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lliiraContent: Depression, stalking, male ownership of females, female ownership of males, stuff that doesn't matter to the story at all
I'm going to try to get through more than one page of this book tonight.
Edward ignores Bella the month after the accident. He's back to leaning away from her and his hands are tensely-clenched fists a lot again. (Edward sure does a lot of fisting.) I would like to know how it's possible to ignore your lab partner for an entire month. Or even an entire week. They're your lab partner. You have to do labs with them.
Bella watches Edward a lot, "unable to stop [her]self" (70). Creepy. Also, bullshit. Bella is not under a geas. She doesn't want to stop herself from creeping on Edward, so she pretends she can't.
Bella says that she watches Edward from a distance, but then says, "I watched as his golden eyes grew perceptibly darker day by day." I have no idea how she can tell this from a distance. She claims not to watch him in class. Maybe she has hawk-like vision.
I was miserable.
Bella's always miserable. But it's clear from context that in this case, she's miserable because Edward wants nothing to do with her. He saved her life, okay, that might make me want to get to know someone too. However, he very obviously doesn't want to get to know her.
X develops an obsession with Y, who clearly wants nothing to do with X, and X watches Y every day from afar. X's life is utter misery because Y will not talk to X. X is a stalker. Bella has no violent intentions toward Edward -- she has no intentions at all, as far as I can tell. I don't know why she wants anything to do with him. Bella's obviously attracted to his appearance, but that's it. She hasn't told us how she feels about Edward saving her life.
That's -- that's unbelievable. The heroine of this romance novel was saved from death by the hero. The novel is written from the heroine's perspective. And the writer has not deigned to inform us how the heroine feels about the hero saving her life. How has Bella's idea of Edward changed because of this? What about her feelings toward him? Okay, she's obsessed with him, but that tells us very little. There are different kinds of obsession, and I'm not sure obsession is a feeling anyway. We say that someone is obsessed, not that they feel obsessed.
I think Bella is so lacking in a sense of self, she is unable to feel complex emotions. She can feel physical attraction toward someone because of his appearance, and she can be obsessed with him, but it ends there. This actually makes a kind of psychological sense. Depression tries to destroy everything that isn't itself, and that includes the depressed person's self-concept. To put it in another way, Bella has an id and a superego, but she appears to lack an ego. She has simple, overwhelming desires, and she cares what people think of her, but she has little or no concept of controlling these things, or of being an agent in her own desires and actions.
I think this is part of why many people see Bella as helpless and passive, even though she does take action to get what she wants, and gets her way in nearly everything. Bella rarely sees herself as actually doing things because she lacks a sense of self. Stuff that happens to her and because of her is like the weather -- she believes she can't control anything about it. Just as Forks doesn't put salt down during an ice storm, Bella doesn't consider the things she can do to get through life. She is disconnected from herself.
I do not think this was intentional on Meyer's part. However, I think it does explain nearly everything about Bella. She obsesses over Edward because it's as close as she can come to deeply feeling. Obsessing over him frees her from having to think about anything, especially herself. I don't think she can be said to be thinking about Edward. He's always on her mind, to the exclusion of other things, but thinking implies more than simple obsession. Edward's an obvious choice for obsession, even before he saves Bella's life, because he's physically the most beautiful boy she's ever seen. Since Bella can't (or won't) feel complex emotions, physical attraction is all she's got. She clings to this obsession, though it makes her miserable, because at least it's something -- better than the howling void where her self should be.
Bella is so miserable that her mother notices the change "despite [Bella's] outright lies" (70). Bella on page 70 feels worse than Bella on page 12. I didn't think that was possible. This is not how the beginning of a crush should make someone feel. This book is ridiculously depressing.
Mike, at least, was pleased by the obvious coolness between me and my lab partner... [Mike] grew more confident, sitting on the edge of my table to talk before Biology class started, ignoring Edward as completely as he ignored us. (71)
WHAT IS THIS NONSENSE?! Look, Meyer, this is not how people behave! Mike should only be confident regarding Bella if she gives him reason to be. The fact of her talking to other boys is a non-issue! Bella is the owner of Bella's heart and body, not whatever alpha male decides to take an interest in her. I've read and seen plenty of stuff in which the boyfriend or husband of a woman thought he owned her, but this is the first time I've read something in which one boy decides he can stake a claim on a girl only because another boy is uninterested, and in which the girl's feelings and actions have absolutely nothing to do with it. Not only that, but the girl thinks this is all normal! This isn't retrograde, it's sidewaysgrade into something new and horrific.
Bella informs us that there's no more snow, just rain. So soon they'll be able to go to the beach. Mike is pleased about this. I don't know why I'm supposed to care about Mike being pleased about a beach trip. This segues into more stuff about which I don't know why I'm supposed to care.
Jessica tells Bella there's a "girls' choice spring dance in a couple weeks." Um. Wait. No. First, if it's girls asking boys, it's called a Sadie Hawkins dance. I do not understand why Meyer tells us so much about cars, and yet is loathe to use the term "Sadie Hawkins." The concept is sexist as hell, but there it is, and that's its name. Second, IT IS ALWAYS A GIRLS' CHOICE WHEN THERE ARE GIRLS INVOLVED. IF NOTHING ELSE, GIRLS ARE ALLOWED TO CHOOSE TO SAY YES OR NO.
By the way, the reader is informed that Jessica calls Bella on "the first Tuesday of March." Yep, better be specific about that. What your viewpoint character is thinking and feeling? Who cares about that? But the precise day on which a third-tier character places a phone call to your heroine and then proceeds to talk with her about something which turns out to be utterly unimportant -- that matters.
Jessica likes Mike and wants to ask him to the dance, but clears it with Bella first. Apparently just as Edward is the alpha male, Bella is the alpha female, and other girls must ask her permission before staking a claim on any boys with whom she converses regularly. Does no one own themselves in this book?
Bella says she's not going to the dance. Not that she doesn't want to go with Mike, or that she's not interested in Mike, simply that she won't be going to the dance. Manipulative little twit. She tells us she "suspected Jessica enjoyed my inexplicable popularity more than my actual company." Well, probably, because who would enjoy your company? Besides, you've been putting down Jessica in your head since you first met her, I think she can sense your disdain. Bella then cements her alpha female role by telling Jessica, "you have fun with Mike," thus implicitly reinforcing the idea that she has any say in whether or not Jessica may ask Mike to the dance. From now on, I shall imagine Bella wearing a big red bow on her head. (Mm, Christian Slater...)
Will Jessica ask Mike to the dance? Will he say yes? Will we be told why we should care? That will be next time, when hopefully once again I'll be able to make it through two whole pages.
I'm going to try to get through more than one page of this book tonight.
Edward ignores Bella the month after the accident. He's back to leaning away from her and his hands are tensely-clenched fists a lot again. (Edward sure does a lot of fisting.) I would like to know how it's possible to ignore your lab partner for an entire month. Or even an entire week. They're your lab partner. You have to do labs with them.
Bella watches Edward a lot, "unable to stop [her]self" (70). Creepy. Also, bullshit. Bella is not under a geas. She doesn't want to stop herself from creeping on Edward, so she pretends she can't.
Bella says that she watches Edward from a distance, but then says, "I watched as his golden eyes grew perceptibly darker day by day." I have no idea how she can tell this from a distance. She claims not to watch him in class. Maybe she has hawk-like vision.
I was miserable.
Bella's always miserable. But it's clear from context that in this case, she's miserable because Edward wants nothing to do with her. He saved her life, okay, that might make me want to get to know someone too. However, he very obviously doesn't want to get to know her.
X develops an obsession with Y, who clearly wants nothing to do with X, and X watches Y every day from afar. X's life is utter misery because Y will not talk to X. X is a stalker. Bella has no violent intentions toward Edward -- she has no intentions at all, as far as I can tell. I don't know why she wants anything to do with him. Bella's obviously attracted to his appearance, but that's it. She hasn't told us how she feels about Edward saving her life.
That's -- that's unbelievable. The heroine of this romance novel was saved from death by the hero. The novel is written from the heroine's perspective. And the writer has not deigned to inform us how the heroine feels about the hero saving her life. How has Bella's idea of Edward changed because of this? What about her feelings toward him? Okay, she's obsessed with him, but that tells us very little. There are different kinds of obsession, and I'm not sure obsession is a feeling anyway. We say that someone is obsessed, not that they feel obsessed.
I think Bella is so lacking in a sense of self, she is unable to feel complex emotions. She can feel physical attraction toward someone because of his appearance, and she can be obsessed with him, but it ends there. This actually makes a kind of psychological sense. Depression tries to destroy everything that isn't itself, and that includes the depressed person's self-concept. To put it in another way, Bella has an id and a superego, but she appears to lack an ego. She has simple, overwhelming desires, and she cares what people think of her, but she has little or no concept of controlling these things, or of being an agent in her own desires and actions.
I think this is part of why many people see Bella as helpless and passive, even though she does take action to get what she wants, and gets her way in nearly everything. Bella rarely sees herself as actually doing things because she lacks a sense of self. Stuff that happens to her and because of her is like the weather -- she believes she can't control anything about it. Just as Forks doesn't put salt down during an ice storm, Bella doesn't consider the things she can do to get through life. She is disconnected from herself.
I do not think this was intentional on Meyer's part. However, I think it does explain nearly everything about Bella. She obsesses over Edward because it's as close as she can come to deeply feeling. Obsessing over him frees her from having to think about anything, especially herself. I don't think she can be said to be thinking about Edward. He's always on her mind, to the exclusion of other things, but thinking implies more than simple obsession. Edward's an obvious choice for obsession, even before he saves Bella's life, because he's physically the most beautiful boy she's ever seen. Since Bella can't (or won't) feel complex emotions, physical attraction is all she's got. She clings to this obsession, though it makes her miserable, because at least it's something -- better than the howling void where her self should be.
Bella is so miserable that her mother notices the change "despite [Bella's] outright lies" (70). Bella on page 70 feels worse than Bella on page 12. I didn't think that was possible. This is not how the beginning of a crush should make someone feel. This book is ridiculously depressing.
Mike, at least, was pleased by the obvious coolness between me and my lab partner... [Mike] grew more confident, sitting on the edge of my table to talk before Biology class started, ignoring Edward as completely as he ignored us. (71)
WHAT IS THIS NONSENSE?! Look, Meyer, this is not how people behave! Mike should only be confident regarding Bella if she gives him reason to be. The fact of her talking to other boys is a non-issue! Bella is the owner of Bella's heart and body, not whatever alpha male decides to take an interest in her. I've read and seen plenty of stuff in which the boyfriend or husband of a woman thought he owned her, but this is the first time I've read something in which one boy decides he can stake a claim on a girl only because another boy is uninterested, and in which the girl's feelings and actions have absolutely nothing to do with it. Not only that, but the girl thinks this is all normal! This isn't retrograde, it's sidewaysgrade into something new and horrific.
Bella informs us that there's no more snow, just rain. So soon they'll be able to go to the beach. Mike is pleased about this. I don't know why I'm supposed to care about Mike being pleased about a beach trip. This segues into more stuff about which I don't know why I'm supposed to care.
Jessica tells Bella there's a "girls' choice spring dance in a couple weeks." Um. Wait. No. First, if it's girls asking boys, it's called a Sadie Hawkins dance. I do not understand why Meyer tells us so much about cars, and yet is loathe to use the term "Sadie Hawkins." The concept is sexist as hell, but there it is, and that's its name. Second, IT IS ALWAYS A GIRLS' CHOICE WHEN THERE ARE GIRLS INVOLVED. IF NOTHING ELSE, GIRLS ARE ALLOWED TO CHOOSE TO SAY YES OR NO.
By the way, the reader is informed that Jessica calls Bella on "the first Tuesday of March." Yep, better be specific about that. What your viewpoint character is thinking and feeling? Who cares about that? But the precise day on which a third-tier character places a phone call to your heroine and then proceeds to talk with her about something which turns out to be utterly unimportant -- that matters.
Jessica likes Mike and wants to ask him to the dance, but clears it with Bella first. Apparently just as Edward is the alpha male, Bella is the alpha female, and other girls must ask her permission before staking a claim on any boys with whom she converses regularly. Does no one own themselves in this book?
Bella says she's not going to the dance. Not that she doesn't want to go with Mike, or that she's not interested in Mike, simply that she won't be going to the dance. Manipulative little twit. She tells us she "suspected Jessica enjoyed my inexplicable popularity more than my actual company." Well, probably, because who would enjoy your company? Besides, you've been putting down Jessica in your head since you first met her, I think she can sense your disdain. Bella then cements her alpha female role by telling Jessica, "you have fun with Mike," thus implicitly reinforcing the idea that she has any say in whether or not Jessica may ask Mike to the dance. From now on, I shall imagine Bella wearing a big red bow on her head. (Mm, Christian Slater...)
Will Jessica ask Mike to the dance? Will he say yes? Will we be told why we should care? That will be next time, when hopefully once again I'll be able to make it through two whole pages.
