Twilight, Chapter 4, Annoyances (p.75-78)
Jun. 29th, 2012 06:58 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
lliira(I accidentally posted this about half-finished earlier, sorry about that.)
Content: clumsiness (probably intentional), boys with no clue (probably unintentional), smirking jackass(definitely intentional), more male ownership of females (as usual)
Bella goes to Gym. I do not understand why Meyer and her copy editor capitalize high school class names. It's one instance of all the little niggling annoyances in this book. Of course, the book also has major annoyances. Annoyance in every layer, that's Twilight.
Bella, of course, is such a danger to herself and others that she can't play basketball without falling down and causing other people to fall down regularly as well, even though no one passes her the ball. I don't know how this is possible. She says she's worse than usual because she's dwelling on Edward. So she hurts other people even more than she usually does because she can't get her mind off a boy. Speaking of major annoyances.
I almost ran to the truck; there were just so many people I wanted to avoid. (76)
Bella just got done telling us that she hurt other people in gym class. We're supposed to believe this is because she is clumsy. And yet she almost runs to her truck, with no thought or mention of falling over. I can look at this two ways, either through author incompetence or through who Bella really is in this text.
Author incompetence: Meyer forgot what she wrote two sentences ago. Or she thought this one emotion, of Bella wanting to run, was more important than Bella's central character trait of superhuman clumsiness. Either way, it's a big fat glaring continuity error and a serious failure in writing.
Who Bella really is: Bella talks at length about her clumsiness, but in truth, she's only clumsy when other people could possibly depend on her (with one exception, which I'll get to). She wants people to think she needs protection, but she doesn't. She didn't fall down on an iced driveway, she has incredible ice driving skills, and she considers running through all the other students, through a parking lot with cars moving around in it, without fearing falling, running into anyone else, or being run into.
Bella is also clumsy when school books are involved; she's tripped over them once and dropped them once. The first time, she was feeling nervous, and I'll give her a pass -- though I wonder if she would have tripped if she weren't in math class, which she has decided to hate. The second time, she was also nervous, but more importantly, her supposed clumsiness caused Edward to pick up her books. She was rewarded for being incompetent, and I think she did it on purpose, though she would likely never admit it to anyone, especially herself.
Bella's clumsiness is entirely psychological. She cannot handle the thought of others depending on her, and she likes others feeling they must take care of her. I'd be sort of okay with this if she didn't so often hurt other people without regret. The sole reason she's unhappy about hurting people is that they make her life uncomfortable when she does. She does not care one teeny bit about the physical pain and mortification she causes others.
Moving on, it's time for clueless boys. Eric asks her to the spring dance. The dance to which girls are supposed to ask boys. She tells him she'll be in Seattle that day.
"Oh," he said. "Well, maybe next time."
"Sure," I agreed, then bit my lip. I wouldn't want him to take that too literally.
Ugh. Well, I can see that "sure" slipping out automatically. I will try to be generous.
Bella hears someone "chuckle," then sees Edward walking past her truck. Edward's laughing at Bella again/still.
Then Edward stops his "shiny Volvo" (77) behind Bella's truck, blocking her in. (Has Meyer ever mentioned the Volvo without noting its shininess? I'll have to dig up a PDF of the book and check.) Bella considers running into his car, "but there were too many witnesses." Our heroine, ladies and gentlemen. Edward is blocking in not only Bella, but others as well, causing a line to form. Our hero, ladies and gentlemen.
Tyler Crowley has a "recently acquired used Sentra." I had no idea what a Sentra was, besides "type of automobile", so I looked it up. It's been around for a while. Now I wonder how old Tyler Crowley's car is, as it could be anywhere from thirty years to a few months old. Meyer's pointless specificity about the type of car a third-tier character drives breaks up what little flow the story has. By answering a question no one asked, she only inspires more questions.
Tyler runs out of his car and knocks on the passenger side window of Bella's truck. Dana illustrated this silliness on her Tumblr. Anyway, Tyler is the third boy to ask Bella to this dance to which girls are supposed to ask boys. When she tells Tyler she's going out of town, sounding irritated, he says, "[t]hat's cool. We still have prom." (78) Why does Tyler casually assume Bella will go with him to the prom? I have no idea. He sounds like he thinks they're dating.
I guess, in the world of Twilight, any girl who isn't specifically owned by one boy must be the communal property of all boys and/or of any boy who wants to claim her. I'm not being sarcastic or exaggerating -- I've seen opponents of marriage equality attempt to defend themselves by saying pretty much that.
Tyler walks away, and Bella looks at the Volvo again. (She doesn't say it's shiny this time.)
I looked forward to see Alice, Rosalie, Emmett, and Jasper all sliding into the Volvo.
All at once? Also, that's a pretty big Volvo. Actually, calling an automobile a Volvo is like calling it a Toyota. It could be a truck, a coupe, a wagon, a convertible, an SUV, or a sedan, if we restrict ourselves to something the Cullens are likely to drive to school. I think the wagon is the most likely suspect, since the Cullens all fit in it comfortably and yet Bella thinks she can take the back end out with her truck. I like to imagine them tooling around in a Volvo bus, though.
Oh, Edward's laughing at Bella. Of course he is. Edward not laughing at Bella is as rare as Bella not hating herself.
Content: clumsiness (probably intentional), boys with no clue (probably unintentional), smirking jackass(definitely intentional), more male ownership of females (as usual)
Bella goes to Gym. I do not understand why Meyer and her copy editor capitalize high school class names. It's one instance of all the little niggling annoyances in this book. Of course, the book also has major annoyances. Annoyance in every layer, that's Twilight.
Bella, of course, is such a danger to herself and others that she can't play basketball without falling down and causing other people to fall down regularly as well, even though no one passes her the ball. I don't know how this is possible. She says she's worse than usual because she's dwelling on Edward. So she hurts other people even more than she usually does because she can't get her mind off a boy. Speaking of major annoyances.
I almost ran to the truck; there were just so many people I wanted to avoid. (76)
Bella just got done telling us that she hurt other people in gym class. We're supposed to believe this is because she is clumsy. And yet she almost runs to her truck, with no thought or mention of falling over. I can look at this two ways, either through author incompetence or through who Bella really is in this text.
Author incompetence: Meyer forgot what she wrote two sentences ago. Or she thought this one emotion, of Bella wanting to run, was more important than Bella's central character trait of superhuman clumsiness. Either way, it's a big fat glaring continuity error and a serious failure in writing.
Who Bella really is: Bella talks at length about her clumsiness, but in truth, she's only clumsy when other people could possibly depend on her (with one exception, which I'll get to). She wants people to think she needs protection, but she doesn't. She didn't fall down on an iced driveway, she has incredible ice driving skills, and she considers running through all the other students, through a parking lot with cars moving around in it, without fearing falling, running into anyone else, or being run into.
Bella is also clumsy when school books are involved; she's tripped over them once and dropped them once. The first time, she was feeling nervous, and I'll give her a pass -- though I wonder if she would have tripped if she weren't in math class, which she has decided to hate. The second time, she was also nervous, but more importantly, her supposed clumsiness caused Edward to pick up her books. She was rewarded for being incompetent, and I think she did it on purpose, though she would likely never admit it to anyone, especially herself.
Bella's clumsiness is entirely psychological. She cannot handle the thought of others depending on her, and she likes others feeling they must take care of her. I'd be sort of okay with this if she didn't so often hurt other people without regret. The sole reason she's unhappy about hurting people is that they make her life uncomfortable when she does. She does not care one teeny bit about the physical pain and mortification she causes others.
Moving on, it's time for clueless boys. Eric asks her to the spring dance. The dance to which girls are supposed to ask boys. She tells him she'll be in Seattle that day.
"Oh," he said. "Well, maybe next time."
"Sure," I agreed, then bit my lip. I wouldn't want him to take that too literally.
Ugh. Well, I can see that "sure" slipping out automatically. I will try to be generous.
Bella hears someone "chuckle," then sees Edward walking past her truck. Edward's laughing at Bella again/still.
Then Edward stops his "shiny Volvo" (77) behind Bella's truck, blocking her in. (Has Meyer ever mentioned the Volvo without noting its shininess? I'll have to dig up a PDF of the book and check.) Bella considers running into his car, "but there were too many witnesses." Our heroine, ladies and gentlemen. Edward is blocking in not only Bella, but others as well, causing a line to form. Our hero, ladies and gentlemen.
Tyler Crowley has a "recently acquired used Sentra." I had no idea what a Sentra was, besides "type of automobile", so I looked it up. It's been around for a while. Now I wonder how old Tyler Crowley's car is, as it could be anywhere from thirty years to a few months old. Meyer's pointless specificity about the type of car a third-tier character drives breaks up what little flow the story has. By answering a question no one asked, she only inspires more questions.
Tyler runs out of his car and knocks on the passenger side window of Bella's truck. Dana illustrated this silliness on her Tumblr. Anyway, Tyler is the third boy to ask Bella to this dance to which girls are supposed to ask boys. When she tells Tyler she's going out of town, sounding irritated, he says, "[t]hat's cool. We still have prom." (78) Why does Tyler casually assume Bella will go with him to the prom? I have no idea. He sounds like he thinks they're dating.
I guess, in the world of Twilight, any girl who isn't specifically owned by one boy must be the communal property of all boys and/or of any boy who wants to claim her. I'm not being sarcastic or exaggerating -- I've seen opponents of marriage equality attempt to defend themselves by saying pretty much that.
Tyler walks away, and Bella looks at the Volvo again. (She doesn't say it's shiny this time.)
I looked forward to see Alice, Rosalie, Emmett, and Jasper all sliding into the Volvo.
All at once? Also, that's a pretty big Volvo. Actually, calling an automobile a Volvo is like calling it a Toyota. It could be a truck, a coupe, a wagon, a convertible, an SUV, or a sedan, if we restrict ourselves to something the Cullens are likely to drive to school. I think the wagon is the most likely suspect, since the Cullens all fit in it comfortably and yet Bella thinks she can take the back end out with her truck. I like to imagine them tooling around in a Volvo bus, though.
Oh, Edward's laughing at Bella. Of course he is. Edward not laughing at Bella is as rare as Bella not hating herself.
