm behind my back, not quite touching me, and led me to the glass doors of the exit.

Try walking like this with someone. It's creepy. Why is he not touching her? If it's because he knows she doesn't like being touched, at least by him, why is he almost touching her? Ugh.

Bella says, "it was a huge relief -- the first time I'd ever felt that way -- to get into the cruiser" (66).

This is the first time Bella has ever been hugely relieved. She says it right there, clear as day. Maybe she needs Metamucil. I guess maybe it's the first time she feels relieved to get into a police cruiser, though. Which makes me wonder how she's been in a police cruiser often enough to have this thought. She's been spending vacations with Charlie in California for years; I don't see how he could have had his police car there. Was she embarrassed by the cruiser when she was a child? That seems unlikely, even for Bella. Therefore, I can only conclude that Bella has been arrested many times.

When they get home, Charlie tells Bella she needs to call her mother. Bella is angry that Charlie told Renee that his and Renee's child had been in an accident and was in the hospital. Charlie actually apologizes and Bella slams the car door in her righteous anger.

Bella calls her mom, who is "in hysterics, of course." Bella has to calm her mother down. This is an example of how Bella has not had a true parent in her life. In the hands of a competent author, it would work. But people are always apologizing for the wrong things and thinking the wrong people are victims in this book, so I don't know what to think. Renee begs Bella to come home, but Bella has no problem shrugging her off because Bella is obsessed with Edward.

Stupid, stupid, stupid. I wasn't as eager to escape Forks as I should be, as any normal, sane person would be. (67)

Bella, I'm not from Forks. But on behalf of every single real person who does live in Forks and whom you just called abnormal and insane, go to hell.

Also, though I don't have any mental issues that are normally classified as "insanity", I've had depression in the past, and currently I have PTSD. On behalf of everyone who isn't what you consider "normal", go to hell twice.

At the end of the chapter, Bella takes three Tylenol and goes to bed. Yes, three Tylenol. You are not supposed to do that. It's not likely to hurt you if you do it once, but taking too much Tylenol regularly can kill you. I do not know why Bella takes three instead of two, or why Meyer specifically mentions it. It adds nothing to the story. Maybe it's supposed to be another example of how incompetent Bella is at taking care of herself. It bugs me, it distracts me, and I wish it were not there.